Ty Karim

A tall, elegant singer whose emotionally charged performances defined her presence, Ty Karim earned legendary status on the Los Angeles soul scene yet never achieved comparable national recognition. From the mid-1960s into the early 1980s she issued several potent dance tracks across assorted independent labels, most notably the hit single “Lightin’ Up.” All but one of these sides were overseen by her second husband, Kent Harris, whose own recording career had effectively concluded by the time the couple met. Harris redirected his energies entirely toward Karim, spotlighting the distinctive huskiness of her voice and granting it unrestricted expression across the tracks, many of which first appeared on his Romark label. In the early 1980s a 12-inch collaboration with George Griffin titled “Keep on Doin’ Whatcha’ Doin’” became a British hit and introduced Karim to audiences throughout Europe. Following her death in 1983, the breadth of her recordings slipped from view except among dedicated soul and R&B collectors. Years later her daughter Karime encountered a fanzine piece about her mother, relocated to the United Kingdom, and, possessing a strikingly similar vocal timbre, began performing Ty’s material on the Northern soul circuit, earning widespread praise while sustaining interest in the catalog almost single-handedly. In 2008 Kent Records released The Complete Ty Karim: Los Angeles’ Soul Goddess, thereby safeguarding the recorded legacy of this remarkable artist.