Todays Moment of Soul: When I was DJing, I absolutely loved to play Lydia Pense for my white lady friends. As they were swaying to the very soulful vocals, Id softly reveal, thats a white girl. Their eyes would bug out in disbelief. THATS a WHITE girl singing?! Yup. Ms. Lydia Pense found herself as the lead singer of Cold Blood, a sort of sister group to the more well-known Tower of Power in the funky Oakland Groove of the late 60s. She and the band was gaining a strong following of their own when another 60s San Francisco vocalist, Janis Joplin, recommended them to the manager of the Fillmore Theatre, Bill Graham. The rest, as they say, is history. This big horny horns band would kick into action as this teeny tiny white lady strolled to the microphone. Of course, when nobody expected, Lydia Pense exploded and more than held her own with the beat pumping behind her. Cold Blood made several albums for Reprise, but the finest might be First Taste Of Sin - produced by Donny Hathaway. This heart-breaker was penned by the late star-crossed R&B legend and his daughter now sings it in concert. As for Ms. Lydia, she took off a few years off from singing to raise a kid of her own, but has now returned to fronting the band that made her and them famous. I guarantee you have never heard a voice like hers...
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 16:57:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015