Biography
In 1967 Arthur Conley delivered the vocals for, and joined his mentor Otis Redding in composing, the enduring classic “Sweet Soul Music,” widely regarded as the most distinguished recording ever devoted to celebrating the very style it embodies. Born on January 4, 1946, in McIntosh, Georgia, and brought up in Atlanta, Conley was only twelve when he became a member of the Evening Smiles, a gospel ensemble that performed frequently on the local station WAOK. By 1963 he fronted his own R&B ensemble, Arthur & the Corvets, which over the ensuing two years placed three singles—“Poor Girl,” “I Believe,” and “Flossie Mae”—with Atlanta’s National Recording Company. Although his smooth yet forceful singing carried a clear debt to his idol Sam Cooke, the NRC releases attracted scant notice, prompting him to disband the group and launch a solo career with the late-1964 Ru-Jac single “I’m a Lonely Stranger.”
Rufus Mitchell, who owned the label, forwarded a copy to soul shouter Redding, whose enthusiasm led him to invite Conley to recut the track at Memphis’s Stax Studios. Under Jim Stewart’s production the new version, titled “I’m a Stranger,” reached stores in fall 1965 and became only the second single issued on Redding’s fledgling Jotis imprint. Conley’s “Who’s Foolin’ Who” appeared in early 1966 and proved to be the final Jotis release. At Redding’s encouragement, Conley moved to Atco-distributed Fame Records for his next outing, the Dan Penn composition “I Can’t Stop (No, No, No).” Despite standing as his most powerful and fiery recording to that point, it encountered the same commercial indifference as earlier efforts. The follow-up, “Take Me (Just as I Am),” likewise failed to register, even though Solomon Burke scored a major pop success with the song the next year.
Redding then assumed a larger role, fostering Conley’s songwriting and guiding business matters. While jamming on a cover of Cooke’s “Yeah Man,” the pair began reshaping the original into what became “Sweet Soul Music.” The electrifying tribute to Southern soul name-checked figures such as James Brown, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, and, at Conley’s insistence, Redding himself. Issued as Conley’s debut on Atco, the single soared to number two on both the Billboard pop and R&B charts and reached the Top Ten throughout much of Europe. An album also titled Sweet Soul Music soon appeared, gathering his previously overlooked Jotis and Fame material. His subsequent single, a rendition of Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” returned him to the pop Top 40 and R&B Top 20, whereas the Cooke cover “Whole Lotta Woman” peaked at only number 73 on the pop chart.
Conley was onstage in Florida on December 10, 1967, when Redding and members of his backing band the Bar-Kays perished in a Wisconsin plane crash. Without Redding to mediate with Atco executives, his career risked slipping back into uncertainty, yet he steadied course in early 1968 by traveling to Memphis’s American Recording Studios to work with producer Tom Dowd. Those sessions yielded several standout tracks, among them the Top 20 R&B hit “People Sure Act Funny,” “Run On,” and the moving Redding tribute “Otis Sleep On.” Foremost was the blistering “Funky Street,” which climbed to number five on the Billboard R&B chart and number 14 on the pop side. Shortly afterward Conley joined Burke, Don Covay, Ben E. King, and Joe Tex in the Soul Clan to record the all-star album Soul Meeting, then embarked on a month-long European tour before returning to American to cut the Dowd-produced “Aunt Dora’s Love Soul Shack,” a modest hit said to have inspired the Temptations’ “Psychedelic Shack.” He closed the year with a cover of the Beatles’ “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” featuring Duane Allman on guitar; the single reached number 51 pop and number 41 R&B in early 1969.
Following one last collaboration with Dowd—the Allen Toussaint composition “Star Review,” an overt though unsuccessful bid to recapture the spark of “Sweet Soul Music”—Conley teamed with producer Johnny Sandlin and returned to the R&B Top 40 in early 1970 with “God Bless.” His final Atco release, an ill-considered version of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O,” hinted at the missteps that would mark his time with manager Phil Walden’s Capricorn label. Between 1971 and 1974 Conley issued only four singles—“I’m Living Good,” “Walking on Eggs,” “Rita,” and “It’s So Nice [When It’s Someone Else’s Wife]”—all of them undistinguished and commercially unsuccessful. In 1975 he moved to England, lived for several years in Belgium, and settled in the Netherlands in 1980, where he legally adopted the name Lee Roberts, combining his own middle name with his mother’s maiden name. A live recording made in Amsterdam on January 6, 1980, appeared commercially in 1988 as Soulin’ under the billing Lee Roberts & the Sweaters. In subsequent years he built a thriving business career; at its peak his Art-Con Productions encompassed nine enterprises, including Sweat Records, Upcoming Artists Records, Charity Records, Happy Jack Publishing, and the New Age Culture Exchange radio station. After an extended struggle with cancer, Conley died in the Dutch town of Ruurlo on November 17, 2003.
Rufus Mitchell, who owned the label, forwarded a copy to soul shouter Redding, whose enthusiasm led him to invite Conley to recut the track at Memphis’s Stax Studios. Under Jim Stewart’s production the new version, titled “I’m a Stranger,” reached stores in fall 1965 and became only the second single issued on Redding’s fledgling Jotis imprint. Conley’s “Who’s Foolin’ Who” appeared in early 1966 and proved to be the final Jotis release. At Redding’s encouragement, Conley moved to Atco-distributed Fame Records for his next outing, the Dan Penn composition “I Can’t Stop (No, No, No).” Despite standing as his most powerful and fiery recording to that point, it encountered the same commercial indifference as earlier efforts. The follow-up, “Take Me (Just as I Am),” likewise failed to register, even though Solomon Burke scored a major pop success with the song the next year.
Redding then assumed a larger role, fostering Conley’s songwriting and guiding business matters. While jamming on a cover of Cooke’s “Yeah Man,” the pair began reshaping the original into what became “Sweet Soul Music.” The electrifying tribute to Southern soul name-checked figures such as James Brown, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, and, at Conley’s insistence, Redding himself. Issued as Conley’s debut on Atco, the single soared to number two on both the Billboard pop and R&B charts and reached the Top Ten throughout much of Europe. An album also titled Sweet Soul Music soon appeared, gathering his previously overlooked Jotis and Fame material. His subsequent single, a rendition of Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” returned him to the pop Top 40 and R&B Top 20, whereas the Cooke cover “Whole Lotta Woman” peaked at only number 73 on the pop chart.
Conley was onstage in Florida on December 10, 1967, when Redding and members of his backing band the Bar-Kays perished in a Wisconsin plane crash. Without Redding to mediate with Atco executives, his career risked slipping back into uncertainty, yet he steadied course in early 1968 by traveling to Memphis’s American Recording Studios to work with producer Tom Dowd. Those sessions yielded several standout tracks, among them the Top 20 R&B hit “People Sure Act Funny,” “Run On,” and the moving Redding tribute “Otis Sleep On.” Foremost was the blistering “Funky Street,” which climbed to number five on the Billboard R&B chart and number 14 on the pop side. Shortly afterward Conley joined Burke, Don Covay, Ben E. King, and Joe Tex in the Soul Clan to record the all-star album Soul Meeting, then embarked on a month-long European tour before returning to American to cut the Dowd-produced “Aunt Dora’s Love Soul Shack,” a modest hit said to have inspired the Temptations’ “Psychedelic Shack.” He closed the year with a cover of the Beatles’ “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” featuring Duane Allman on guitar; the single reached number 51 pop and number 41 R&B in early 1969.
Following one last collaboration with Dowd—the Allen Toussaint composition “Star Review,” an overt though unsuccessful bid to recapture the spark of “Sweet Soul Music”—Conley teamed with producer Johnny Sandlin and returned to the R&B Top 40 in early 1970 with “God Bless.” His final Atco release, an ill-considered version of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O,” hinted at the missteps that would mark his time with manager Phil Walden’s Capricorn label. Between 1971 and 1974 Conley issued only four singles—“I’m Living Good,” “Walking on Eggs,” “Rita,” and “It’s So Nice [When It’s Someone Else’s Wife]”—all of them undistinguished and commercially unsuccessful. In 1975 he moved to England, lived for several years in Belgium, and settled in the Netherlands in 1980, where he legally adopted the name Lee Roberts, combining his own middle name with his mother’s maiden name. A live recording made in Amsterdam on January 6, 1980, appeared commercially in 1988 as Soulin’ under the billing Lee Roberts & the Sweaters. In subsequent years he built a thriving business career; at its peak his Art-Con Productions encompassed nine enterprises, including Sweat Records, Upcoming Artists Records, Charity Records, Happy Jack Publishing, and the New Age Culture Exchange radio station. After an extended struggle with cancer, Conley died in the Dutch town of Ruurlo on November 17, 2003.
Albums
