Little Beaver

Born William Hale on August 15, 1945, in Forrest City, AR, Little Beaver relocated to Florida during his teenage years. Following earlier sessions for various other imprints, he cut material for the Cat label, a subsidiary of Henry Stone’s TK Records based in Hialeah, FL. His initial entries on the charts arrived with “Joey” and the double-sided “Wish I Had a Girl Like You” b/w “Six Foot Hole.” The subsequent release, the hit “Party Down, Part 1,” became his most successful single and, like numerous other TK productions, was later interpolated by rap and hip-hop acts. This mid-tempo groover anchored the Party Down LP, which included guest vocals from Betty Wright along with keyboard contributions from Benny Lattimore (“Let’s Straighten It Out”) and Timmy Thomas (“Why Can’t We Live Together”). After that breakthrough, further singles appeared in the form of “Let the Good Times Roll” b/w “Let’s Stick Together,” both drawn from the same album, followed by “Little Girl Blue,” the Hale-Wright-Clarke collaboration “I Can Dig It Baby” b/w “Get Into the Party Life,” “Give a Helping Hand” b/w “Mama Forgo,” “Funkadelic Sound,” and “We Three.” Additional full-length releases on Cat comprised Little Beaver, Black Rhapsody, When Was the Last Time, and Beaver Fever, the last of which appeared under the billing Willie “Beaver” Hale.