Billy Bland
Billy Bland ( born April 5, 1932 in Wilmington, North Carolina) is an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter with African-American roots.
Life
Bland began his professional singing career in the late 1940s as a member of the New York vocal quartet The Four Bees. The group took two plates at 1954 Imperial Records on: Toy Bell / Snatchin 'Back (# 5314 ) and I Want to Be Loved / Get Away Baby ( # 5320 ). 1955 Bland left the Bees and signed a recording contract as a solo singer with the New York record company Old Town. Beginning of 1956, Old Town, the first single with Bland out, but the two title Chicken in the Basket / The Fat Man were unsuccessful. The same happened the following publications in the years up to 1959. Bland's first record success was rather random. Old Town was planning a recording of the title Let the Little Girl Dance with the singer Titus Turner. The present in the recording studio Bland Turner demonstrated his own version of the title with the result that producer Henry Glover decided to give the Bland- version is preferable. In January 1960, the single was released with the catalog number 1076 on the market, on February 15 gave the title Let the Little Girl Dance on place 99 made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 16 had the song on his Rank 7 achieved best quotation, overall he was listed for 20 weeks on the Hot 100. In addition, the title came at the rhythm-and - blues charts up to 11th place.
Let the Little Girl Dance Bland was the only top hit. Until 1961 he was able to place even with three other titles on the Hot 100 places between ranks 90 and 94, after which he no longer appeared in the charts on. With his last listed at Billboard titled My Heart's on Fire, he also had his only success as a songwriter. Further experiments in this profession in different styles were in vain. The single A Little Touch / Little Boy Blue ( 1151 ), published in May 1963, was Bland's last shot at Old Town. Mid-1960s, he took on two plates for the label St. Lawrence. In the late 1980s, he led a restaurant serving traditional African-American cuisine in Harlem.