Don Wilson Varner (25 June 1943 – 7 October 2002) was an American

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

singer. Varner was a baritone who sang both uptempo soul in the northern soul style as well as ballads.

Career

Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, Varner grew up in the same neighborhood as

Eddie Kendricks Edward James Kendrick (December 17, 1939 – October 5, 1992), better known as Eddie Kendricks, was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group the Temptatio ...

co-founder of

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

.Andrew Hamilton
"Don Varner"
at

AllMusic.com AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. Retrieved 5 September 2013. Varner moved to Chicago after high school to pursue his music career but returned to Alabama after six years to record in

Muscle Shoals Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, the population of Muscle Shoals was 13,146. The estimated popu ...

. at

Rick Hall Roe Erister "Rick" Hall (January 31, 1932 – January 2, 2018) was an American record producer, songwriter, and musician who became known as the owner of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. As the "Father of Muscle Shoals Music", he was i ...

's FAME Studios. He wrote songs including "I Keep Holdin' On" for

Sam & Dave Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (born 1935) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988). Nicknamed "Double Dynamite", "The ...

(with William Crump). Varner also worked with

Quin Ivy Quin Ivy (born 1937) is an American former disc jockey turned songwriter and record producer, crucial to the Muscle Shoals scene in the 1960s. Early life Ivy was born in Oxford, Mississippi, the son of a sharecropper.

Sheffield, Alabama Sheffield is a city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Shoals metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 9,039. Sheffield is the birthplace of "country-soul pioneer" and songwriter Arthu ...

and released several songs including "Masquerade"(1967), "Down in Texas"(1967), and "Tear Stained Face" on the South Camp and Quinvy labels. Varner did not release many recordings but performed numerous live shows in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

with other major soul performers. He moved to California in the 1980s and toured as the lead singer of the Johnny Otis Show. He toured numerous European music festivals in 1985. In his later, career, he began to record

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

. He died in

Moreno Valley, California Moreno Valley is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and is part of the Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Riverside County by population and one of the Inland Empire's p ...

in 2002 of a heart attack at the age of 59. An album of his music from 1968 to 1974 entitled ''Finally Go Over!'' was released posthumously.

References

American soul singers African-American male singer-songwriters Musicians from Birmingham, Alabama 1943 births 2002 deaths People from Ensley, Alabama 20th-century African-American male singers Singer-songwriters from Alabama {{US-singer-stub