Elizabeth Lands (February 11, 1939 – January 11, 2013) was an American soul singer. Her purported five octave

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of stud ...

started her

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

career before

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record la ...

tried to make a name for her in the R&B/Pop market on

Gordy Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

Life and career

Lands was born Elizabeth Lands in the Georgia Sea Islands on February 11, 1939. She grew up in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

before moving to Detroit and becoming involved in the

Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civi ...

. While performing with

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...

at a benefit show she was scouted by

. He signed her to his gospel label Divinity, but soon switched her to his R&B

Gordy ''Gordy'' is a 1994 American family comedy-drama film directed by Mark Lewis, about a livestock piglet named Gordy who searches for his missing family (who are taken away to a slaughterhouse in Omaha, Nebraska). He experiences the lives of others ...

label where she released her first single in 1963. In December 1963, a month after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Lands released a vocal tribute to Kennedy that was distributed to 2,000 delegates at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City. Her song "May What He Lived for Live," was included in the memorial to Kennedy at the convention through the efforts of

Joe Lieberman Joseph Isadore Lieberman (; born February 24, 1942) is an American politician, lobbyist, and attorney who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. A former member of the Democratic Party (Uni ...

, then an administrative assistant to

John Moran Bailey John Moran Bailey (November 23, 1904 – April 10, 1975) was an American politician who played a major role in promoting the New Deal coalition of the Democratic Party and its liberal policy positions. Bailey dominated Connecticut Democratic p ...

, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Lands performed the song at the 1968 funeral of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Lands left Motown in 1965, and recorded two singles for T & L Records, a label she formed with her husband R&B singer Tommy Brown. In 1967, she released a single on the Chicago-based

One-derful Records One-derful Records was an independent R&B and soul label based in Chicago. Founded by George Leaner (June 1, 1917 – September 18, 1983) in 1962, One-derful was one of the few black-owned labels in Chicago until its demise in 1968. The label is ...

. Lands and the Voices of Salvation are featured on the side-B single of

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

's famous

I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...

speech, released on

(G-7023), in 1968. In the late 1980s/early 1990s, Lands re-emerged and

Ian Levine Ian Geoffrey Levine (born 22 June 1953) is a British songwriter, producer, and DJ. A moderniser of Northern soul music in the UK, and a developer of the style of Hi-NRG, he has written and produced records with sales totalling over 40 million. ...

recorded her for his

Motorcity ''Motorcity'' is an American animated television series created by Chris Prynoski. It is produced by Titmouse, Inc. and Disney Television Animation. The series ran from April 30, 2012 to January 7, 2013 on Disney XD. On November 5, 2012, the se ...

label. Lands died in January 2013.

Discography

*1959: "Untamed!" (album) (Mercury MG 20435/SR-60108) *1963: "May What He Lived For Live" / "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" (Gordy 7026) *1964: "Midnight Johnny" / "Keep Me" (Gordy 7030) *1965: "Echo In The Background (Of My Broken Heart)" / "Qualify For My Love" (T & L 1001) *1965: "Let It Be Me" / "Cotton Fields" (T & L 1002) *1967: "One Man's Poison" / "Don't Shut Me Out" (One-derful 4847) *1968: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. / Liz Lands And The Voices Of Salvation – "I Have A Dream" / "We Shall Overcome" (Gordy 7023) *1990: "Starting All Over Again" (12" single) - (Motor City MOTC 28)

References

External Links

* * 1939 births 2013 deaths American soul singers American sopranos 20th-century African-American women singers American women pop singers Motown artists One-derful Records artists Singers from New York City 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women {{US-singer-stub