Post by Diamond Girl on Jan 10, 2007 21:52:33 GMT -5
Detroit gospel singer Kim Weston was for a brief moment, Motown’s queen of soul, hitting the Top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic in 1967 with It Takes Two, her heartfelt duet with Marvin Gaye. And today some 38 years on, Weston still cuts a regal presence as she sits in the lobby at Universal Music in Kensington, London wearing a red flared trouser suit, diamond musical note necklace, red snakeskin high heels and a full-length fur coat. She wraps an embroidered black scarf around her shoulders, then we’re off to a nearby Italian restaurant where Kim will once seated regale us with tales of Motown, plans for a collaboration with Tom Jones and those duets with Marvin. On the way back she’ll haggle over the price of grapes before playing us her new recordings that see her reunited with Motown songwriter Sylvia Moy, who along with Kim’s then husband Mickey Stevenson penned her fourth single, A Little More Love back in 1964.
For many though, Kim, born Agatha Natalie Weston in 1939, will always be known for those songs with Marvin. Yet she was equally adept as a solo artist. At Motown from 1962-’67 she delivered jazz tinged deep soul ballads (Love Me All The Way, Just Loving You) and delicious dancefloor soul (Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While), Helpless.) By ’67 she’d captured the attention of Duke Ellington – he called her “a beautiful ebony-hued satin doll whose generous physical adornments are well distributed” – and was recording with Count Basie’s backing band at MGM. Later she recorded one off albums for Stax and People before turning her attention to radio and community work. Here with Lois Wilson she discusses life at Hitsville USA, meeting the Gaye family and vomiting on the Funk Brothers.
You began singing at the remarkably young age of three.
Yes, I asked my mother if I could sing a solo in church and her first question was, ‘Do you know a solo?’ She would leave me on my own a lot – she ran the Sunday school at the local church, the AOH Church Of God. She was the church pianist, church secretary, church cook, church janitor. She did everything in that church but preach, so she had no idea I was going around the neighbourhood singing and dancing and keeping them entertained while she was out of the house. Some of the neighbours would give me money to entertain their guests. I had a whole repertoire, by three I was a little star! So for that first solo in church, I wasn’t nervous or scared. I sang Journey To The Sky and loved it.
Was singing your first love because you graduated from college as a cosmetologist?
I had really wanted to go to executive business school but people had always told me I had a special touch where hair was concerned, they liked me touching their hair, combing it and grooming it and so I naturally drifted into doing that. All the time I was singing though.
You honed your singing craft in the Christianaires, who were tutored by James Cleveland.
I met Kerry Jones, she was the first soprano in the Christianaires, a local gospel group and she recruited me to sing and play piano. I was only 18 at the time. We sung all over the Detroit area, at the New Bethel Baptist Church, which was Aretha Franklin’s father’s church, at King Solomon’s, at the Prayer Tabernacle Church, which was James Cleveland’s church. James was initially playing at New Bethel when we started out but then he moved to the Tabernacle. Our manager Thomas Wright got James to tutor us and he taught us the gospel standards.
The Christianaires soon mutated into the Wright Specials with whom you recorded two singles for the Motown gospel imprint Divinity, the first two releases on the label - That’s What He Is To Me/Pilgrim Of Sorrow and Ninety-Nine And A Half Won’t Do/I Won’t Go Back.
By the time the Christianaires had become the Wright Specials (we changed our name to reference Thomas Wright) I had left the group. I was exhausted. I would go to my own church Sunday morning then every afternoon the group would pick me up and we’d sing at five different churches before the evening service. I’d be soaking wet in winter, with no money and a throat so sore I could hardly talk. I remember one time they divided up the money we had earned and I only had $9. I quit! Then Mr Wright told me he needed me because he had a deal with Motown so I reluctantly rejoined to help record the two singles. It was the first time I’d been in a recording studio so an exciting process but it didn’t make me want to be a singer.
So how did you end up being a solo singer signed to Motown?
When I left the group after we recorded the two singles, I didn’t want to continue singing. A friend of mine though, called Gene, who used to see me sing in church and direct the choir asked me if I was interested in doing some demo work for a friend of his. I knew nothing about demos, but he was persuasive. I met his friend, it was Johnny Thornton, Johnny was the cousin of Brian and Eddie Holland. Eddie was actually at the session I recorded for Johnny, but I can’t remember the song we demoed, but I do remember they didn’t like the song at Motown and I didn’t like it either! But they were interested in my voice, and they asked me if I’d be interested in singing for them. I’m sure it was Eddie who was behind this.
You were initially assigned to Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier on arriving at the company in 1962, but it was Motown’s A&R director Mickey Stevenson who took you under his wing.
For the first two weeks I took the bus each day only to be left in the lobby. In the end I walked up to the receptionist and said, you can tell them they can take their contract and shove it. Mickey heard, and took me into Studio A where he had a writer waiting. The writer and he had an argument about some suggestions Mickey wanted to make, the writer walked out and Mickey took his song, we both contributed a few bits and it became the first song I recorded, Love Me All The Way.
Why was Love Me All The Way relegated to the flip side of your debut 1963’s It Should Have Been Me?
It Should Have Been Me was written by Norman Whitfield (with Mickey Stevenson), it was the first song he had written for Motown so they were eager to push him as a new talent. (Five years later Gladys Knight and the Pips would have a hit with their cover of the song produced by Whitfield himself.)
You’ve often said in past interviews that you weren’t happy with the material that Motown gave you to record. But you do like your second single for the label, Just Loving You, don’t you?
Yes I loved recording that, Mickey wrote it for me, but I hated the B side Another Train Coming. Motown always gave me such sad songs to sing, either he’s leaving, or I’m about to leave. These days when I play in the UK they just want the fast numbers, all boom boom boom, ones with a beat they can dance to but I prefer the slower songs so I can really sing and express myself.
While you were recording your first solo songs for the label the Motown revue was out on the road. It must have been pretty quiet around Hitsville USA.
Yes, they were out on the road and Berry Gordy told us that on their return we were to go out and give them a huge welcome home. Of course they didn’t care if we were there or not. They were shattered and just wanted to go home and rest. That was when I met Marvin Gaye for the first time as he got off the bus. Berry Gordy had this idea that the label was run like a family so we all had to be out on the street waving and cheering.
So by the time you worked with Smokey Robinson on Looking For The Right Guy and its B side Feel Alright Tonight in 1964 did you feel like you were apart of the family?
Not really, although of course I had Mickey looking out for me and Smokey was good to work with, very professional.
Was it Mickey Stevenson’s idea for you to team with Marvin? Mickey produced and co wrote your first single together, 1964’s What Good Am I Without You didn’t he?
Yes it was Mickey’s idea. Marvin needed a replacement for Mary Wells as she’d left the label. I’d traveled with Marvin, we’d shared bills together and we already had a great relationship. I’m the only female artist he took home to meet his family. Some of the guys went to his house but I was the only female and his family kind of adopted me. His sister is one of my best friends. I was close to his mother too, she said, ‘you are the type of girl I thought Marvin would bring home.’ She’d bring me greens and chicken to my hotel when I was touring.
Were you surprised by the huge success of It Takes Two, your duet with Marvin?
It really shocked me because I had left the label when they released it. When I heard I had a hit I couldn’t believe it. What a case of bad timing.
1966 saw the release of *Take Two, an album of duets with Marvin containing such fabulous cuts as I Love You Yes I Do, It’s Got To Be A Miracle, ’Til There Was You and Secret Love.
We never got to pick any of those songs. It was so frustrating. Marvin and I would rehearse the LP together, and that was when I saw an ability in Marvin which I had not seen before, I heard the frustration in his voice. At that time artists at Motown were not allowed to do their own production, and he said I’m better than most of the producers here. It was difficult because we did not have creative control. That’s partly why I left and went to MGM. Mickey partly went because he was offered a million and a half dollars from MGM!
Before that you were singing with Billy Eckstine weren’t you? And it was while playing Las Vegas with him that you married Mickey Stevenson on April 19, 1964?
It was the Four Tops who recommended me to Billy. They were traveling with him and he needed a female singer on the bill so they said he should check me out. At the time I was sharing a bill with Marvin Gaye in Detroit. I was singing my Motown singles and a little jazz and blues. Billy came to see me, loved me and we ended up at the Thunderbird club in Las Vegas together. The crowd there didn’t want my Motown songs. Instead I’d do some covers; People and Don’t Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl, Something’s Coming from West Side Story and The Man That Got Away from A Star Is Born. Anyhow Mickey turned up one the afternoon. He said we were getting married, and he whisked me off to a little chapel nearby. There were no guests, nobody knew, and he then took me back to the club so I could play my set while he went back to Detroit. He was worried a rich guy might come along and hook me up.
You were the first female Motown artist to perform on UK soil.
England has always loved me and quite honestly the most exciting thing I did while at Motown was to come to England. I went over with Earl Van Dyke and the Funk Brothers. I was so excited but I had always been taught to be cool and calm, even as a child I knew how to carry myself. They were saying to me why aren’t you showing any excitement or enthusiasm? But on the way from the airport to the hotel I threw up over everyone in the cab. Was that enough excitement for you? I asked them.
How did you bond on tour with your fellow Motown artists and did it ever get boring being on the road?
When you travel with people on a bus for 30 days you get to know each other pretty good. I knew how to keep myself entertained though; I’d take a TV, record player and radio plus my gowns and clothes. If there was a football game on TV, the other groups would beg me to let them watch it in my bedroom on my TV. But when it was time to take my stuff to the bus, it was like, “see you there Kim.” The Contours were the worse offenders for that.
Holland Dozier Holland provided you with your biggest solo hit, Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While). Whose idea was it to team you with them?
It was Berry Gordy who told me who I’d work with although Mickey had quite a lot of say too. I’m hoping to revisit Take Me and do it as a duet very soon, maybe with Tom Jones. But as I said before I really didn’t like a lot of my Motown material at the time. A Thrill A Moment was good though. I performed Take Me In Your Arms on the US TV show, Hullabaloo, which was hosted that week by Petula Clark and also on Ready Steady Go. But the recording process, it was just a case of being given the song, learning it in a couple of hours then singing it in a take or two and then out again. It never felt very creative.
Was there ever a solo album planned for you at Motown?
No there was never one planned and I’ve no idea why but that’s partly why I wanted to leave Motown. They might have thought about it but I was held back. When I look at it now I’m not surprised, they had other female singers they were promoting over me.
Diana Ross?
I remember when Motown spoke to Billy Eckstine about me and Diana Ross and he said there was no comparison between our voices but you can’t knock success. I wasn’t allowed to do another Motown revue so I didn’t overshadow Diana.
How did MGM compare to Motown?
It was like night and day. For a start MGM gave me $3000 when I arrived and I had never received a royalty cheque at Motown so I was impressed right away. They spent a lot of money on my LP, For The First Time but then they didn’t promote it properly which I don’t understand. But Motown didn’t promote my stuff either! It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my career, though. I was working with Count Basie at New York’s Riverboat and I had an opportunity to use his band, which was just amazing. That green dress I’m wearing on the front cover of that first MGM album, well when Tammi (Terrell) first comes out with Marvin she has the same dress on. Isn’t that funny?
Did you get to choose the material on that album?
Yes and that made it one of the most exhilarating experiences of my career. I chose to do the cover of The Beat Goes On. Sonny loved it but Cher she said, she didn’t like it, she wouldn’t speak to me. I don’t know what her problem was.
You were working with Mickey, also the arrangers Wade Marcus, Slide Hampton, Larry Wilcox, Melba Liston and Tad Jones.
It just gelled. There was a great camaraderie there.
Then after the release of *This Is America you moved to Stax in 1971 and recorded *Kim, Kim, Kim for the Volt label.
I signed to Stax through Al Bell. I met him back when he was a radio DJ and I sung on his show. Whenever I ran into him he was so nice and he said if I ever decided to leave Motown he said, be sure to talk to him. After MGM I gave him a call and we hooked up together. I was living in California at the time, traveled down to Memphis to record. Isaac Hayes was overseeing the project but I didn’t see him that much. He did suggest I do the cover of When Something Is Wrong With My Baby. In that sense it was nearer to my experience at Motown than MGM. Carla Thomas’ brother Marvell wrote Buy Myself A Man. That was the only song I was unsure of for moral reasons as I was a little dubious about the lyric. I think Isaac also suggested Solomon Burke’s Got To Get You Off My Mind and Leon Ware’s What Could Be Better. Patrice Holloway provided backing vocals, Al was a constant presence in the studio too. It was a case of rehearse, prepare, record and then travel back to California. There was no time for hanging out, chatting and sightseeing.
Have you ever faced racism in the US?
As far as my career no I haven’t, but before I became a professional singer, I went to visit my family in Alabama.
My sister and I were going downtown once and we got on the bus and there were only two seats, we both sat down, it didn’t dawn on me that a woman, who was white, and waiting for the seat should sit down instead of me. The next stop my sister dragged her off the bus screaming, Are you trying to get us killed? This was before Rosa Parks. Alabama was very different to Detroit.
After Stax you recorded a number of one off LPs for different labels before turning to community work.
Yes I recorded Big Brass Four Poster for the People label, and an album of jazz standards with the Hastings Street Jazz Experience. I was a DJ on Detroit’s WCHB station, we developed a good citizen’s award, and played golden oldies for two and a half years, then I developed a youth programme for 17 years and I’m still recuperating!
In the late ’80s you teamed with producer Ian Levine revisiting It Takes Two with Marvin’s brother Frankie Gaye then releasing two albums, 1990's Investigate and the following year’s Talking Loud. Then your career was curtailed by a serious car accident. Are you fully recovered now?
In 1999 I was walking across a street, I heard a vehicle hit another vehicle and I thought I better get out of the way so I rushed back to the curb and the last thing I remember saying is, Oh Lord they got me. They say I was knocked 15/20ft in the air and I landed back on my feet. No bones were broken, but I still have pain now from internal injuries. I went to hospital, I was only there for four hours, they didn’t even keep me in overnight. Because of the accident though I’m only now just starting to get back to work. I’m hoping to get involved in community theatre and am currently recording an album with Sylvia Moy. It sounds great.
For many though, Kim, born Agatha Natalie Weston in 1939, will always be known for those songs with Marvin. Yet she was equally adept as a solo artist. At Motown from 1962-’67 she delivered jazz tinged deep soul ballads (Love Me All The Way, Just Loving You) and delicious dancefloor soul (Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While), Helpless.) By ’67 she’d captured the attention of Duke Ellington – he called her “a beautiful ebony-hued satin doll whose generous physical adornments are well distributed” – and was recording with Count Basie’s backing band at MGM. Later she recorded one off albums for Stax and People before turning her attention to radio and community work. Here with Lois Wilson she discusses life at Hitsville USA, meeting the Gaye family and vomiting on the Funk Brothers.
You began singing at the remarkably young age of three.
Yes, I asked my mother if I could sing a solo in church and her first question was, ‘Do you know a solo?’ She would leave me on my own a lot – she ran the Sunday school at the local church, the AOH Church Of God. She was the church pianist, church secretary, church cook, church janitor. She did everything in that church but preach, so she had no idea I was going around the neighbourhood singing and dancing and keeping them entertained while she was out of the house. Some of the neighbours would give me money to entertain their guests. I had a whole repertoire, by three I was a little star! So for that first solo in church, I wasn’t nervous or scared. I sang Journey To The Sky and loved it.
Was singing your first love because you graduated from college as a cosmetologist?
I had really wanted to go to executive business school but people had always told me I had a special touch where hair was concerned, they liked me touching their hair, combing it and grooming it and so I naturally drifted into doing that. All the time I was singing though.
You honed your singing craft in the Christianaires, who were tutored by James Cleveland.
I met Kerry Jones, she was the first soprano in the Christianaires, a local gospel group and she recruited me to sing and play piano. I was only 18 at the time. We sung all over the Detroit area, at the New Bethel Baptist Church, which was Aretha Franklin’s father’s church, at King Solomon’s, at the Prayer Tabernacle Church, which was James Cleveland’s church. James was initially playing at New Bethel when we started out but then he moved to the Tabernacle. Our manager Thomas Wright got James to tutor us and he taught us the gospel standards.
The Christianaires soon mutated into the Wright Specials with whom you recorded two singles for the Motown gospel imprint Divinity, the first two releases on the label - That’s What He Is To Me/Pilgrim Of Sorrow and Ninety-Nine And A Half Won’t Do/I Won’t Go Back.
By the time the Christianaires had become the Wright Specials (we changed our name to reference Thomas Wright) I had left the group. I was exhausted. I would go to my own church Sunday morning then every afternoon the group would pick me up and we’d sing at five different churches before the evening service. I’d be soaking wet in winter, with no money and a throat so sore I could hardly talk. I remember one time they divided up the money we had earned and I only had $9. I quit! Then Mr Wright told me he needed me because he had a deal with Motown so I reluctantly rejoined to help record the two singles. It was the first time I’d been in a recording studio so an exciting process but it didn’t make me want to be a singer.
So how did you end up being a solo singer signed to Motown?
When I left the group after we recorded the two singles, I didn’t want to continue singing. A friend of mine though, called Gene, who used to see me sing in church and direct the choir asked me if I was interested in doing some demo work for a friend of his. I knew nothing about demos, but he was persuasive. I met his friend, it was Johnny Thornton, Johnny was the cousin of Brian and Eddie Holland. Eddie was actually at the session I recorded for Johnny, but I can’t remember the song we demoed, but I do remember they didn’t like the song at Motown and I didn’t like it either! But they were interested in my voice, and they asked me if I’d be interested in singing for them. I’m sure it was Eddie who was behind this.
You were initially assigned to Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier on arriving at the company in 1962, but it was Motown’s A&R director Mickey Stevenson who took you under his wing.
For the first two weeks I took the bus each day only to be left in the lobby. In the end I walked up to the receptionist and said, you can tell them they can take their contract and shove it. Mickey heard, and took me into Studio A where he had a writer waiting. The writer and he had an argument about some suggestions Mickey wanted to make, the writer walked out and Mickey took his song, we both contributed a few bits and it became the first song I recorded, Love Me All The Way.
Why was Love Me All The Way relegated to the flip side of your debut 1963’s It Should Have Been Me?
It Should Have Been Me was written by Norman Whitfield (with Mickey Stevenson), it was the first song he had written for Motown so they were eager to push him as a new talent. (Five years later Gladys Knight and the Pips would have a hit with their cover of the song produced by Whitfield himself.)
You’ve often said in past interviews that you weren’t happy with the material that Motown gave you to record. But you do like your second single for the label, Just Loving You, don’t you?
Yes I loved recording that, Mickey wrote it for me, but I hated the B side Another Train Coming. Motown always gave me such sad songs to sing, either he’s leaving, or I’m about to leave. These days when I play in the UK they just want the fast numbers, all boom boom boom, ones with a beat they can dance to but I prefer the slower songs so I can really sing and express myself.
While you were recording your first solo songs for the label the Motown revue was out on the road. It must have been pretty quiet around Hitsville USA.
Yes, they were out on the road and Berry Gordy told us that on their return we were to go out and give them a huge welcome home. Of course they didn’t care if we were there or not. They were shattered and just wanted to go home and rest. That was when I met Marvin Gaye for the first time as he got off the bus. Berry Gordy had this idea that the label was run like a family so we all had to be out on the street waving and cheering.
So by the time you worked with Smokey Robinson on Looking For The Right Guy and its B side Feel Alright Tonight in 1964 did you feel like you were apart of the family?
Not really, although of course I had Mickey looking out for me and Smokey was good to work with, very professional.
Was it Mickey Stevenson’s idea for you to team with Marvin? Mickey produced and co wrote your first single together, 1964’s What Good Am I Without You didn’t he?
Yes it was Mickey’s idea. Marvin needed a replacement for Mary Wells as she’d left the label. I’d traveled with Marvin, we’d shared bills together and we already had a great relationship. I’m the only female artist he took home to meet his family. Some of the guys went to his house but I was the only female and his family kind of adopted me. His sister is one of my best friends. I was close to his mother too, she said, ‘you are the type of girl I thought Marvin would bring home.’ She’d bring me greens and chicken to my hotel when I was touring.
Were you surprised by the huge success of It Takes Two, your duet with Marvin?
It really shocked me because I had left the label when they released it. When I heard I had a hit I couldn’t believe it. What a case of bad timing.
1966 saw the release of *Take Two, an album of duets with Marvin containing such fabulous cuts as I Love You Yes I Do, It’s Got To Be A Miracle, ’Til There Was You and Secret Love.
We never got to pick any of those songs. It was so frustrating. Marvin and I would rehearse the LP together, and that was when I saw an ability in Marvin which I had not seen before, I heard the frustration in his voice. At that time artists at Motown were not allowed to do their own production, and he said I’m better than most of the producers here. It was difficult because we did not have creative control. That’s partly why I left and went to MGM. Mickey partly went because he was offered a million and a half dollars from MGM!
Before that you were singing with Billy Eckstine weren’t you? And it was while playing Las Vegas with him that you married Mickey Stevenson on April 19, 1964?
It was the Four Tops who recommended me to Billy. They were traveling with him and he needed a female singer on the bill so they said he should check me out. At the time I was sharing a bill with Marvin Gaye in Detroit. I was singing my Motown singles and a little jazz and blues. Billy came to see me, loved me and we ended up at the Thunderbird club in Las Vegas together. The crowd there didn’t want my Motown songs. Instead I’d do some covers; People and Don’t Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl, Something’s Coming from West Side Story and The Man That Got Away from A Star Is Born. Anyhow Mickey turned up one the afternoon. He said we were getting married, and he whisked me off to a little chapel nearby. There were no guests, nobody knew, and he then took me back to the club so I could play my set while he went back to Detroit. He was worried a rich guy might come along and hook me up.
You were the first female Motown artist to perform on UK soil.
England has always loved me and quite honestly the most exciting thing I did while at Motown was to come to England. I went over with Earl Van Dyke and the Funk Brothers. I was so excited but I had always been taught to be cool and calm, even as a child I knew how to carry myself. They were saying to me why aren’t you showing any excitement or enthusiasm? But on the way from the airport to the hotel I threw up over everyone in the cab. Was that enough excitement for you? I asked them.
How did you bond on tour with your fellow Motown artists and did it ever get boring being on the road?
When you travel with people on a bus for 30 days you get to know each other pretty good. I knew how to keep myself entertained though; I’d take a TV, record player and radio plus my gowns and clothes. If there was a football game on TV, the other groups would beg me to let them watch it in my bedroom on my TV. But when it was time to take my stuff to the bus, it was like, “see you there Kim.” The Contours were the worse offenders for that.
Holland Dozier Holland provided you with your biggest solo hit, Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While). Whose idea was it to team you with them?
It was Berry Gordy who told me who I’d work with although Mickey had quite a lot of say too. I’m hoping to revisit Take Me and do it as a duet very soon, maybe with Tom Jones. But as I said before I really didn’t like a lot of my Motown material at the time. A Thrill A Moment was good though. I performed Take Me In Your Arms on the US TV show, Hullabaloo, which was hosted that week by Petula Clark and also on Ready Steady Go. But the recording process, it was just a case of being given the song, learning it in a couple of hours then singing it in a take or two and then out again. It never felt very creative.
Was there ever a solo album planned for you at Motown?
No there was never one planned and I’ve no idea why but that’s partly why I wanted to leave Motown. They might have thought about it but I was held back. When I look at it now I’m not surprised, they had other female singers they were promoting over me.
Diana Ross?
I remember when Motown spoke to Billy Eckstine about me and Diana Ross and he said there was no comparison between our voices but you can’t knock success. I wasn’t allowed to do another Motown revue so I didn’t overshadow Diana.
How did MGM compare to Motown?
It was like night and day. For a start MGM gave me $3000 when I arrived and I had never received a royalty cheque at Motown so I was impressed right away. They spent a lot of money on my LP, For The First Time but then they didn’t promote it properly which I don’t understand. But Motown didn’t promote my stuff either! It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my career, though. I was working with Count Basie at New York’s Riverboat and I had an opportunity to use his band, which was just amazing. That green dress I’m wearing on the front cover of that first MGM album, well when Tammi (Terrell) first comes out with Marvin she has the same dress on. Isn’t that funny?
Did you get to choose the material on that album?
Yes and that made it one of the most exhilarating experiences of my career. I chose to do the cover of The Beat Goes On. Sonny loved it but Cher she said, she didn’t like it, she wouldn’t speak to me. I don’t know what her problem was.
You were working with Mickey, also the arrangers Wade Marcus, Slide Hampton, Larry Wilcox, Melba Liston and Tad Jones.
It just gelled. There was a great camaraderie there.
Then after the release of *This Is America you moved to Stax in 1971 and recorded *Kim, Kim, Kim for the Volt label.
I signed to Stax through Al Bell. I met him back when he was a radio DJ and I sung on his show. Whenever I ran into him he was so nice and he said if I ever decided to leave Motown he said, be sure to talk to him. After MGM I gave him a call and we hooked up together. I was living in California at the time, traveled down to Memphis to record. Isaac Hayes was overseeing the project but I didn’t see him that much. He did suggest I do the cover of When Something Is Wrong With My Baby. In that sense it was nearer to my experience at Motown than MGM. Carla Thomas’ brother Marvell wrote Buy Myself A Man. That was the only song I was unsure of for moral reasons as I was a little dubious about the lyric. I think Isaac also suggested Solomon Burke’s Got To Get You Off My Mind and Leon Ware’s What Could Be Better. Patrice Holloway provided backing vocals, Al was a constant presence in the studio too. It was a case of rehearse, prepare, record and then travel back to California. There was no time for hanging out, chatting and sightseeing.
Have you ever faced racism in the US?
As far as my career no I haven’t, but before I became a professional singer, I went to visit my family in Alabama.
My sister and I were going downtown once and we got on the bus and there were only two seats, we both sat down, it didn’t dawn on me that a woman, who was white, and waiting for the seat should sit down instead of me. The next stop my sister dragged her off the bus screaming, Are you trying to get us killed? This was before Rosa Parks. Alabama was very different to Detroit.
After Stax you recorded a number of one off LPs for different labels before turning to community work.
Yes I recorded Big Brass Four Poster for the People label, and an album of jazz standards with the Hastings Street Jazz Experience. I was a DJ on Detroit’s WCHB station, we developed a good citizen’s award, and played golden oldies for two and a half years, then I developed a youth programme for 17 years and I’m still recuperating!
In the late ’80s you teamed with producer Ian Levine revisiting It Takes Two with Marvin’s brother Frankie Gaye then releasing two albums, 1990's Investigate and the following year’s Talking Loud. Then your career was curtailed by a serious car accident. Are you fully recovered now?
In 1999 I was walking across a street, I heard a vehicle hit another vehicle and I thought I better get out of the way so I rushed back to the curb and the last thing I remember saying is, Oh Lord they got me. They say I was knocked 15/20ft in the air and I landed back on my feet. No bones were broken, but I still have pain now from internal injuries. I went to hospital, I was only there for four hours, they didn’t even keep me in overnight. Because of the accident though I’m only now just starting to get back to work. I’m hoping to get involved in community theatre and am currently recording an album with Sylvia Moy. It sounds great.
...quite a bit about Miss Weston I never knew... I can't believe she hated Another Train Coming, to me it's one of her best performances 
...the greatest thing about Kim though is her versatility be cause the woman really can sing anything so it is not surprising she worked with such a range of artists
...and what a coincidence that she and Tammi wore the same dress at the same time they had albums released 
Motown was surely sneaky, weren't they? 
