Willie Clayton - Born To Sing (2020)

Willie Clayton is a singer-songwriter and producer. Like many other black singer/songwriters, he began performing gospel music in church settings as a youngster and then moved into the secular field as a lyricist, producer, and singer. An active recording artist since the 1970s, Clayton’s career has endured almost 40 years and has spanned a repertoire in the styles of R&B, soul, and gospel. Birthed into an era of soul and R&B legends, a time when music was pure, lyrics had meaning, and artists had pronounceable names, Willie Clayton is now one of the few working artists of his contemporaries. Since the 1970’s he’s been crooning with the likes of Ron Isley, Bobby Womack, Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye, yet now he stands nearly alone, facing a new generation.

Born in the Deep South (Indianola, Mississippi) during the days of segregation, Clayton, unable to find proper management or the success he sought moved to Chicago in 1971. Like many other African American artists in the 1970’s, the young singer ended up contracted to Hi Records in Memphis, where he worked with producer Willie Mitchell and the vaunted Hi rhythm section. Hi issued a series of fine Clayton efforts on its Pawn subsidiary, including “I Must Be Losin’ You,” “It’s Time You Made Up Your Mind,” and “Baby You’re Ready,” but none of them hit. Finally, in 1984, Clayton enjoyed a taste of soul success when his “Tell Me” (produced by General Crook) and “What a Way to Put It”, scored on to the R&B charts. Let’s Get Together, Clayton’s 1993 album for Johnny Vincent’s Ace record label, was a smooth soul-blues hybrid dominated by originals but titled after Al Green’s immortal hit.