The UK soul crowd has a soft spot for Detroit soul man, OLIVER CHEATHAM. Indeed for a time, the singer lived in the UK. He sadly died here in 2013. His reputation rests chiefly on his still epic dancer, ‘Get Down Saturday Night’ – the cut packed dance floors throughout the 80s and still does; ditto his 2003 powerful rendition of Luther’s ‘Never Too Much’ (check that rare one out!)
Fans, however, know that Cheatham enjoyed a long career with a catalogue of fine, collectable recordings that predate his ‘Get Down Saturday Night’ notoriety. He actually debuted in Detroit in the mid-60s on the Tier label before joining vocal group The Young Sirs who enjoyed a regional hit with ‘There’s Something The Matter’. Then in the 70s, Cheatham worked solo for Grand Junction records then he joined another group, The Gaslight. After that, in quick succession, he became a member of Sins of Satan, then Roundtrip before leading another group known simply as Oliver. During all this, confusingly (it always is!) he also recorded as a solo singer and back in 2012 UK label SOUL JUNCTION RECORDS “discovered” a couple of his solo recordings from that era (74/75) that up till then were acetate only.
The songs in question were the poppy dancer ‘Don’t Pop The Question’ and the sweet ballad ‘Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers’. The former is very, very catchy with a memorable hook while the latter (a ballad) is a wonderful showcase for Cheatham’s soulful falsetto. Both songs were recorded in Detroit circa 1974/75 under the supervision of Olivers cousin William R. Miller and the eventual SJ 7” became one of the label’s best sellers. It sold out very, very quickly and copies are now going for around £100! Almost every week SJ get asked if there are any copies left . Till now the answer was always a big and definite “no”. Thus the nice guy at Soul Junction have decided to repress the single to meet the growing demand.
If you fancy it – be quick; the re-run is limited to just 300 copies! Learn more @ www.souljunctionrecords.co.uk
