Biography
Rickey Calloway first gained notice among funk enthusiasts through the enduring underground favorite “Tell Me.” Born January 8, 1953, in Jacksonville, Florida, the singer spent his teenage years performing James Brown material in local clubs, an experience he eventually abandoned in favor of composing original material, as recounted in the winter 2005 edition of Wax Poetics. At age seventeen he made his songwriting debut with “Tell Me,” cut alongside the regional funk group the Crack Mirrow and issued on the Jayville imprint in 1970; the single received strong regional rotation across northern Florida and southeast Georgia yet never broke nationally.
Calloway next cut “Get It Right” for the California-based Bel-Air label, though negotiations collapsed without a contract and he retained the master tapes. After moving to Miami, his management placed the track with Style Wooten’s Memphis label Comara in 1974, but that release likewise failed to gain traction. Burned out, Calloway stepped away from touring in 1976 and married the next year. He returned briefly in 1979 to issue one last single, “Payin’ My Dues,” on the Super label, before again leaving the music business.
Decades later, after discovering that original pressings of “Tell Me” commanded high prices on the collector market, Calloway located the surviving master tapes and licensed a fresh 12-inch edition on Kay-Dee; he also began performing again at venues around Jacksonville.
Calloway next cut “Get It Right” for the California-based Bel-Air label, though negotiations collapsed without a contract and he retained the master tapes. After moving to Miami, his management placed the track with Style Wooten’s Memphis label Comara in 1974, but that release likewise failed to gain traction. Burned out, Calloway stepped away from touring in 1976 and married the next year. He returned briefly in 1979 to issue one last single, “Payin’ My Dues,” on the Super label, before again leaving the music business.
Decades later, after discovering that original pressings of “Tell Me” commanded high prices on the collector market, Calloway located the surviving master tapes and licensed a fresh 12-inch edition on Kay-Dee; he also began performing again at venues around Jacksonville.
Albums
Singles
