Anyone remember the R&B singer Esther Phillips?

One of the most sadly underrated vocal talent of the past 55 or so years, Esther Phillips' singing career spanned the R&B, soul, and disco eras.

She was born Esther Mae Jones in Galveston, Texas, on December 23, 1935. Her family moved to Los Angeles in 1940. It was there that the 14-year-old was discovered by the white R&B bandleader Johnny Otis, who signed her to his Johnny Otis Show and renamed her Little Esther. They recorded for Herman Lubinsky's Savoy Records.

Her first single with the group, "Double Crossing Blues," topped the Billboard R&B charts for nine weeks and became the #1 R&B single of 1950. The follow-up, "Mistrustin’ Blues," spent four weeks at #1 R&B. It was followed by "Misery" (#9) and a third #1 hit, "Cupid’s Boogie." At the end of 1950, "Little Esther with the Johnny Otis Orchestra," as the label credits read, had amassed seven top ten R&B hits in just ten months.

By 1952, Esther had parted company with Otis and was recording solo for Syd Nathan’s Federal Records (the future home of James Brown). Her one R&B chart single for the label, "Ring-A-Ding-Doo," reached #8 that spring. Also singing on the record was Esther’s old partner from the Johnny Otis Show, "Handsome" Mel Walker.

Although Little Esther became one of the first true female R&B superstars, it took her another ten years after her stint with Federal to make the charts again. The problem was more than likely one of Esther’s periodic bouts with drug addiction, which frequently interrupted her career.

By 1962, she had assumed the name of Esther Phillips, and was on the Lenox label. Her deep-soul reading of the country and western ballad "Release Me" struck a chord with both R&B and pop audiences. It spent three weeks at #1 on the former chart and hit #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, her first crossover single. It also was her only hit for Lenox.

By the dawn of the British Invasion, Esther Phillips was on Atlantic. She had two pop chart hits for that label, "And I Love Him," a gender-changing re-do of a Beatles tune (#54 pop, #11 R&B, 1965), and "When A Woman Loves A Man," a gender-changing re-do of a Percy Sledge tune (#73 pop, #26 R&B, 1966).

After a brief stint with Morris Levy's Roulette Records in the late ‘60s, Esther landed on the Kudu label, with whom she hit #40 R&B in the spring of 1972 with the provocatively titled "Home Is Where The Hatred Is." Her biggest hit for Kudu was a discofied remake of Dinah Washington’s "What A Difference A Day Makes" (#20 pop, #10 R&B, 1975).

Esther’s last R&B chart appearance was in 1983, when "Turn Me Out" climbed to #85 during a three-week stay. She died on August 7, 1984, of liver and kidney failure brought on by decades of drug addiction, and left behind a musical legacy that spanned three-and-a-half decades.

I think it was released in the 70's.

just yesterday. Incredible!

Over 30 years ago, at a friend of a friend of a friend's place...he said "You have to hear this," and it knocked me out.

Thanks for the discography, because we were all extreeeemely mellow at the time and I could never recall which LP I had heard. Now I know it must have been "Home Is Where the Hatred Is."