Biography
Jan Bradley, whose gentle soprano lent its voice to Curtis Mayfield’s composition “Mama Didn’t Lie,” scored a Top Ten R&B and Top 20 pop success for Chess Records in 1963. Addie Bradley entered the world on July 6, 1943, in Byhalia, Mississippi, and relocated with her family at age four to Robbins, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. An acquaintance who witnessed her high-school talent-show performance later urged guitarist Phil Upchurch’s manager, Don Talty, to hear her; Talty was so taken that he sought to place her on his Formal Records roster, yet her parents insisted she first complete her diploma. Upchurch then introduced Talty to Mayfield of the Impressions, and after a successful audition Mayfield began shaping the young vocalist’s career. Her first single, the Mayfield-penned “We Girls,” became a regional favorite throughout the Chicago area and earned spins on powerhouse pop outlet WLS.
Several additional releases followed before another Mayfield number, “Mama Didn’t Lie” backed with “Lovers Like Me,” was licensed to Chess for national release and climbed to number eight R&B and number fourteen pop in early 1963. A subsequent disagreement between Mayfield and Chess over publishing rights ended their association, leaving Bradley short of new material and prompting her to begin composing her own songs. She returned to the national charts in early 1965 when “I’m Over You”—arranged by Riley Hampton and produced by Billy Davis, distinct from the Fifth Dimension member—reached number twenty-four R&B. Further Chess sides included the Bradley-Talty collaboration “Just a Summer Memory,” produced by Leonard Caston and Davis and coupled with “He’ll Wait on Me,” along with “It’s Just Your Way” and the pairing “These Tears” b/w “Baby What Can I Do.” Once the Chess contract lapsed, Bradley and Talty issued records on Adanti, Doylen, Spectra Sound (“Love Is the Answer” b/w “Back in Circulation”), and Night Owl, none of which charted; another lone single, “The Things a Woman Needs,” also appeared.
At the dawn of the 1970s Bradley stepped away from music, married, raised a family, obtained a master’s degree, and entered social work. Beloved among British Northern-soul collectors, “Mama Didn’t Lie” later surfaced on the 1994 Uni/Chess anthology Chess Rhythm & Roll, the 1997 set Chess Soul: A Decade of Chicago’s Finest, and the 1988 MCA Special Products soundtrack to John Waters’s film Hairspray starring Divine. Collectables paired “Mama Don’t Lie” with Fontella Bass’s “Rescue Me” on a 45.
Several additional releases followed before another Mayfield number, “Mama Didn’t Lie” backed with “Lovers Like Me,” was licensed to Chess for national release and climbed to number eight R&B and number fourteen pop in early 1963. A subsequent disagreement between Mayfield and Chess over publishing rights ended their association, leaving Bradley short of new material and prompting her to begin composing her own songs. She returned to the national charts in early 1965 when “I’m Over You”—arranged by Riley Hampton and produced by Billy Davis, distinct from the Fifth Dimension member—reached number twenty-four R&B. Further Chess sides included the Bradley-Talty collaboration “Just a Summer Memory,” produced by Leonard Caston and Davis and coupled with “He’ll Wait on Me,” along with “It’s Just Your Way” and the pairing “These Tears” b/w “Baby What Can I Do.” Once the Chess contract lapsed, Bradley and Talty issued records on Adanti, Doylen, Spectra Sound (“Love Is the Answer” b/w “Back in Circulation”), and Night Owl, none of which charted; another lone single, “The Things a Woman Needs,” also appeared.
At the dawn of the 1970s Bradley stepped away from music, married, raised a family, obtained a master’s degree, and entered social work. Beloved among British Northern-soul collectors, “Mama Didn’t Lie” later surfaced on the 1994 Uni/Chess anthology Chess Rhythm & Roll, the 1997 set Chess Soul: A Decade of Chicago’s Finest, and the 1988 MCA Special Products soundtrack to John Waters’s film Hairspray starring Divine. Collectables paired “Mama Don’t Lie” with Fontella Bass’s “Rescue Me” on a 45.
Singles
