Don Covay › Similar Artists

Clarence Carter - 75% match to Don Covay

14 January 1936, Montgomery, Alabama, USA. Carter’s earliest releases were as half of the duo Clarence And Calvin. Also known as the C And C Boys, the blind duo made seven singles, the last of which was recorded at Fame’s Muscle Shoals studio. When his partner, Calvin Thomas (aka Scott), suffered serious injuries in a car accident in 1966, Carter became a solo act Read more

Darrell Banks - 62% match to Don Covay

Darrell Eubanks, 1938, Mansfield, Ohio, USA, d. March 1970, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Banks sprang to fame in 1966 with his magnificent debut single, ‘Open The Door To Your Heart’, one of the finest non- Motown Records releases to emerge from Detroit. A second hit, ‘Somebody (Somewhere) Needs You’, followed that same year, but the singer’s progress was Read more

Eddie Floyd - 61% match to Don Covay

25 June 1935, Montgomery, Alabama, USA. A founder member of the Detroit-based Falcons, Floyd was present on both their major hits, ‘You’re So Fine’ (1959) and ‘I Found A Love’ (1962). He then recorded solo for Lupine in Detroit and Safice in Washington, DC, before moving to Memphis in 1965 to join the Stax Records organization. He first made his mark Read more

Chuck Willis - 52% match to Don Covay

Jimmy Hughes - 49% match to Don Covay

1938, Leighton, Alabama, USA, d. 4 January 1997. This former member of the Singing Clouds abandoned the gospel field following the success of Arthur Alexander and recorded a handful of secular songs. When his producer, Rick Hall, was unable to secure an outlet for one such master, ‘Steal Away’, he issued it himself, inaugurating the Fame label. The prototype countr Read more

Arthur Conley - 47% match to Don Covay

4 January 1946, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, d. 17 November 2003, Ruurlo, the Netherlands. Recalled as something of a one-hit-wonder, this Otis Redding protégé remains underrated. Conley first recorded for the Atlanta-based NRC label as Arthur And The Corvets. After signing to his mentor Otis Redding’s Jotis label, further singles were leased to Volt and Stax Re Read more

Joe Tex - 47% match to Don Covay

Joseph Arrington Jnr., 8 August 1933, Rogers, Texas, USA, d. 13 August 1982, Navasota, Texas, USA. The professional career of this popular singer began onstage at the Apollo. He won first place in a 1954 talent contest and duly secured a record deal. Releases on King Records, Ace Records and the Anna labels were derivative and disappointing, but Tex meanwhile honed his songw Read more

Carla Thomas - 44% match to Don Covay

21 December 1942, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The daughter of Rufus Thomas, Carla first performed with the Teen Town Singers. ‘‘Cause I Love You’, a duet with her father, was released on Satellite (later Stax Records) in 1960, but the following year she established herself as a solo act with ‘Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)’. Leased to Atlantic Records, the Read more

Doris Troy - 43% match to Don Covay

Doris Higginsen, 6 January 1937, the Bronx, New York City, New York, USA, d. 16 February 2004, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The daughter of a Barbadian Pentecostal preacher, Doris Higginsen abandoned her gospel beginnings in favour of a jazz group, the Halos. She recorded as half of Jay And Dee and soon also began making her mark as a songwriter, using her grandmother’s name Read more

William Bell - 42% match to Don Covay

William Yarborough, 16 July 1937, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Having recorded in 1957 as part of the Del Rios, Bell emerged on the fledgling Stax Records with ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ (1961), a cornerstone in the development of country R&B. Military service sadly undermined his musical career, and on its resumption he found the label bursting with competit Read more

Clyde McPhatter - 41% match to Don Covay

Clyde Lensley McPhatter, 15 November 1932, Durham, North Carolina, USA, d. 13 June 1972, New York City, New York, USA. For three years, McPhatter was the lead singer in the seminal R&B vocal group Billy Ward And His Dominoes. He left in 1953 to form the Drifters, whose early releases were enhanced by the singer’s emotional, gospel-drenched delivery. In 1954 McPhatte Read more

Johnnie Taylor - 41% match to Don Covay

5 May 1938, Crawfordsville, Arkansas, USA, d. 31 May 2000, Dallas, Texas, USA. Having left home at the age of 15, Taylor surfaced as part of several gospel groups, including the Five Echoes and the Highway QCs. In 1956 he joined the Soul Stirrers, replacing Sam Cooke on the latter’s recommendation. Taylor switched to secular music in 1961; releases on Cooke’s Sar a Read more

Mable John - 41% match to Don Covay

3 November 1930, Bastrop, Louisiana, USA. The elder sister of Little Willie John, Mable John was an early signing to Berry Gordy’s Motown Records label. She appeared on the first Motortown Revue in 1959, and recorded four singles for the company. After an interlude working in a small Chicago outlet, Four Brothers, she signed to Stax Records in 1966. Here she specialized Read more

O.V. Wright - 41% match to Don Covay

Overton Vertis Wright, 9 October 1939, Memphis, Tennessee, USA, d. 16 November 1980, USA. One of deep soul’s most impressive stylists, O.V. Wright’s first recordings were in the gospel tradition and it was while a member of the Harmony Echoes that he became acquainted with Roosevelt Jamison. This aspiring songwriter penned the singer’s secular debut, ‘Tha Read more

James Carr - 40% match to Don Covay

13 June 1942, Coahoma, Mississippi, USA, d. 7 January 2001, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Carr grew up in Memphis where he sang gospel in the Sunset Travellers and the Harmony Echoes and was discovered by Memphis gospel-group mentor Roosevelt Jamison. This budding manager and songwriter brought Carr to the Goldwax Records label, run by Quinton Claunch. It took four singles to de Read more