Soul singer Don Wilson Varner carries an uncanny likeness to Ike Turner, though somewhat stockier in build, with facial features that nearly mirror one another. He spent his early years in the Birmingham, AL, area that also shaped Eddie Kendricks, who routinely inquired about Varner’s current singing engagements whenever Kendricks visited home.
Varner began performing during his high-school years and headed to Chicago upon graduation in search of professional opportunities. Club work sustained him, yet no recording sessions materialized, prompting his return to the South after six years amid the rising activity centered in Muscle Shoals, AL, where Rick Hall’s Fame Records was generating hits for Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Candi Staton, and additional artists. He formed a connection with Jerry Wexler, Franklin’s producer, which led to a co-writing credit with William Crump on the Sam & Dave track “I Keep Holdin’ On.”
Varner collaborated extensively with Quinn Ivy at the Sheffield, AL, facility, capturing Eddie Hinton productions such as “Masquerade,” “Down in Texas,” and “Tear Stained Face,” issued on Ivy’s South Camp Records through Atco/Atlantic distribution in the late ’60s. Although the majority of his studio efforts remained unreleased, he maintained an active schedule of regional live performances alongside prominent soul acts. In the mid-’80s he relocated to California and joined the Johnny Otis Show as its featured vocalist for an extended tour.
By the late ’80s Varner had established residence in Moreno Valley, CA, alongside his wife Francine, where the pair began issuing and administering gospel material through Retour Records along with the Ceevee and Gospel Truth publishing firms; they simultaneously operate a concert-promotion enterprise. His earlier sides appear on Charly Records, among them a rendition of “You Left the Water Running.” The collections Tear Stained Soul, Vol. 1 and High on the Hog, both on Overture Music, include selections by Don along with Brenda Varner, his first wife.
