Mitty Lene Collier (born June 21, 1941)
is an American church
pastor
A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...
,
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 ...
singer and former
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
singer. She had a number of successful records in the 1960s, of which probably the best known is "I Had A Talk With My Man".
Early life and career
Mitty Collier was born in
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
, United States,
the seventh child of Rufus and Gertrude Collier, and attended
Western-Olin High School,
Alabama A & M College and
Miles College
Miles College is a private historically black college in Fairfield, Alabama. Founded in 1898, it is associated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME Church) and a member of the United Negro College Fund.
History
Miles College bega ...
where she majored in English.
She began singing in church as a teenager, and toured with gospel groups, the Hayes Ensemble
and the Lloyd Reese Singers, before starting to sing rhythm and blues in local clubs to help subsidise her college education. In 1959, while visiting
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, she entered
DJ Al Benson
Arthur Bernard Leaner (June 30, 1908 – September 6, 1978), who was known professionally as Al Benson, was an American radio DJ, music promoter and record label owner in Chicago between the 1940s and 1960s. He was particularly significan ...
's talent show at the Regal Theater, winning for six straight weeks and gaining her a slot on a bill with
B. B. King and
Etta James as a prize. This brought her to the attention of
Ralph Bass
Ralph Basso Jr. (May 1, 1911 – March 5, 1997), known as Ralph Bass,The birth surname of Ralph Bass's paternal grandfather, who was born in Italy, was DuBasso. was an American rhythm-and-blues record producer and talent scout for several indepen ...
of
Chess Records,
who offered her a recording contract.
[ Biography by Ed Hogan ]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 ...
She recorded for the Chess label from 1961 to 1968,
releasing 15 singles and one album, mostly produced by
Billy Davis.
[ Her first record was "Gotta Get Away From It All", which was not a hit. Her first real success came in 1963 with "I'm Your Part Time Love", an answer record to ]Little Johnny Taylor
Little Johnny Taylor (born Johnny Lamont Merrett; February 11, 1943 – May 17, 2002) was an American blues and soul singer. He made recordings throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and continued public performances through the 1980s and 1990s.
...
's "Part Time Love
"Part Time Love" is a 1963 R&B song written by Clay Hammond and first recorded by Little Johnny Taylor. It was his second release and his most successful on the US ''Billboard'' R&B chart. "Part Time Love" was number one on that chart for one ...
". It reached No. 20 on the '' Billboard'' R&B chart
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...
, and was followed up with "I Had A Talk With My Man", a secularised version of James Cleveland's gospel song "I Had A Talk With God Last Night". The orchestrated ballad reached No. 41 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 3 on the '' Cash Box'' R&B chart, and became her best known song, later being covered by Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dram ...
, Jackie Ross, and Shirley Brown
Shirley Brown (born January 6, 1947, West Memphis, Arkansas) is an American R&B singer, best known for her million-selling single " Woman to Woman", which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1975.
Biography
Brown was born in West Memphis, but ...
among others.[ Her next record, "No Faith, No Love", was also a reworking of a James Cleveland song "No Cross, No Crown",] and reached No. 29 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and No. 91 on the pop chart. She released an album, ''Shades Of A Genius'', in 1965. Her last hit, in 1966, was "Sharing You" (No. 10 on the R&B chart, No. 97 pop). She left Chess in 1968 after recording a single, a new version of "Gotta Get Away From It All" recorded at FAME Studios 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 ...
, with the record producer 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 in ...
. She then recorded five further singles and an album with William Bell's Peachtree Records label in 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 ...
, Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
. However, in 1971 she developed polyps
A polyp in zoology is one of two forms found in the phylum Cnidaria, the other being the medusa. Polyps are roughly cylindrical in shape and elongated at the axis of the vase-shaped body. In solitary polyps, the aboral (opposite to oral) end i ...
on her vocal cords
In humans, vocal cords, also known as vocal folds or voice reeds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The size of vocal cords affects the pitch of voice. Open when breathing and vibrating for speec ...
, losing her singing voice, and gave up her secular music career.[
]
Later career
She then began to devote her life to her Christian beliefs. After recovering her voice she recorded several albums of gospel music, of which the first, ''The Warning'' in 1972, featured "I Had A Talk With God Last Night". Later albums included ''Hold The Light'' (1977) and ''I Am Love'' (1987). She also established a Bible Study Telephone Prayer Line and a community outreach program, "Feed-A-Neighbor" (FAN), for which she received the key to the city
The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...
of Birmingham in 1987. She became a preacher, and was ordained in 1989, later being appointed pastor of the More Like Christ (MLC) Christian Fellowship Ministries in Chicago. She has also worked at the University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
, as well as writing plays and continuing to sing gospel music. She has received a number of other humanitarian and other awards, including the National Council of Negro Women
The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1935 with the mission to advance the opportunities and the quality of life for African-American women, their families, and communities. Mary McLeod Bethune, the f ...
(NCNW) Woman of Wonder Award 2000.
Discography
Singles (chart hits only)
Albums
* ''Shades of a Genius'' (Chess, 1965)
* ''The Warning'' (2 A.M., 1972)
* ''Hold The Light'' (Gospel Roots, 1977)
* ''I Am Love'' (New Sound, 1987)
References
External links
Discography
* ttp://www.soulexpress.net/mittycollier_part2.htm The Mitty Collier Story, part 2 (1969-2013) at Soul Express
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, Mitty
1941 births
Living people
American gospel singers
American women singers
American soul singers
Musicians from Birmingham, Alabama
Chess Records artists
21st-century American women