WOMAN
TO WOMAN
SHIRLEY BROWN
SONGWRITERS: HOMER BANKS; EDDIE MARION &
HENDERSON THIGPEN
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: WOMAN TO WOMAN
LABEL: STAX
GENRE: CLASSIC SOUL
YEAR: 1974
Shirley Brown(born January
6, 1947, West Memphis, Arkansas) is an American R&B singer, best known for
her million-selling single "Woman to Woman", which was nominated for
a Grammy Award in 1975.
Brown was born in West
Memphis, but was raised in Madison, Illinois, where she started singing in
church at the age of nine. Early experience singing gospel gave her a powerful
but expressive voice likened to that of Aretha Franklin. Albert King discovered
her when she was aged 14, singing in the Harlem Club in Brooklyn, Illinois. Young Shirley went on the road
with King for nine years. While King made sure she had a
tutor, Brown often cut her classes to work with the band.
By 1972, Shirley was living
in East St. Louis, Illinois, where she made her first record for the Abet label
called, "I Ain't Gonna Tell" and "Love Built on a Strong
Foundation". Bandleader Oliver Sain produced the record; Sain worked with
King on his first hit record ten years earlier. By 1974, King recommended Brown
to Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had been one of the label's
stars for some time.
Her 1974 hit, "Woman
to Woman" spent two weeks at #1 in the Billboard R&B chart and climbed
to #22 in the Billboard Hot 100. It sold over one million copies by December
1974, and was awarded a gold disc. It was to prove to be Stax's final major hit
record (the song was later covered by Barbara Mandrell in 1978 and became a
top-five country hit).
A moderately successful
debut album, Woman to Woman, was released by Stax on their Truth label, but by
1975, the company was struggling financially and also facing litigation. A
follow-up single, "It Ain't No Fun" was only a moderate success, and
Stax closed soon afterwards.
Her signing to Arista
Records in 1977 resulted in the album Shirley Brown, produced by the former
Stax owner Jim Stewart and writer-producer Bettye Crutcher, who provided most
of the songs. These included "Blessed Is The Woman" which reached #14
R&B (#102 pop).
Brown continued to record
for several labels since then, including Fantasy, on the re-formed Stax label,
and Sound Town. She has been with the Mississippi based blues label, Malaco
Records since 1989. She remains a popular live performer, mainly in southern
states of the US, without having found the recording success of her earlier
years.
"Woman to Woman"
is the title of a 1974 deep soul single recorded by Shirley Brown for whom it
was a #1 R&B hit.
The song was written by
James Banks, Eddie Marion and Henderson Thigpen, who had previously written
hits for Little Milton, the Bar-Kays and other Stax Records artists. According to Thigpen, he and
Banks were brainstorming ideas for songs at Stax Studio (quote:)"trying
to come up with...something different. When
people get serious, they say: 'Hey, let's talk man to man'...We thought it
would be interesting to have a song with somebody coming up [with]: 'Hey, let's
talk woman to woman'." Thigpen had recently overheard his wife on the
phone arguing with a friend about an involved couple of their acquaintance, and
- with Eddie Marion - Thigpen and Banks completed their "Woman to
Woman" song structuring it as a phone call from a wife to her husband's
mistress.
"Woman to Woman"
was first offered to Inez Foxx, then signed to Stax's Volt label, who turned it
down because - according to Banks - she didn't want to do the spoken intro,
feeling that format could only work for a male singer. Around this time Shirley
Brown was introduced to Stax president Jim Stewart by Albert King in whose live
revue she'd performed while a teenager: Stewart was impressed enough by Brown
to himself produce her Stax debut recording - Stewart's first production task
in two years - of "Woman to Woman" (Stewart co-produced the track
with Al Jackson Jr.) with Brown cutting her vocal in a single take. Brown would
state in a 1975 interview (quote:)"The guys who wrote ['Woman to
Woman'] sang it through to me and I felt it needed a rap to begin it, so I
wrote one off the top of my head"; however the song's co-writer James
Banks has stated that the spoken intro was part of the song when it was offered
to Inez Foxx, whose dislike of the "rap" caused her to turn the song
down.
Reportedly selling a
million units in its first eight weeks of release, "Woman to Woman"
spent two weeks at #1 on Billboard magazine's Hot Soul Singles chart in
November 1974 and crossed-over to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100,
peaking there at #22. The song is notable for being the last big hit for Stax
Records.
[Shirley Brown]
Hello, may I speak to Barbara
Barbara, this is Shirley
You might not know who I am
But the reason I am calling you is because
I was going through my
Old man's pockets this morning
And I just happened to find your name and number
So woman to woman
I don't think it's being anymore than fair
To call you and let you know
Where I'm coming from
Now Barbara
I don't know how you're gonna take this
But whether you be cool
Or come out of a bag on me
You see it doesn't really make any difference
But it's only fair that I let you know that
The man you're in love with
He's mine
From the top of his head
To the bottom of his feet
The bed he sleeps in
And every piece of food he eats
You see, I make it possible
The clothes on his back
Ha ha, I buy them
The car he drives
I pay the note every month
So I'm telling you these things
To let you know how much I love that man
And woman to woman
I think you'll understand
How much I'll do to keep him
Woman to woman
If you've ever been in love
Then you know how I feel
And woman to woman
Now, if you were in my shoes
Wouldn't you have done the same thing too
Oh, oh, woman to woman
Can't you see where I'm coming from
Woman to woman
Ain't that the same thing you would've done
Woman to woman
Now should I just step aside
And let her take what's rightfully mine
Oh, oh, woman to woman
Was I right or was I wrong
I ain't gonna let you break up my happy home
Now woman to woman
Now you see I don't want no trouble now
I hope you understand
I love that man and he's mine
I'm talking to you
Woman to woman
You should be woman enough to understand
That man, I love that man
Woman, woman
Woman to woman, he's mine
And I ain't gonna give him up
My baby, I ain't lying, now.
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