Eric Mercury (June 28, 1944 – March 14, 2022) – It's Time For Me To Love You (1972)
This epic, funky jam was co-written by the Canadian soul pioneer and Booker T. & the M.G.'s guitarist Steve Cropper who produced his second solo LP.
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Eric Mercury was a Canadian singer/songwriter who sang with the pioneering Canadian soul group the Soul Searchers before going solo and moving to the U.S. in the late sixties, although he returned to Toronto in later years.
Born and raised in Toronto to parents of Caribbean descent, Mercury was the youngest of seven children. The first group he sang with were called The Pharaohs. The next was the Soul Searchers. They formed after Mercury released his debut single “I Wondered Why” b/w “Softly” in early 1966 on Clip Records, and members of the group that played on the record decided to put a different lineup together.
The full name of the new group was Diane Brooks, Eric Mercury, and The Soul Searchers. Other members included drummer Eric “Mouse” Johnson, Steve Kennedy on saxes, guitarist Terry Logan, and William "Smitty" Smith on Hammond B3 organ.
They became very popular in Canada. In 1968, while playing in Detroit, they connected with a local producer named C. Nash (or Ash) who had been attending their shows and wanted to record them. At a late night recording session they cut a track written by Motown songwriters Ivy Jo Hunter and William “Mickey” Stevenson that had been rejected by the label. The stellar “Lonely Girl” was split into parts one and two for the single, which was rehearsed, arranged, and recorded in a few hours. After it was pressed, Nash gave the group ten copies of the single and they never saw him again. It was destined to become a prized Northern soul record.
Mercury left the group to go solo later that year, hitchhiking to New York City with two prostitutes while carrying just a library card and $52 in his pockets. After arriving, he initially slept in an abandoned Studebaker parked outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal. But by November, 1968 he had found a manager and was preparing to record his debut solo album.
Released the following year on Avco Embassy Records, Mercury wrote several of the songs for Electric Black Man (1969), including its anthemic title track.
Mercury went on to sign with the Enterprise subsidiary of Stax, and in 1972 released his second solo LP Funky Sounds Nurtured In The Fertile Soil Of Memphis That Smell Of Rock. It was produced and arranged by Booker T. & the M.G.’s guitarist Steve Cropper, with whom Mercury co-wrote the epic, funky jam “It's Time For Me To Love You.” The track’s amazing horns came courtesy of The Memphis Horns, aka Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love.
The Friends of Distinction covered one of Mercury’s songs for their final album Reviviscence “Live To Light Again” (1975), the beautiful jam “Goodbye.” He co-wrote it with his fellow former Soul Searcher William Smith.
In 1979, Mercury had a small role in the cult classic disco basketball film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (with soundtrack composed by Thom Bell), playing Rudy the league commissioner. His co-stars included Julius Erving, Stockard Channing, and Jonathan Winters.
Happy 80th Heavenly Birthday to the great Eric Mercury.
Further info:
“Eric Mercury, Canada's 'Electric Black Man,'“ obituary, Toronto Star, March 16, 2022.
“Charismatic singer Eric Mercury turned heads with Electric Black Man album,” The Globe and Mail, March 23, 2022.
#soul #funk #SoulSearchers #Stax #SteveCropper #EricMercury