abstract
| - Best known for her 1967 R&B chart-topper %22Make Me Yours,%22 Southern soul chanteuse Bettye Swann was born Betty Jean Champion in Shreveport, Louisiana on October 24, 1944.She first surfaced during the early 1960s as a member of the Fawns before mounting a solo career in 1964 with the Carolyn Franklin-penned %22Don't Wait Too Long,%22 the first of a series of Arthur Wright-produced singles for the independent Los Angeles label Money. %22The Man That Said No%22 and %22The Heartache Is Gone%22 followed in 1965, and two years later, Swann returned with the gorgeous %22Make Me Yours,%22 which also served as the title for her first full-length LP. 1967 saw the release of three more Money singles -- %22Fall in Love With Me,%22 %22Don't Look Back,%22 and %22I Think I'm Falling in Love%22 -- while the next year heralded a leap to major label Capitol for %22My Heart Is Closed for the Season.%22 The follow-up, %22Don't Touch Me,%22 was the first single released from Swann's second long-player, The Soul View Now; Don't You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Me? followed in 1969, highlighted by the minor hit %22Little Things Mean a Lot.%22 After a one-off single for Fame, 1971's %22I'm Just Living a Lie,%22 Swann landed at Atlantic; her label debut, %22Victim of a Foolish Heart,%22 cracked the R&B Top 20 in 1972, and was revived over three decades later by blue-eyed soul upstart Joss Stone. Her next Atlantic effort, %22I'd Rather Go Blind,%22 was notable in large part for its B-side, a reading of Merle Haggard's %22Today I Started Loving You Again,%22 that proved Swann a superb interpreter of country-soul -- 1973's %22Yours Until Tomorrow%22 was backed by another Nashville cover, this time Tammy Wynette's %22Til I Get It Right.%22 In 1974, she made a return to the lower rungs of the Billboard Hot 100 with %22The Boy Next Door%22 -- the flip side, %22Kiss My Love Goodbye,%22 found Swann operating firmly in Philly soul territory, its slick, urbane production courtesy of the Young Professionals team of LeBaron Taylor, Phil Hurtt, and Tony Bell. With 1975's %22All the Way In or All the Way Out%22 she again enjoyed minor chart success, but subsequent recording sessions are undocumented, and Swann eventually faded from sight.
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