O.C. Tolbert (July 11, 1944 – 1997) – Pisces Pace (1971)

The unsung singer/songwriter and producer aka Damn Sam The Miracle Man co-produced this stellar instrumental jam and $700 record with Dave Hamilton.

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O.C. Tolbert was an unsung soul singer/songwriter and producer.

Born in Selma, Alabama, Arthur Cleveland Tolbert was nicknamed “O.C.” after his uncle. His father, the Reverend S. J. Tolbert Sr., was a traveling preacher who took O.C. along with him. By the time he was ten, he was leading the choirs at the churches they visited. When he was older he began working as an entertainer singing gospel at a nursing home, and formed and led a choir of the residents that appeared on local TV every other Sunday. In 1958, his father and sister Velma joined him in a gospel group called the Tolbert Family Singers.

Tolbert moved to Detroit in 1967 in pursuit of a musical career. After relocating to New York in the early seventies, he met “Fat” Jack Taylor, the purported gangster who owned Rojac and Tay-Ster Records. His first album was released on Tay-Ster in 1970, on which he was billed as Damn Sam The Miracle Man (and the Soul Congregation). It was the first full-length album released on the label, with most songs co-written by Taylor. Original copies fetch $250 on Discogs.

Highlights included the funky title track, the spaced out instrumental “Smash” and the weed anthem “Give Me Another Joint.”

One of the few records Tolbert produced was the ultra-rare TCB Records single “The Deacons” (1971) for Dave Hamilton, who co-produced it with him. Hamilton co-wrote the track with Tolbert’s sister Velma. It was backed with the stellar instrumental “Pisces Pace,” written by Hamilton and also co-produced by Tolbert. Original copies today go for $700 on Discogs.

Around the same time, Tolbert produced a single released under his own name on New Day Records, a short-lived Detroit label owned by Hamilton. The heartfelt jam “Goodness” was backed with the socially conscious “Message To Mankind.” Both sides were co-written by Velma Tolbert, Wallace Childs, and Terell Brown. They were arranged by Joe Hunter, the original bandleader for Motown’s Funk Brothers who later worked as A&R Director for Jack Ashford and Mike Terry’s Pied Piper Productions.

Happy 80th Heavenly Birthday to the great O.C. Tolbert.

#soul #funk #JackTaylor #O.C.Tolbert