Willie Hightower

Willie Hightower operated on the fringes of FAME in the late '60s. Signed by Bobby Robinson, one of the powerhouse record men of Southern soul and R&B, Hightower eked out two national hits -- "It's a Miracle," which peaked at 33 on Billboard's R&B charts in 1969; it was eclipsed by a version of Joe South's "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" the next year -- before fading from view. Hightower may not have scored another hit, but his sweet, weathered voice -- one molded by his love of Sam Cooke, then given definition by his adoption of deep soul techniques -- aged well, turning his handful of 45s into cherished items among soul connoisseurs. When his recordings were repackaged by Honest Jon's/Astralwerks in 2004, the reissue sparked a renaissance for Hightower, culminating in the unexpected comeback album Out of the Blue in 2018. Willie Hightower was born on the 30th day of September in 1940 in Gadsden, Alabama. As a child, he began singing in the church, gravitating toward soul -- and Sam Cooke in particular -- as he grew older. Hightower made his first steps toward a career in music in the mid-'60s when he signed a management contract with Shelley Stewart, who also DJ'ed in Birmingham, Alabama on WENN. Stewart brought Hightower to the attention of Bobby Robinson, the founder of Fire and Fury Records. Impressed, Robinson signed Hightower in 1965. Over the next four years, Robinson cut several sides with Robinson. The first of these, "What Am I Living For," appeared in 1965 on Enjoy, and two years later "If I Had a Hammer" became Hightower's first single distributed by Capitol Records. "Because I Love You," his first 45 recorded for Capitol and produced by Richard Gottehrer and Seymour Stein, appeared later in 1967, but it was 1968's "It's a Miracle" that brought Hightower into the Billboard R&B Top 40 for the first time; it peaked at 33. In the wake of its success, Capitol assembled the If I Had a Hammer album, pulling largely from previously released Enjoy, Fury, and Capitol sides. "Ooh Baby How I Love You," his last single for Capitol, also appeared on the LP. Hightower split with Robinson after the If I Had a Hammer LP and Capitol switched the singer to FAME Records in 1970. "Time Has Brought a Change" was his first single for FAME but his second 45 for the imprint, "Walk a Mile in My Shoes," went to 27. One more single, "Back Road into Town," appeared in 1971 before Hightower decamped to Mercury in 1972. He released two singles for Mercury -- a cover of Freddie Hart's country hit "Easy Lovin'" and "Don't Blame Me" -- before severing ties with the label. Hightower released "Chicago, Send Her Home" on Sound Stage 7 in 1976 and that was his last release for nearly a decade. "Too Many Irons in the Fire," a single for the tiny Adventure One label, was his only released record in the 1980s, although he made some other recordings with Bill Cantrell and Quinton Claunch during that decade. Hightower's '60s and '70s recordings were reissued in the 1990s and 2000s but it was the 2004 Honest Jon's/Astralwerks compilation Willie Hightower that revived interest in the singer. During his quiet decades, he continued to perform in Gadsden, but the Honest Jon's comp started a long process that eventually culminated in Hightower reuniting with Claunch for the 2018 album Out of the Blue. Produced by Billy Lawson, an associate of Claunch, and recorded in Muscle Shoals, Out of the Blue appeared on Ace in 2018.
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