Tina Britt (born Marion Brittingham; July 5, 1938) is an American R&B singer who had two hits on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart in the 1960s. She released one album ''Blue All The Way'' and six 45s between 1965 and 1970.

Life and career

Tina Britt was born in

Smyrna, Delaware Smyrna is a town in Kent and New Castle counties in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the Census Bureau, as of 2010, the population of the town is 10,023. The international ...

, and raised in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. She had a peripatetic life travelling with her father, and started singing as a teenager at the First Missionary Baptist Church in

Sanford, Florida Sanford is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Seminole County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 61,051. Known as the "Historic Waterfront Gateway City", Sanford sits on the southern shore ...

. Whilst working in New York in 1965 she was introduced to Henry 'Juggy' Murray who offered her the chance to record secular

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 ...

Liner notes, ''Blue All The Way''
/ref> for the

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record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, a subsidiary of the Sue label. Tina Britt Discography, ''SoulfulKindaMusic''
Retrieved 8 October 2014 Her first single, a version of "The Real Thing" written by Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, and

Jo Armstead Josephine Armstead (born October 8, 1944), also known as "Joshie" Jo Armstead, is an American soul singer and songwriter. Armstead began her career singing backing vocals for blues musician Bobby "Blue" Bland before becoming an Ikette in the Ike ...

,Songs written by Nickolas Ashford, ''MusicVF.com''
Retrieved 8 September 2014 but originally credited to their publisher Ed Silvers, reached #20 on the R&B chart. The session that produced "The Real Thing" also gave up the follow-up single "You're Absolutely Right", another Ashford-Simpson-Armstead song and "Look", a side penned by Sidney Barnes and J.J.Jackson. Competition came from a version by the Apollas on the Loma label and sales were split, resulting in a chart miss for both. It would be three years before her next releases for the

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...

label, a subsidiary of

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1959, ...

, in 1968. They released two singles, "Who Was That", which reached #39 on the R&B chart, and a revival of Don Covay's "Sookie, Sookie". Both records were produced by Juggy Murray. Veep Records ceased in 1969 resulting in Britt being transferred to

Minit Records Minit Records was an American independent record label, originally based in New Orleans and founded by Joe Banashak in 1959. Ernie K. Doe, Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, and Benny Spellman were early artists on the label. Later artists included Bo ...

, a subsidiary of the newly acquired

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

. They released her only album, the Murray produced ''Blue All The Way''. Tina Britt Discography, ''Discogs.com''
Retrieved 8 October 2014 However, her only single for Minit, a cover of

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

's ''Hawg For You'', failed to chart. Aside from occasional session work as a background vocalist, notably for

Wilbert Harrison Wilbert Huntington Harrison (January 5, 1929 – October 26, 1994) was an American rhythm and blues singer, pianist, guitarist and harmonica player. Biography Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Harrison had a Billboard #1 record in 1959 with ...

's album ''Let's Work Together'', her recording career had ended by 1970, and Britt left the recording industry soon afterwards. Her later life centred around raising her children. In autumn 2009, when interviewed by ''In The Basement'' magazine, she was living in Philadelphia. In 2012, she released a new download single, "Play It Back". Tina Britt, "Play It Back", ''CDBaby.com''
Retrieved 24 February 2019 Her singles were compiled, together with other previously unreleased tracks, on the 2006 CD ''Blue All the Way ...plus''.
Retrieved 8 October 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Britt, Tina 20th-century African-American women singers American soul singers 1938 births Living people 20th-century American singers Singers from Pennsylvania Musicians from Philadelphia 20th-century American women singers Minit Records artists 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women