TINY TOPSY Miss You So GREAT BLUES 45 FEDERAL #12302 E+

$

78

What a great 45 from TINY TOPSY! If you have never heard this woman sing, you are in for a treat! On the FEDERAL record label. The record # is: 12302. The song "Miss You So" is on Side A. and on Side B. is: "Aw! Shucks Baby". I can guarantee that if "Aw! Shucks Baby" can't put a smile on your face... you need to be checked for a pulse! This record is in VG++ condition! The labels are in Near Mint condition, with no wear at all! What a wonderful, well cared for record. I have just made a major purchase of ultra rare rock, jazz & blues albums! They were from Radio Station Promotion Manager Lester "Len" Miller and are from his personal collection.

TINY TOPSY

Born Otha Lee Moore, 1929 or 1930 Died August 1964 (aged 34), Chicago, Illinois

"Tiny in the same spirit you'd call a bald man curly, Tiny Topsy definitely had the lungpower to match her name", writes Mark Lamarr in the liner notes for the CD "Roc-King Up A Storm" (Westside WESA 801). She was one of those big-voiced R&B women of the mid to late 50s, with a style close to that of LaVern Baker, Big Maybelle and Big Mama Thornton. Her real name has been a mystery. for years, but early in 2008 someone in Berlin discovered that it was Otha Lee Moore Hall (she was married to Samuel Hall) .Before her recording career, Tiny sang with Al Smith's 8-piece jazz/R&B club band, which was formed in Chicago in 1945. This group broke up in 1952 without having been recorded. Al Smith's band went on to become the house band for labels like Chance, Parrot and Vee-Jay and turned out 81 sessions between 1952 and 1959, but without Tiny's involvement.

Tiny's first recording session was held in Cincinnati on July 9, 1957 and resulted in the bouncy "Aw! Shucks Baby" (Federal 12302), with a great tenor solo by Ray Felder. The label credit reads "Tiny Topsy With The Five Chances". The flip was a cover of "Miss You So", a Top 10 R&B hit for Lillian Offitt (Excello 2104, also # 66 pop). A third track from this session, "A Woman's Intuition", remained unissued until 1988. Her next two singles - both solid rockers - "Come On, Come On, Come On" (Federal 12309) and "You Shocked Me" (Federal 12315) both saw a UK release on the Parlophone label, quite surprising, considering the rarity of US R&B releases in Blighty at that time. (When Elmore James died in 1963, none of his records had been issued in the UK during his lifetime.)

Tiny Topsy's fourth Federal single is a very interesting one. Written by the aforementioned Bernice Williams, it is called "Western Rock 'n' Roll" and incorporates snippets of then-current hits (Lollipop, At the Hop, Get a Job, Short Shorts). It opens with gunshots and probably for that reason, Dave Penny (yes, the same one) calls it a "Western Movies pastiche" in his 1988 liner notes for the LP "Aw! Shucks Baby". However, the recording date of "Western Rock 'n' Roll" (March 19, 1958) predates the release date of the Olympics hit by some three months. So it looks like the sound effects on "Western Movies" were inspired by "Western Rock 'n' Roll" instead of the other way round.

Tiny Topsy certainly was a trendsetter, because her next single (and her last one for Federal) was the original of what has become a classic : "Just A Little Bit". Rosco Gordon had a # 2 R&B hit with his version in 1960 and the song has been covered by countless people, including Jerry Lee Lewis on his "Southern Roots" album.

After leaving Federal, Tiny recorded only one further single, "After Marriage Blues"/ "Working On Me Baby" (Argo 5383, 1961, released on Pye International in the UK). An alternate take of "Aw! Shucks Baby" was released by King in 1963, not long before her untimely death at the age of only 34. She never scored a hit, but her small legacy is thoroughly enjoyable.

WHAT A RARE AND HARD TO FIND RECORD FROM TINY TOPSY! GRAB THIS ONE... YOU WILL WANT IT FOR YOUR COLLECTION!

It's time to for this old collector to empty the vaults if you will!! I Am Selling Most Of My Sealed and Autographed Albums. Most Are From My Very Own Personal Collection Which I Have Saved and Stored Very Carefully For A Long Time. So Check Back Often As I Will Be Selling Most Of My 70's & 80"s Autographs In The Coming Months. It's All Going!