Loleatta was developing her own writing, and the excellent ‘I’ll Be Gone’ was included. Four other top-notch Sam Dees songs were featured, along with re-workings of Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Just Be True To Me’ and Ruby Andrews’ ‘Casanova’. However, in early 1975 the exquisite Sam Dees-penned love ballad ‘Cry To Me’ went to #10 in the R&B chart, giving her second LP a title on which to hang its hat. With only one minor R&B hit to her credit, and being a debut artist, the LP did not sell in any quantity. The rest of the record was soul music – a mixture of covers such as ‘Can I Change My Mind’ and mainly new songs from Floyd, Sam Dees and other respected writers. Showcasing her vocal talents, the album kicked off with ‘The Man I Love’, a Gershwin standard she handled well. In July 1973, aided by a generous advertising budget, her second Aware 45, ‘Mother Of Shame’, charted and she was quickly into the studios to cut her debut LP, “Loleatta”. With excess ready cash from his various activities, Thevis – a notorious gangster – took Loleatta, Floyd and Detroit executive Marlin McNichols to Atlanta and proceeded to work the music business wholeheartedly. Her first two 45s were cut in Chicago, but it was her signing to Michael Thevis’ newly formed Aware label of Atlanta, Georgia which started her career in earnest.
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She was persuaded to move into R&B by local jazz guitarist, songwriter and producer Floyd Smith, whom she would go on to marry. Loleatta Holloway was a tremendous soul singer who came naturally to the genre following her years with the famed gospel group the Caravans in her home city of Chicago. Loleatta’s first two albums together on one CD, with four bonus tracks unissued at the time.