Lee Fields

Lee Fields, a persistent soul performer whose major recognition arrived after more than thirty years in the business, first concentrated on the sharp, hard-edged funk sound made iconic by James Brown. His real breakthrough arrived once he forged a more individual voice and connected with listeners drawn to the retro-soul revival. He first gained notice among committed funk enthusiasts through a string of forceful singles issued on assorted independent labels throughout the 1970s. Every aspect of Fields, from his appearance and singing to the grooves on his releases, so closely echoed James Brown that he acquired the moniker “Little J.B.” Though commercial stardom eluded him, those raw, energetic singles later became sought-after collector pieces. Following an extended break, he reemerged in the 1990s as a soul-blues singer performing for predominantly female crowds on the Southern club circuit. With hip-hop producers seeking samples and British rare-groove collectors driving demand, interest in obscure vintage funk surged in the late 1990s, allowing Fields, who had stayed active, to benefit when fresh recordings in that vein proved marketable. He rose as the central figure of the deep funk scene with Let’s Get a Groove On (1998), initiating a run of albums that frequently matched or surpassed his earlier efforts. That momentum enabled him to broaden his range across soul-focused releases from My World (2009) to It Rains Love (2019), supported by the Expressions. Well into his sixth decade of performing, Fields maintained activity in the 2020s with Sentimental Fool (2022), marking his debut for Daptone.

Born Elmer Fields in Wilson, North Carolina, in 1950, he developed a keen interest in music during childhood and began aspiring to a singing career while still a teenager. In 1967 he traveled by bus to New York City; his mother, unable to deter him, provided her final twenty dollars. An ardent admirer of James Brown, Fields mastered the star’s stage moves and vocal manner so precisely that he soon performed in clubs where audiences addressed him as “Little J.B.”

His earliest single, “Bewildered” b/w “Tell Her I Love Her,” appeared on the Bedford label in 1969. After the standalone 1973 release “Gonna Make Love” on London, he recorded for Norfolk Sound; that same year brought one of his most enduring 45s, “Let’s Talk It Over” b/w “She’s a Love Maker,” which sold modestly at the time yet later attracted vintage-soul collectors. Another collector favorite, “Everybody Gonna Give Their Thing Away to Somebody (Sometime)” b/w “East Coast Rapper,” surfaced on SoundPlus in 1975. During the second half of the decade he cut material for Angle 3, including the especially prized “The Bull Is Coming” b/w “Funky Screw,” credited to Lee Fields & the Devil’s Personal Band. His final Angle 3 single arrived in 1981, the same period in which he issued his first album, Let’s Talk It Over, itself destined to become a scarce and expensive item.

Fields remained largely inactive through most of the 1980s, supporting himself via rental properties, but staged a return in the early 1990s on the revived Mississippi-based Ace label. Beginning with Enough Is Enough in 1992, he worked the Southern soul-blues circuit in sequined outfits, delivering romantic material to audiences that still favored his approach. He also played keyboards on his Ace releases, among them Coming to Tear the Roof Down (1995) and Dreaming Big Time (1996), before moving to Avanti for It’s Hard to Go Back After Loving You (1998).

By then he had begun working with New York’s Desco Records, which specialized in new recordings aimed at classic-funk collectors. Fields appeared on one track of the Soul Providers’ 1997 debut Gimmie the Paw, soon joined the band for Desco showcase performances, and issued limited-edition 45s. In 1998 he became Desco’s first artist to release a full-length album, the intense Let’s Get a Groove On, whose commitment to live, James Brown-style funk without synthesizers or drum machines earned praise and helped establish the label among an underground audience previously uninterested in new Fields material.

After Desco split into Daptone and Soul Fire, Fields recorded for both, releasing the 7-inch singles “Give Me a Chance” and “Shot Down” on Daptone in 2001–2002 and the album Problems on Soul Fire in late 2002, again acclaimed within the funk community. He next collaborated with producer Jeff Silverman and multi-instrumentalist Leon Michels, who formed the Expressions as his backing group. The powerful My World appeared on the Truth & Soul label in 2009. The smoother Treacherous followed on BDA in 2011 and included contributions from Parliament-Funkadelic’s Garry Shider. He returned to Truth & Soul the next year with Faithful Man while maintaining an exhaustive global touring schedule that drew widespread praise.

Following a brief pause in 2013, Fields reunited with the Expressions. The single “Magnolia,” a cover of J.J. Cale’s song, emerged for Record Store Day in 2014, succeeded by the album Emma Jean in June. Fields & the Expressions continued worldwide touring and joined Big Crown Records, another Leon Michels imprint. Special Night, issued in November 2016 after its title track appeared the previous month, was described by its creator as a “throwback” collection emphasizing ballads and quiet-storm material; instrumental versions followed in March 2017. It Rains Love arrived in April 2019, a deeply soul-rooted set containing the spiritually themed tracks “God Is Real” and “Love Is the Answer.” Fields rejoined Daptone, which issued “Ordinary Lives,” written by founder Gabriel Roth, in early 2022; the single previewed the blues-inflected direction of Sentimental Fool, released that October.