Rhetta Hughes (June 15, 1939 – June 3, 2019) – You're Doing With Her - When It Should Be Me (1968)

This superb jam was co-written by Joshie "Jo" Armstead and Mike Terry for the singer/songwriter and frequent collaborator with Melvin Van Peebles.

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Rhetta Hughes was a soul singer/songwriter and actress who appeared in Melvin Van Peebles’ groundbreaking film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and subsequently collaborated with him on several other projects. She also had a solo career and was in demand as a backing vocalist during the early 1970s.

Born in Dallas, Hughes sang gospel in the choir at a Baptist church as she was growing up, but initially had no thoughts of becoming a singer. She worked as a nurse for five years at Parkland Hospital, until one night in 1963 when she was out at the nightclub where her close friend Tennyson Stephens played piano. She was hired by the club’s managers after she took to the stage on the spur of the moment to sing along with him, and the two of them became a top act in the city.

They released an album of standards on Columbia Records in 1965, and then were signed by Bill Cosby to his newly formed label Tetragrammaton Records, where they released several singles and an album before the label shut down in 1971. One was the superb jam “You're Doing With Her - When It Should Be Me” (1968) written by Joshie “Jo” Armstead who co-produced it with Motown Funk Brother Andrew “Mike” Terry. It was the B-side to the upbeat “Gimme Some Of Yours - I'll Give You Some Of Mine,” co-written by Armstead and James Lewis Venson.

She appeared as a backing vocalist on Charles Lloyd’s 1971 album Warm Waters, which the Beach Boys also guested on. She then co-wrote the single “Right On, Brother, Right On” with former Motown songwriter William “Mickey” Stevenson for the short-lived group Love 'N Stuff, released on the Los Angeles label Pride Records. Its B-side was a cover of Leon Ware’s superb message song “Let It Out, Let It In.”

Hughes was the featured vocalist on “Mother’s Prayer,” a track off Melvin Van Peebles’ 1971 LP As Serious As A Heart-Attack. He then cast her in his landmark independent film that sparked the entire Black cinema renaissance of the 1970s, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. She also appeared on several of Van Peebles’ records and acted in his other theatrical productions and films over the next few years.

In 1973 she was one of the backing vocalists on Jobriath’s cult classic self-titled debut album. She also recorded backing vocals for Roberta Flack’s #1 hit single “Feel Like Makin' Love,” written by Eugene McDaniels, and for the superb gospel-flavored anthem “Jesus On The Mainline” off Brenda Patterson’s 1973 self-titled debut album, alongside Ry Cooder on electric guitar and producer Jim Dickinson on pump organ.

For her own 1980 solo album Starpiece, released on Sutra Records, Hughes co-wrote several of the songs, including its stellar closing cut “Ecstasy.” Her co-writer was the album’s producer, saxophonist Kenny Lehman who also produced the unsung roller disco group Roundtree.

Happy 85th Heavenly Birthday to the great Rhetta Hughes.

Further info:

“You Must Hear This! Rhetta Hughes’ “Gimme Some Of Yours,’” Salon.com, July 6, 2015.

#soul #funk #disco #RhettaHughes