Ann Peebles Biography
27 April 1947, East St. Louis, Missouri, USA. An impromptu appearance at the Rosewood Club in Memphis led to Peebles' recording contract. Band leader Gene Miller took the singer to producer Willie Mitchell, whose skills fashioned an impressive debut single, "Walk Away' (1969). Peebles" style was more fully shaped with "Part Time Love" (1970), an irresistibly punchy reworking of the Clay Hammond-penned standard, while powerful original songs, including "Slipped Tripped And Fell In Love" (1972) and "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" (1973), later recorded by Paul Young and Graham Parker, confirmed her promise. Her work matured with the magnificent "I Can't Stand The Rain', which defined the Hi Records sound and deservedly ensured the singer's immortality. Don Bryant, Peebles" husband and a songwriter of ability, wrote that classic as well as "99 lbs" (1971). Later releases, "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and "Do I Need You", were also strong, but Peebles was latterly hampered by a now-established formula and sales subsided. "If You Got The Time (I've Got The Love)" (1979) was the singer's last R&B hit, but her work nonetheless remains among the finest in the 70s soul canon.
After a return to the gospel fold in the mid-80s, Peebles bounced back in 1990 with Call Me. In 1992 the fine, back-to-the-Memphis-sound Full Time Love was issued on the Bullseye Blues label. She appeared that summer at the Porretta Terme Soul Festival in Italy and her riveting performance was captured on a CD of the festival, Sweet Soul Music - Live!, released by Italian label 103. Her Bullseye Blues follow-up Fill This World With Love featured Peebles harmonising peerlessly with Mavis Staples and Shirley Brown.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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