Gene McDaniels

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Gene McDaniels (born Eugene Booker McDaniels, February 12, 1935, Kansas City, Missouri^[1]) is an American singer and songwriter, who had his greatest recording success in the early 1960s.

Career

McDaniels grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and went on to have six Top 40 hits in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The two that went into the Top 5 were 1961's "Tower of Strength" (#5 on the pop chart) and "A Hundred Pounds of Clay," the latter of which reached #3 on pop chart, and sold over one million records, earning gold disc status.^[1]

In the late 1960s, McDaniels turned his attention to a more black consciousness form, and his best-known song in this genre was "Compared to What," a jazz-soul protest song made famous (and into a hit) by Les McCann and Eddie Harris on their album, Swiss Movement, and also covered by Roberta Flack. McDaniels also attained the top spot on the chart as a songwriter. In 1974, Roberta Flack reached #1 with McDaniels' "Feel Like Makin' Love." (This is not to be confused with the Bad Company song of the same name.)

Other songs that McDaniels recorded included "Point Of No Return" and "Spanish Lace." In the early 1970s, McDaniels recorded on the Atlantic label, which released the McDaniels albums, Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse and Outlaw.

McDaniel's "Jagger the Dagger" was featured on the Tribe Vibes breakbeat compilation album, after it had been sampled by A Tribe Called Quest.

McDaniels also appeared in films. They included the 1962 film, It's Trad, Dad!, (released in the United States as Ring-A-Ding Rhythm), which was directed by Richard Lester. He also appeared in 1963's The Young Swingers. McDaniels is briefly seen singing in the choir in the 1974 Sidney Poitier-Bill Cosby film, Uptown Saturday Night.

Partial discography

Albums

• Outlaw - Atlantic (1970)
• Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse - Atlantic (1971)
• Natural Juices - Ode (1975)

U.S. hit singles

• "A Hundred Pounds of Clay" - #3, 1961
• "A Tear" - #31, 1961
• "Tower of Strength" - #5, 1961
• "Chip Chip" - #10, 1962
• "Funny" - #99, 1962
• "Point of No Return" - #21, 1962
• "Spanish Lace" - #31, 1962
• "It's a Lonely Town (Lonely Without You)" - #64, 1963
• "River" - #115, 1972 (released under the name Universal Jones)

Film appearances

• It's Trad, Dad! (a.k.a. Ring-A-Ding Rhythm) (1962)
• The Young Swingers (1963)

References