Howard Tate earned deep respect from soul devotees while staying virtually invisible to everyone else, logging modest chart traction on Verve in the late 1960s. Blues and gospel inflections colored his phrasing, yet Jerry Ragovoy’s Northeast soul production—and his authorship of much of the material—rendered the singer accessible to then-current R&B listeners and, to a narrower degree, pop audiences. Three late-decade singles placed Howard inside the R&B Top 20: “Ain’t Nobody Home,” “Stop,” and “Look at Granny Run Run.” Rock listeners chiefly know him as the first artist to cut “Get It While You Can,” which later became one of Janis Joplin’s signature recordings.
Before stepping out as a solo act, Tate had sung with the Gainors, a North Philadelphia doo-wop outfit that also included future soul star Garnet Mimms. In the early 1960s he fronted organist Bill Doggett, already celebrated for the instrumental hit “Honky Tonk.” An Enchanters member—part of Garnet Mimms’ backing group—steered Jerry Ragovoy toward Tate, leading to roughly ten singles tracked between 1966 and 1969, the earliest on the small Utopia label and the balance on Verve.
Tate next moved to Lloyd Price’s Turntable imprint, where he cut several singles in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A short Atlantic stay followed, producing more 45s and a critically admired album that still failed to generate major sales. His final single appeared on Epic in 1974. Largely vanishing from view in the early 1980s, he developed a substance-abuse problem and reportedly spent time in a homeless shelter before entering the ministry. A New Jersey DJ’s encouragement prompted his return to performing in the early 2000s. Tate also resumed recording, issuing Rediscovered in 2003 and A Portrait of Howard three years later. Blue Day arrived in 2008 and reconfirmed his gifts as a songwriter.
Although Tate remained an enduring soul figure, his catalog reached its widest audience through cover versions: Jimi Hendrix and Hugh Masekela recorded “Stop,” Ry Cooder tackled “Look at Granny Run Run,” B.B. King cut “Ain’t Nobody Home,” and Brand Nubian sampled “Look at Granny Run Run.” Joplin, who likewise mined the Ragovoy catalog for “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder),” “Cry Baby,” and “My Baby,” rendered “Get It While You Can” in a reading closely modeled on Tate’s original.
