You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You (Akue Records, 1967)
WDD Blog: THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011
Anita Tucker - The red-hot'n'rockin' "voice of Sheba"
It was just recently when I learnt about the passing away of yet another extraordinary singer Anita Tucker (on March 12, 2009). Either I wasn't aware that during the time of her death (and probably for decades before), she was living in Memphis, Tennessee. In fact, for years I had actually thought that Mrs Tucker was still residing somewhere here in Europe, where she had mostly distinguished herself both as a singer and an actress since the mid 1960's.
Anniebelle "Anita" Tucker was born on October 20, 1930, presumably near Memphis (the exact birth place is not known, though). As usual, there's practically nothing to write about
Anita's childhood or her teenage years. At some point in her early 20's, she was married to U.S. Army Private named Luther McKinley Tucker. The next stop that we do know for certain, is her first recording in New York, 1955.
As a client of Sherwood Artists Management and Marlyn Music Publishers (closely associated with musician-arranger-manager Teddy McRae), Anita Tucker was signed to the Guyden Record Company (founded and by then ran by Bob Cordell in Philadelphia, PA) in early 1955 (as reported in Billboard Magazine on April 23). The debute single "Ring-Aling-Aling (Let The Wedding Bells Ring)" / "A Million Thanks" (Alan Freed being credited as a co-writer on b-side) introduced to the world a new strong-voiced female r&b starlet, who seemed to have a thing or two musically in common with her peers on Atlantic label, Ruth Brown and LaVern Baker.
25 years old Anita wasn't - what you could call - a totally new face in the show business in the mid 1950's. Besides her singing career, she started also making name as a photo model (who wasn't ashamed of posing in a few nudity pictures as well), as an exotic night club dancer, and some years later, as an actress. And why not, she sure had the looks - and without doubt, she had a talent for acting too.
It didn't take a long time after the Billboard issue of September 10, 1955 had announced that "the Capitol artists and repertoire exec. Dave Cavanaugh had signed Anita Tucker for his rhythm and talent roster", when Mrs Tucker was indeed recording for the label.
In the mid 1950's, Capitol Records, which had mainly concentrated on music by Frank Sinatra and Nat "King" Cole type of artists, was now seriously hoping to get its own share in the rock'n'roll merry-go-round... so, enter Anita Tucker.
With the help of Howard Biggs' studio orchestra featuring Mickey Baker's incomparable lead guitar, Sam "The Man" Taylor's tenor saxophone and the back-up vocals by The Five Keys, the first Capitol session on September 1, 1955 in New York gave birth to four excellent songs, easy-swinging "Handcuffed Heart" and "Slow, Smooth And Easy", a march tempo vocal group number "Let's Make Love" and a cheerful midtempo jump blues "One And Two" (the latter issued on a French 10" LP in 1986). The second session held in Los Angeles, CA in January 19, 1956 and this time accompanied by Big Dave Cavanaugh's big band, did pretty well too: another 4-piece set of classic 1950's rhythm'n'blues sides included an original Ollie Jones penned rocker "Hop Skip And Jump",
a rather tardy rolling version of The Eagles' "Trying To Get (To) You", jumpy and once again characteristically LaVern Baker influenced "Shiver My Timbers", plus one more horn section powered r&b slower "If You Go" (again issued not until in 1986).
Now a part of Billy Shaw Management/Johnson Agency, working regularly with high-ranking music notables such as Earl Bostic, Count Basie, Charlie Barnet, Count Basie, Will Bill Davis and Martin Denny, and appearing every now and then in journals like Billboard Magazine, Anita Tucker was soon becoming a household name of herself. Her records, however, didn't sell as well as expected. The contract with Capitol was annulled already in 1956, and the disappointed singer didn't have any rush to get back into the studio for several years. A moderately long period of silence ended in 1959, with one-off deal with the California based Five-Four Records that resulted the single "Heartaches And Tears" / "I Need Love". Tucker still trusted on her traditional rhythm'n'blues oriented "shouter" style, as she did also on her last North-American release on another Hollywood label Vended Records in c. 1962 ("He's An Evil Man" / "I'll Get Along Without You") produced by Larry Johnson. Sad for her and for the small indie companies she was representing, any of the records went absolutely nowhere.
Even without a contract, there was no way of putting Anita Tucker aside of the public scene. For instance, interestingly, she appeared alongside the Liberty Records artists showcase at 6th Annual National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Hollywood on August 23, 1963, sharing the stage with Timi Yuro, The Rivingtons, H.B. Barnum, Ted Taylor, The Hi-Fi's and the New Orleans' AFO acts Tami Lynn and AFO Exceutive Band. In December 1964 she once again pushed her way into the pages of Billboard Magazine, now due to being the first overseas singer to perform at the newly-opened regular floorshow at Romano's restaurant/night club in Sydney, Australia.
In the mid 1960's, Anita Tucker was constantly seen in Europe - mostly in France. Although, as far as I know, she was officially a Los Angeles citizen back then, she was making Paris her second home, using the city as her base camp between the long tours around the world (Beirut, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey, Japan, Ethiopia, Egypt, etc. + other european countries including also a one-month engagement in Norway in May 1971, which must have been her closest-ever visit to Finland, I suppose...). Especially popular she was among the military targets abroad, usually in The Middle East where as she worked as a regular member of the USO (The United Service Organizations Inc.) show cast.
In Paris Anita Tucker also did her last known recordings. Two jazzy r&b singles with strong big band arrangements reflecting the spirit of the 1950's (including tasty cover cuts of standards such as "Try A Little Tenderness" and "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You") were done under production of Jimmy English and came out on Akue Records in 1966.
And no, she didn't shy away from the TV either. Just to mention a single case, in November 1968 Mrs Tucker was featured on a French TV Show "Soul Session A Cannes" produced by Jesip Legitimus - "the first Negro to become a TV producer in France", as he was described in Art Simmons' column "Paris Scratchpad" on Jet Magazine's November 28, 1968 issue.
I can't tell exactly when Anita Tucker actually started her serious acting career, but evidently her big breakthrough was a starring role (as Katisha) in "The Black Mikado" in 1975. Refering the all-wise Wikipedia, "The Black Mikado" was a musical stage comedy, basing on the 19th century score of "The Mikado" by W.S. Gilbert (lyrics) and Arthur Sullivan (music) and then some 90 years later adapted by Janos Bajtala, George Larnyoh and Eddie Quansah, premiered on April 24, 1975 at the Cambridge Theatre, London, where it ran for 472 performances before going on a national tour. Compared to the original, the new version was set on a Caribbean islands rather than in Japan, and the Sullivan's musical score was also re-arranged into a mixture of rock, reggae, blues and calypso.
It's pretty much up in the air, whatever happened to Anita Tucker after The Black Mikado. Honestly, I have no idea either where she got that nickname "The Voice Of Sheba" from. Now re-located in Memphis, she very likely kept on acting and probably sang a little bit of rhythm'n'blues, jazz and soul at the local places too. She's said to have been "appeared in several movies and Broadway productions including Mississippi Burning, Alabama Church Bombings, The Othello Story and It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World", but at least I wasn't able to find any kind of confirmed connection between her and those titles.
According to the obituary published in The Commercial Appeal on March 17, 2009, Mrs. Tucker left behind two children, Pamela Harris and Vance Harris, Sr. and his wife, Renee; seven grandchildren; Mauri Harris, Michael Harris and his wife, DeAnna, Mildred Dawson, Vance Harris II, Marketha Dawson, Varen Harris, Valisa Harris and two great grandchildren Aniyah Calvin and Deone Harris. She is buried at The Memphis National Cemetery, in Memphis, Tennessee (Section E, Site 14141). God bless her Soul - I just wish I could have had a chance to meet and chat with her about the old times. I'm positive she would have had a number of great, yet unheard stories to tell.
Anniebelle "Anita" Tucker was born on October 20, 1930, presumably near Memphis (the exact birth place is not known, though). As usual, there's practically nothing to write about
Anita's childhood or her teenage years. At some point in her early 20's, she was married to U.S. Army Private named Luther McKinley Tucker. The next stop that we do know for certain, is her first recording in New York, 1955.
In the mid 1960's, Anita Tucker was constantly seen in Europe - mostly in France. Although, as far as I know, she was officially a Los Angeles citizen back then, she was making Paris her second home, using the city as her base camp between the long tours around the world (Beirut, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey, Japan, Ethiopia, Egypt, etc. + other european countries including also a one-month engagement in Norway in May 1971, which must have been her closest-ever visit to Finland, I suppose...). Especially popular she was among the military targets abroad, usually in The Middle East where as she worked as a regular member of the USO (The United Service Organizations Inc.) show cast.