THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,181) Val McKenna — “You’ve Gotta Tell Me”
Sweet pop-soul from the UK’s Val McKenna (see #988), whose songs “many of which she wrote herself, are . . . hard-driving, straight R&B pieces that the mod population allegedly found appealing.” (Paul Pearson, http://paul-pearson.blogspot.com/2015/05/song-20150507-val-mckenna.html) Man, “Tell Me” coulda been a hit. But it wasn’t even released!
You ask, tell us about “Tell Me”. Well, it was written by The Ministry of Sound’s Micky Keen and Robin Shaw. As John Carter explained:
The Ministry of Sound was really a substitute venture for me when I left The Ivy League[.] I got together with [bassist/singer] Robin Shaw and [guitarist] Micky Keen and we started writing together and recording tracks in Southern Music’s studio. . . . Val McKenna was signed to Southern as an artist and Lesley Duncan was a friend and always around the studio, so it seemed natural that when we needed girl vocals on tracks they would be brought in to guest.
liner notes to the CD comp Dreambabes Volume Six: Sassy and Stonefree
Bruce Eder tells us about Val:
A singer whose career was managed by Ivy League members John Carter and Ken Lewis, Val McKenna was one of the better white female pop soul-style singers to come out of early- to mid-’60s England. Apart from a convincing delivery on numbers like “Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl,” she also benefited from the presence of Jimmy Page on lead guitar on her records, which also included “Baby Do It” and “Now That You’ve Made Up Your Mind,” the latter her own composition and very good indeed.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/val-mckenna-mn0000303369
Kieron Tyler tells us that “Val later attracted attention from the Northern Sould brigade with her 1970 Spark A-side “Love Feeling” and then went into session singing, and was featured on Rick Wakeman’s 1984 single “Glory Boys” and Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzaneras’s 1990 solo album Southern Cross.” (liner notes to the CD comp Dreambabes Volume Six: Sassy and Stonefree)
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That is a very good tune. Never heard of her!
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