Ruby Andrews (born March 12, 1947) – You Made A Believer Out Of Me (1969)
This stellar jam hit #18 R&B when it was released as a single, was also included on both of Andrews' early 70s LPs, and has been widely sampled by hip hop artists.
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Soul legend Ruby Andrews released a string of phenomenal singles and LP’s on Chicago-based Zodiac Records during the late 1960s and early 70s.
See our earlier post on Andrews for more on her musical career.
One of Andrews’ follow up singles to her 1967 breakthrough hit “Casonova (sic) (Your Playing Days Are Over)” was the superb soul/funk jam “You Can Run (But You Can't Hide)” b/w “Wonderful Nite,” issued on Zodiac in 1968. The A-side was co-written by Robert Eaton, Fred Bridges, and Richard Knight, and co-produced by the three of them along with Mike Terry.
It was included on her debut album Everybody Saw You, released in 1970.
Another single featured on the album was the upbeat, Motown-esque “Help Yourself (Lover)” (1970), written by Zodiac owner Ric Williams. The stellar upbeat jam “Since I Found Out” was credited to Black Beanium Davis, a pseudonym for Robert Eaton, who produced many of the label’s records. “Tit For Tat,” the LP’s funky closing cut, was co-written by Eaton and Williams.
Her second album Black Ruby (1972), produced and arranged by Eaton, has long been a highly sought-after LP for crate diggers and collectors. Original copies sell for hundreds of dollars on Discogs, even after several reissues in recent years. In addition to letting the world know “all Rubies are not red,” the album testified that Andrews was the real funky deal and a musical force to reckoned with.
Besides its phenomenal opening cut “(I Want To Be) Whatever It Takes To Please You,” other highlights on Black Ruby included the upbeat masterpiece “Didn’t I Fool You” and the superb psychedelic soul-flavored “My Love Is Comin’ Down.”
The great “You Made A Believer Out Of Me” was co-written by Eaton, Bridges, and Knight and originally released as a single in 1969 (when it hit #18 R&B but only barely cracked the Billboard Hot 100 at #96), and was also included on Everybody Saw You. It may be the album’s most well-known track, sampled by multiple artists during the golden age of hip hop.
Notable examples include De La Soul on their hilarious, erudite explanation of the De La ethos “Brain Washed Follower” (1989); “Ode To A Forgetful Mind” by P.M. Dawn which was also released in ‘89; “Clear My Throat” (1994) by Da Bush Babees; and the Wu-Tang Clan’s “Diesel” (1997).
Happy Birthday to the great Ruby Andrews.
Further info:
“Ruby Andrews,” interview by Ady Crampton, Shinyl, May 21, 2018.
“Ruby Andrews: I Just Can't Get Enough,” review, Groovy Gumbo, June 4, 2018.
#soul #funk #ZodiacRecords #RubyAndrews