Bettye Swann Special - Part I: The Money Recordings (1964-1967)

Betty Jean Champion was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on October 24, 1944 and began her singing career at the start of the '60s as a member of The Fawns. As a solo artist under her new stage name, and with a LA-based Money recording contract, she was handed a tune written by Carolyn Franklin, 'Don't Wait Too Long', and saw it go to # 21 R&B and reach # 131 on the Billboard Pop Hot 100 "bubble under" charts in March 1965 b/w 'What Is My Life Coming To?'. This modest beginning was then followed by two flops that same year, 'The Man Who Said No' / 'What Can It Be?' and 'The Heartache Is Gone' / 'Our Love'. There were no Money releases at all in 1966, but in June 1967 she scored her greatest hit ever when 'Make Me Yours' went all the way to # 1 R&B and a quite respectable # 21 on the Hot 100 b/w 'I Will Not Cry'. The follow-up 'Fall In Love With Me' didn't do nearly as well, however, reaching only # 36 R&B/# 67 Hot 100 that October b/w 'Lonely Love'. and this was followed by two more failures, 'Don't Look Back' / 'You Gave Me Love' and 'I Think I'm Falling in Love' / 'Don't Take My Mind'. In between she had her first album released, appropriately titled Make Me Yours, containing the afore-mentioned singles along with 'A Change Is Gonna Come' and something that hinted at future directions as a purveyor of Country soul - the Don Gibson Country classic 'I Can't Stop Loving You', which was a huge hit for Ray Charles. All of the material known to exist by Bettye Swann in the vaults of the Money label is found on this 24-track compilation. It has all of her 1964-1967 singles for the company, as well as a few songs released on her 1967 Make Me Yours LP, and nine previously unreleased tracks, two of which are just remixes, half a dozen of which are alternate versions. Enjoy! http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.amazon.com/