Chuck Barksdale (January 11, 1935 – May 15, 2019) – Freedom Means (1971)
Chuck Barksdale (January 11, 1935 – May 15, 2019) – Freedom Means (1971)
The Dells' longtime bass vocalist co-produced and was featured on the powerful spoken word intro to this liberation anthem, co-written by Charles Stepney.
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Bass vocalist Charles “Chuck” Barksdale was one of the original members of the Dells, the legendary R&B group that remained together for nearly six decades.
First formed in 1952 as a doo-wop vocal group known as the El-Rays, other founding members were Barksdale’s fellow high school classmates Marvin Junior, Verne Allison, Johnny Funches and Michael McGill. See our earlier posts on Chuck Barksdale and Marvin Junior for more on the Dells’ musical history.
Barksdale and fellow group member Michael “Mickey” McGill wrote several songs together, both for the Dells and other artists. In 1969, they co-wrote the upbeat soul jam “So Blue (Without You)” for Little Milton, produced by Calvin Carter and released on Checker, a subsidiary of Chess Records.
The same year, they were uncredited co-writers of the superb “When I'm In Your Arms,” a late single from the Dells’ 1968 breakthrough There Is LP. It was co-written and produced by Bobby Miller. and arranged by Charles Stepney.
In 1971, Barksdale and Stepney co-produced the Freedom Means… album by the Dells. Its title track was an epic liberation anthem, with a powerful intro delivered by Barksdale. According to R&B historian Bob Davis of Soul-Patrol.com, “All of the Dells’ spoken word intros were done by Chuck Barksdale.” Co-written by Stepney with Terry Callier and Larry Wade, it was also arranged by Stepney. Released as the B-side to “The Love We Had (Stays on My Mind),” the single hit #8 R&B and #30 on the Billboard Hot 100.
For their self-titled 1973 LP, prolific songwriter/producer Tony Hester wrote the stellar jam “I Miss You,” which was produced by Don Davis. The group memorably performed it on Soul Train in one of their many appearances on the show during the seventies.
Barksdale and McGill co-wrote the beautiful love song “That Special Someone” for their 1974 LP The Mighty Mighty Dells, which was produced and arranged by Stepney. It was the only track on the album that Stepney helped create, while the rest of its songs were produced by Don Davis with the help of arrangers Paul Riser, Johnny Allen, Kirk Stuart, and Jimmy Roach.
The super funky title track to their 1976 LP No Way Back was used as the theme song to the Blaxploitation film of the same name, directed by and starring Fred Williamson as the badass private detective Jesse Crowder. Written and produced by former Funk Brother saxophonist Andrew “Mike” Terry, it was recorded at Sylvia Robinson’s All Platinum Studios in New Jersey, and featured the Rimshots as its backing band. Props to DJ historian
for turning us onto this track, and letting us know it “was a big record for Ron Hardy at the Music Box” when mixed as one of his legendary edits.
In the summer of 1980, the Dells had a huge club hit with “All About The Paper” from their I Touched A Dream LP. This dancefloor masterpiece was issued as the B-side to the album’s title track, and went to #17 R&B, staying on the charts for 17 weeks. It was co-written by Lowrell Simon and Clarence McDonald, and originally recorded the previous year by Loleatta Holloway for her self-titled LP on Gold Mind Records, produced by Carl Davis and Eugene Record. Later in 1980, Gene Chandler would record his own version.
Happy Heavenly Birthday to the great Chuck Barksdale.
Further info:
The Dells: Oh What a Night, Emmy-award winning documentary, NBC/WMAQ-TV (Parts 1, 2, and 3), 2005.
“My Day with Chuck Barksdale of the Mighty Dells,” interview by Bob Davis, Soul-Patrol.com, August 19, 2007.
“The Dells' Charles 'Chuck' Barksdale Dies at 84,” obituary, Billboard, May 16, 2019.
#soul #funk #disco #Dells #ChuckBarksdale