Tunnie Smith

Tracklist:

Dancing On Da Clouds

I Found A Miracle

Previously unissued from 1984 rare groove / boogie cuts

During the summer youth program of 1970 and '71 at St Paul's Catholic church a young Tunnie Smith was singled out by Father George Artist for his outstanding singing abilities.

He was soon introduced to Joe Delpit and Reginal Brown to sing along with their show and dance band "The 13Th Amendments". After a year and a half of performing at nightclubs, military bases and universities Tunnie landed a record deal with Rick Hall's Fame/UA record label.

His first single gained National distribution and had some good success. Tunnie left Fame records and was introduced to Stax record executives Al Bell and John Smith.

After signing with Stax Tunnie met legendary writer and performer David Porter where they recorded an album which was scheduled for release around 73/74.Unfortunately Staxs association with CBS came to a halt and the project got shelved. Tunnie went home and carried on performing around the Louisiana area with his new band Sweet Music Orchestra.

Fast forward to 1983 Tunnie whilst recording some vocals at River City Recording met Chicago producer and arranger George "Paco" Patterson . During this period Tunnie along with George formed a great partnership and along with some top session musicians.

The A Side "Dancing On Da Cloud" kicks of with female backing vocals and cascading strings layered over each other to create a full bodied 2 Step Rare Groove classic, which we can only compare in the highest esteem to an out take from Marvin Gaye or Leon Ware. It oozes sheer class with rasping horns and Tunnie showing he hasn't lost any of the singing prowess he got singled out for as a young boy in1971. "I Found A Miracle" is a slightly slower affair than the A side but still kicks a punch. It starts with pounding drums.