SOUL BROTHERS BEAR THE BURDEN

 
Soul Brothers in white gloves and dark suits act as pallbearers at the Detroit funeral for the recently deceased singing legend Little Willie John on June 10, 1968. 

From left to right, that looks like Arthur "Sweet Soul Music" Conley, Johnnie "Who's Makin' Love" Taylor looking very handsome in the center, Dave Prater and Sam Moore of "Sam and Dave" behind him, with Joe "Skinny Legs & All" Tex looking off to the left.  Detroit club manager, Henson West, is at the far right.  Eddie "Knock On Wood" Floyd was also one of the pallbearers but is not pictured. 

After 15 Pop & R&B hit singles, The GREAT but UNDERRATED Little Willie John met a very suspicious death in prison at the young age of 30.

Comments

[Greg]

Ya know I recently downloaded several of Johnny Taylor's hits from iTunes and It brought me back to high school. I was in HS during the early seventies and I had an English Teacher who was well acquainted with Johnny Taylor and would really enthrall me with his tales of Johnny in and out of prison and other peoples beds. When Johnny sang about "Jody" he was really singing about himself! And back in the day I thought Johnny Taylor was really the cutest thang in the world!

[Corey]

"And back in the day I thought Johnny Taylor was really the cutest thang in the world!"

OMG! YOU AND ME BOTH! There is nothing as sexy as watching Johnnie Taylor's thighs pumpin' in that funky little player's club clip in Wattstax. And that VOICE! I can TOTALLY see JODY being Johnnie's alter ego ! ! ! The only thing was that I WAS NOT IN HIGH SCHOOL but a bit YOUNGER when I was thinking and feeling all this! OH, but there came a time a bit later on when I was on one of my autograph missions and I ran into Taylor in an elevator. Cincinnati was jumpin' that weekend with concerts and I was in mad pursuit of ... oh, somebody else ... and I was HARDLY THINKING ABOUT Johnnie Taylor AT THAT TIME! But YES, going back in time, I would sooo do Johnnie Taylor (pre-1980) in a HEARTBEAT!

And have you noticed how sometimes, like I have done, his name is alternately spelled Johnny and Johnnie on his records? Maybe that was to help differentiate him from (Little) Johnny Taylor! Hmmmmm ????

PS: You DO know that Arthur Conley was gay don't you? When he disappeared like that after Otis Redding's funeral, he went over to Amsterdam where he and his partner built up quite an interior design business. He even changed his name for awhile and was known as Lee Roberts. I'm preparing an upcoming post on him within the next few weeks.

[Greg]

Sorry baby, I don't remember Arthur Conley. I often wondered if Johnny Taylor knew dudes liked him as well as females. I know for a fact that Marvin Gaye was well aware of his appeal to other men. He said as much in a televised interview on the Ebony-Jet Showcase Interview show. Now whether Mr. Gaye 'dibbled & dabbed' one doesn't know. I do have my suspicions though, after all he was from DC. He was another of my celebrity crushes and that one lasted from about 1967 to his death. Marvin could do no wrong as far as I was concerned and I know that when he gained weight females looked elsewhere, but not with me. I didn't care, Marvin could still get it!

So yeah, Johnnie Taylor, the cutest thang in the entire world. One wonders if on one of his sojourns to jail if maybe he didn't tcb. He looks like a dude that really didn't have much in terms of inhibitions.

[Corey]

Yeah, I meant to ask you about Johnnie Taylor "in and out" of jail? DO TELL! I don't recall ever hearing about that.

Arthur Conley? His biggest hit was (Do Ya Like) SWEET SOUL MUSIC - which was just a re-working of Sam Cooke's Yeah Man! He also had a big hit with Funky Street!

[Greg]

Yeah, my 11th grade teacher who was from L.A. told me that Johnnie Taylor had several squirmishes with the law, but he never elaborated, although he did say that Johnnie got into a scuffle with a dude who found Johnnie in a bar with his ole lady and he and Johnnie took it outside and I think Johnnie stabbed the dude!