Biography
Marva Whitney has never achieved broad public recognition, yet enthusiasts of funk regard her as one of the genre’s most visceral, assertive, and vocally commanding female artists. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s alongside Lyn Collins and Vicki Anderson as one of the featured singers in the James Brown Revue, and the handful of sides she recorded for labels connected to Brown now command extraordinary prices among collectors. Born in Kansas City, Kansas, she first appeared onstage at age three with the Manning Gospel Singers, the family-run gospel troupe that toured extensively. After completing formal music studies at college, she became lead vocalist for the R&B ensemble Tommy Gadson & the Derbys.
Whitney joined the James Brown Revue in 1967 as a featured female vocalist, which allowed her to perform a short solo set each night during Brown’s breaks. She traveled with him on his Vietnam tour in the late 1960s and participated in additional international engagements. Her first solo recordings appeared in 1969 on King, the label Brown used at the time. The single “It’s My Thing (You Can’t Tell Me Who to Sock It To),” a reworking of the Isley Brothers hit, reached the R&B Top 20, while the follow-up “Things Got to Get Better (Get Together)” narrowly missed that mark. Her robust, funk-oriented delivery prevented any pop crossover, and she remained with the Revue only until 1970 without securing further major solo successes.
Tracks such as “Unwind Yourself,” later sampled repeatedly in hip-hop, and the duet “You Got to Have a Job (If You Don’t Work)” nevertheless strengthened her reputation among record collectors. Her sole studio album, It’s My Thing, came out in 1969 and has since been widely bootlegged and sampled by DJs, while Live and Lowdown at the Apollo also circulates at premium collector prices. She later recorded for the Isley Brothers’ T-Neck label and for Nashboro, but her strongest material dates from the James Brown period. Seven of those performances were included on the Polydor anthology James Brown’s Original Funky Divas. Whitney died in December 2012 from complications of pneumonia.
Whitney joined the James Brown Revue in 1967 as a featured female vocalist, which allowed her to perform a short solo set each night during Brown’s breaks. She traveled with him on his Vietnam tour in the late 1960s and participated in additional international engagements. Her first solo recordings appeared in 1969 on King, the label Brown used at the time. The single “It’s My Thing (You Can’t Tell Me Who to Sock It To),” a reworking of the Isley Brothers hit, reached the R&B Top 20, while the follow-up “Things Got to Get Better (Get Together)” narrowly missed that mark. Her robust, funk-oriented delivery prevented any pop crossover, and she remained with the Revue only until 1970 without securing further major solo successes.
Tracks such as “Unwind Yourself,” later sampled repeatedly in hip-hop, and the duet “You Got to Have a Job (If You Don’t Work)” nevertheless strengthened her reputation among record collectors. Her sole studio album, It’s My Thing, came out in 1969 and has since been widely bootlegged and sampled by DJs, while Live and Lowdown at the Apollo also circulates at premium collector prices. She later recorded for the Isley Brothers’ T-Neck label and for Nashboro, but her strongest material dates from the James Brown period. Seven of those performances were included on the Polydor anthology James Brown’s Original Funky Divas. Whitney died in December 2012 from complications of pneumonia.
Albums
Singles
