Charlie Whitehead

An obscure but fascinating figure in American soul music, Charlie Whitehead benefited from the guidance of songwriter, producer, and professional eccentric Jerry Williams, Jr. (aka Swamp Dogg). Whitehead recorded a handful of powerful sides whose political and social themes spoke with unmistakable directness, and although the force of his message kept him from scaling the upper reaches of the sales charts, he left behind a striking body of work during his short recording career. Born in 1942 in Virginia, Whitehead first entered the music business in the early '60s as a member of the Norfolk, VA, vocal group the Rocking Charmers. In 1968 he moved to New York City, where R&B singer Charlie Foxx noticed him and arranged a contract with Dynamo Records. Dynamo assigned Williams to oversee Whitehead's sessions, yet after a single release the label let him go; Williams then took the singer to Canyon Records, which had recently issued Swamp Dogg's epochal Total Destruction to Your Mind, and produced an LP issued under the name Raw Spitt. The Raw Spitt album included such uncompromising songs as "Call Me Nigger," "The Freedom Under Certain Konditions Marching Band," and "I Dig Black Girls," but despite the music's strength it failed to chart. Once Canyon Records closed, Williams launched his own short-lived Stone Dogg imprint and issued three singles by Whitehead under the artist's own name. Whitehead later recorded an album credited to Charlie Whitehead & the Swamp Dogg Band for another Williams label, the memorably named Fungus Records, though that release likewise drew little commercial or radio attention. In 1975 Whitehead finally reached the R&B singles charts with "Love Being Your Fool," yet his next album, 1977's Williams-produced Whitehead at Yellowstone, proved to be his final effort. In 2006 the respected British R&B archivists at Ace/Kent Records issued a collection of Whitehead's recordings with Jerry Williams, Jr., titled Songs to Sing: The Charlie Whitehead Anthology, 1970-1976.