One of the many things I love about soul music is the seemingly limitless amount of treasures that are out there to be discovered. Up until about a week ago, I had never heard of Eddie Holman before. But thanks to an email from a reader, that is no longer true.Eddie Holman has been a soul music lifer. He made his debut at the Apollo Theater when he was ten and sang on Broadway and Carnegie Hall while still a teen. When he moved to Philadelphia as a teen, he became heavily involved in the soul scene there, and sang in legendary groups like the Stylistics and Delfonics. Smokey Robinson said in that period, "he has the voice of an angel."
I just got his 1970 album, "I Love You," and while it's somewhat of a mixed bag - like much Philly Soul, the strings can get overripe and turn the songs into mush - the high points are very high indeed.
Today, Eddie Holman is a Baptist preacher in Philadelphia and he continues to tour. How the hell did I never hear of him before?
Download: "I Love You"
Had you ever heard the song "Hey There Lonely Girl?" I'm thinking maybe you knew the song but just didn't know the artist, since that's a fairly well known tune. Yeah, Eddie had/has a great voice. Also, I just wanted to say that I feel your comment about the "limitless amount of treasures" to be discovered in soul music and it's the same thing I feel about jazz, since I didn't really grow up listening to it, but rather got into it in my late teens/early twenties.
ReplyDeleteI had heard "Hey There Lonely Girl." It's a cut on the album that I got last week. It was one of those songs I used to hear on WCBS-FM.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about jazz - I think the treasure mine is about ten times as big; sometimes I almost find it intimidating.