Clay Hammond

Clay Hammond earned his chief renown by writing Little Johnny Taylor's massive soul smash "Part Time Love." At the same time he worked as a capable Sam Cooke-style soul singer who cut sides for several labels during the 1960s. The four singles he placed with Kent from 1966 to 1969 stand as his best-known work from those years. Those sides fused Southern soul, gospel, and blues yet carried a lighter, poppier production gloss than most Southern soul of the period, a quality probably linked to their Los Angeles recording sessions. All eight songs from the original 45s, together with eight additional tracks cut for the label but left unreleased in the 1960s, appear on the Ace CD Southern Soul Brothers; the set also contains ten tracks recorded for Kent in the same years by fellow soul vocalist Z.Z. Hill. After the 1960s Hammond continued to release occasional singles and albums on assorted imprints while performing with touring lineups of the Drifters and the Rivingtons on the oldies circuit.