Margie Joseph

Singer Margie Joseph, often likened to Aretha Franklin, never attained the widespread recognition or critical acclaim granted the Queen of Soul, yet a string of strong Atlantic releases throughout the 1970s secured her place among soul’s most devoted cult artists. Born Margaret Marie Joseph in Gautier, Mississippi, in 1950, she began singing in church choirs and later studied at Dillard University in New Orleans while launching a professional career. Her earliest demo sessions took place in 1967 at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios; shortly afterward she joined the Okeh roster, but the debut single “Why Does a Man Have to Lie?” appeared just as parent company Columbia shuttered the label and vanished almost immediately.

Two years later she moved to Volt, a Stax subsidiary, where New Orleans luminary Willie Tee handled production on the cult favorite “One More Chance.” Freddy Briggs then guided the follow-up “Your Sweet Loving,” which surfaced in mid-1970 and registered a modest R&B-chart entry. The next year a Supremes cover, “Stop! In the Name of Love,” climbed into the R&B Top 40 and helped lift her first album, Margie Joseph Makes a New Impression. Phase II arrived in 1972 centered on another Supremes song, “My World Is Empty Without You,” yet neither release gained traction, prompting a shift to Atlantic and work with producer Arif Mardin, already celebrated for his Aretha Franklin collaborations. Critics frequently noted resemblances between her self-titled Atlantic debut and Franklin’s earlier triumphs, even though Joseph’s voice remained distinct.

Spring 1973 brought an R&B hit with her version of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” Commercial momentum peaked later that year on the second Atlantic album, Sweet Surrender, which yielded two further successes: “Come Lay Some Lovin’ on Me,” outperforming the Paul Kelly original, and “My Love,” a Paul McCartney & Wings composition that became her sole Top Ten R&B single and reached the pop Top 75. Fans generally regard the 1975 album Margie as the artistic high point of her catalog; alongside the singles “Words (Are Impossible)” and “I Can’t Move No Mountains,” the hit “Stay Still” earned her an uncommon co-writing credit.

A March 1976 performance in Jamaica led to an introduction to vocal group Blue Magic; their duet “What’s Come Over Me,” featured on the album 13 Blue Magic Lane, stands as her second-largest R&B-chart success. Joseph then transferred to the Atlantic subsidiary Cotillion for 1976’s Hear the Words, Feel the Feeling, helmed by Motown veteran Lamont Dozier. Its title track reached the R&B Top 20, and the sessions also produced the seasonal disco track “Christmas Gift,” later included on the Funky Christmas anthology. Returning to the main Atlantic label, she recorded the Johnny Bristol-produced Feeling My Way, but when “Come on Back to Me, Lover” and “I Feel His Love Getting Stronger” failed to attract airplay, the company ended the contract.

She next landed at Philadelphia’s WMOT Records, where producer Dexter Wansel completed an entire album that was ultimately shelved after the label collapsed; discouraged, Joseph left the music industry for teaching. She resumed performing in 1982 with “Knockout” on the small HCRC imprint; the single unexpectedly charted on the R&B list, yet the label folded. The setback allowed her to rejoin Cotillion, where Narada Michael Walden produced the 1984 comeback album Ready for the Night. Its title track registered a minor hit before the label again dropped her. Four years later Ichiban issued Stay, her final new secular material until the 2006 gospel collection Latter Rain appeared on Sistapraise. During the intervening years, much of her earlier Stax and Atlantic catalog resurfaced on CD.