US news sources are reporting the death of Southern soul man TOUSSAINT MCCALL. Few details are available save that the singer/organist was 89 and that he passed away on Monday 7th August. The son of a Baptist pastor, McCall will forever be remembered for his sole hit, ‘Nothing Takes The Place Of You.’
He was born in Louisiana and, one of 12 children, he was brought up in the righteous Baptist tradition. An aspiring singer, he was signed to Ronn Records in 1967 where he scored a huge hit with the stark, mournful ‘Nothing Takes The Place Of You’ – a song that sums up the paradox of classic southern soul: how can something so sad sound so good? The song’s been covered many times – most notbaly by Isaac Hayes on ‘Black Moses’.
Despite further recordings, McCall never enjoyed any more real success. Soul collectors revere his ‘I’m Undecided’, ‘I’ll Laugh Till I Cry’ and the melancholy ‘From Saigon to San Fransisco’ which he recorded for the Doré label.
