Linda Lyndell (born as Linda Rowland, November 22, 1946) is 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 atte ...
singer from
Gainesville, Florida.
Lyndell sang in
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
churches as a child; though she was
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
, she sang in both white and black churches, and eventually began singing with
R&B groups as a teenager.
[Jason Ankeny, Linda Lyndellat ]Allmusic
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 databa ...
In the 1960s she sang as a support act with
James Brown and
Ike & Tina Turner
Ike & Tina Turner were an American musical duo consisting of husband and wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by Ike Turner's band the Kings of Rhythm and backing voca ...
, and in 1967
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...
Dave Crawford introduced her to
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records.
Stax was ...
producers
Isaac Hayes and
David Porter. They recorded her first single, "Bring Your Love Back to Me", in December 1967 and released it on
Volt Records
Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records.
Stax was ...
, but the song did not become a hit. In 1968 she did a second session, cutting the tune "What a Man"; this song reached No. 50 on the
Billboard R&B charts. In response to the release of her single, she received threats from
white supremacist
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...
groups such as the
Ku Klux Klan, and retired from performance soon after.
She remained out of music and lived in Gainesville for the next 25 years. Linda recorded songs at Fuller Studios in Tampa, Florida, in the sixties with Gene Middleton and the Soul Survivors.
In 1993, rap
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
group Salt-n-Pepa sampled
Sample or samples may refer to:
Base meaning
* Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set
* Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal
* Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...
" What a Man" for their hit single "Whatta Man
"What a Man" is a song written by Dave Crawford, and originally recorded for Stax Records' Volt imprint by Linda Lyndell, whose recording reached number 50 on the '' Billboard'' R&B chart in 1968. The song was sampled and reinterpreted as "Wha ...
", which was a massive hit. In the wake of the single's success, Lyndell began performing again, and in 2003, at the opening of the Stax Museum, she performed "What a Man" live for the first time ever.[ In 2011, the German singer Lena Meyer-Landrut (credited as Lena) covered the song while retaining the original title and lyrics.
]
Discography
*"Bring Your Love Back to Me"/"Here Am I" (1967)
*" What a Man"/"I Don't Know" (1968)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyndell, Linda
American soul musicians
American women singers
Musicians from Gainesville, Florida
Living people
1946 births
21st-century American women