Ike and Tina Turner “Somebody Somewhere Needs You” (Loma 2015, 1965)
*R.I.P Frank Wilson*
Houston Born, LA raised Music legend Frank Wilson passed away today at the age of 71. Although his career is mostly associated with Motown from approximately 1966 til he became a born again christian 10 years later (Perhaps most famously helping set flight to a Post-Diana Supremes) he cut his teeth in his early twenties with a variety of LA acts, including Tina (sans Ike) Turner and The Ikettes.
More surprising is this effort, all full bodied and one of Tina Turner’s most pitch perfect performances of her early career (perhaps a bit too perfect? Showing that she could do straight forward Pop Soul with the best Martha Reeves’s and Darlene Loves out there) written and produced by Wilson. It vanished into thin air and left the door wide open for Tina (sans Ike again) to partner with Phil Spector.
All this beautiful pleader does is make “River Deep, Mountain High” sound like the overproduced paean of the past it really was, and that Frank Wilson, an innovative producer in his own right, had a bright road of glorious efforts ahead of him. Unjustly overlooked by mainstream music historians, we pay tribute to him tonight.
