Biography
Originally hailing from Gainesville, Florida, the blue-eyed Southern soul singer Linda Lyndell earned lasting recognition for her 1968 pop recording of “What a Man,” whose chorus Salt-N-Pepa later incorporated wholesale into their 1993 collaboration with En Vogue, “Whatta Man.” During childhood she moved between white and Black congregations in her hometown, internalizing the gospel style so thoroughly that by her teenage years she was already performing with local R&B groups. She subsequently toured as an opening act for James Brown and for Ike & Tina Turner. Atlanta disc jockey Dave Crawford introduced her to Otis Redding, who in turn steered her toward Stax Records and its production team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter. Mere weeks after Redding perished in a December 10, 1967 plane crash, Lyndell recorded the Crawford-produced single “Bring Your Love Back to Me” for Stax; the energetic track later became a favorite among Britain’s Northern soul enthusiasts yet attracted scant notice at the time of its release. During a follow-up Memphis session the following spring, Lyndell, Crawford, and the label’s house musicians spontaneously shaped “What a Man” across just two takes. The resulting single climbed to number 50 on the Billboard pop chart, but the attendant publicity spotlighted the fact that a white performer was delivering Black music, prompting threats from the Ku Klux Klan and other racist groups. Lyndell promptly withdrew from the stage, returned to Gainesville, and remained out of public view for the next twenty-five years. When Salt-N-Pepa’s version of “Whatta Man” appeared, she remained unaware of the borrowing until royalty statements arrived; the song’s widespread success ultimately motivated her to return to performing. In May 2003 she took the stage at the opening of Memphis’s Stax Museum, delivering “Whatta Man” in public for the first time.
Singles