Gwen McCrae

About

With a maverick flair that recalled earlier R&B kingmakers like Syd Nathan and Art Rupe, Bronx-born impresario Henry Stone ran the labels that helped usher Miami into the disco age. Of Stone’s many labels, it was the TK imprint that dominated the emerging disco market of the mid-‘70s. TK artists like Clarence Reid, Harry Wayne Casey, and Gwen McCrae excelled at writing simple, dance floor–filling hits that evoked their hometown’s shimmering nightlife and muggy hedonism. McCrae was responsible for many of the label’s finest releases, and her best work combined disco’s freewheeling spirit with the emotional heft of classic soul. In 2006, McCrae reunited with a host of TK Records veterans (including Little Beaver, Latimore, and Clarence Reid) to record <i>Gwen McCrae Sings TK</i>, an album that finds her revisiting her own hits and those of other TK artists such as Betty Wright, Timmy Thomas, and Latimore. McCrae is in fine form throughout, even adding a few tellingly modern ad-libs to her take on Little Beaver’s 1974 hit “Party Down.”

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

Start your shelf to read the full take →