Garland Green
b. 24 June 1942, Dunleath, Mississippi, USA. Green used his most distinctive of baritones, plaintive with a blues feel, to create a marvellous body of typical Chicago-style uptown soul during the late '60s and early '70s. He came to Chicago in 1958, and found work in a corn-starch factory while singing on week-ends in local clubs. He was discovered by Jo Armstead in 1967, who was intrigued by the ‘pleading quality’ of his voice which was in the same vein as fellow Chicagoan Tyrone Davis, Green was quickly put into a recording studio. He first made a mark with the beautiful Girl I Need You, with a Chicago-style mid-tempo approach, but it failed to chart. Fame came with the later Jealous Kind Of Fellow, which went to number 5 R&B and number 20 pop in 1969. Plain And Simple Girl (US R&B number 17, 1971) was his next biggest success, but he continued to come out with top quality songs, such as Let The Good Times Roll (US R&B number 65, 1974) and Bumpin And Stompin’’ (US R&B number 72, 1975), despite modest chart success. Green moved to Los Angeles in 1979 and had one more minor chart record in 1983 with Tryin To Hold On’ (US R&B number 6), a remake of an earlier Lamont Dozierhit.