▶︎ Obscure Originators (36): Willie Harper

From my website's front page series about lesser known artists who performed the original versions of Australian or NZ records.

See also: the full collection of over 30 Obscure Originators features. 

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The consensus is that Willie Harper should have been better known. It's safe to say that more people have heard his voice than would know his name.

Right from the start of Ernie K-Doe's hit Mother-In-Law (1961 #1 USA, #8 Australia), you hear a deep voice singing and repeating the single word Mother-in-law. That's Benny Spellman, but the voice that echoes him, there and throughout the song, is Willie Harper.

New Kind Of Love (1962) was one of several singles recorded by Harper for the Alon and Sansu labels, both co-owned by Allen Toussaint, the major New Orleans producer, songwriter, arranger, singer and pianist. 

Harper was a constant presence in the background of Toussaint's studio productions, and his own releases were typically written, produced or arranged by Toussaint. A Willie And Allen single from 1967 is by Harper and Toussaint.

Breakout in Chicago: Billboard 6 Jan 61

The composer of New Kind Of Love is Earl King, another multi-skilled New Orleans musician. Although the recording is admired by R&B and soul fans, it had only localised success at the time.

Australian pop star Ray Brown released his version of New Kind Of Love in February 1967, the B-side of a double-sided hit with The Same Old Song (#12 Australia).

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For more about the song and Willie Harper, see Ray Brown - New Kind Of Love. 

▶︎ Obscure Originators (35): Johnny Yukon

From my website's front page series about lesser known artists who performed the original versions of Australian or NZ records.

See also: the full collection of over 30 Obscure Originators features. 

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Johnny Yukon's real name was Ben Gabus. He was from Texas, born in Galveston in 1931, but later lived in Lafayette, Louisiana where he could be heard regularly at the Jury Room Lounge. His composition Ride Away (With A Song In Your Heart) was released by Slim Whitman in 1954.

As Johnny Yukon, Ben recorded his own composition Made To Be Loved (1959). It didn't make him famous, but it charted #25 in Italy, and it had a good run Down Under through local cover versions.

In 1960 it was recorded twice in Australia: by top Sydney deejay John Laws, and by a new young talent called Adam, an alias of Ian B. McLeod, the enduring country music artist, producer and record label owner from Warragamba NSW.

Neither of those records was a commercial success in Australia, but in New Zealand it was recorded by The Keil Isles, also in 1960. They were a popular Auckland rock'n'roll band formed by Samoan-born Olaf Keil and his cousin Freddie Keil with a line-up that included other members of the Keil family.

Chart placings are hard to pin down for New Zealand in the 1960s, but Warwick Freeman's retrospective chart places The Keil Isles' version of Made To Be Loved at #3 New Zealand.

Ben Gabus released Made To Be Loved again in 1964, this time as Ben Gabus. This is sometimes mistaken for the original version, partly because of confusion between two record labels with the same name and catalogue numbers.

In his later years Ben lived in Lexington, South Carolina and ran the Ben Gabus Tree Service. 

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For more about the song and Johnny Yukon, see The Keil Isles - Made To Be Loved.