Gene McDaniels

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Eugene Booker McDaniels (February 12, 1935 – July 29, 2011), who recorded as Gene McDaniels early in his career, was an African-American singer and songwriter. He had his greatest recording success in the early 1960s, and had continued success as a songwriter with songs including "Compared to What" and Roberta Flack's "Feel Like Makin' Love".
==Biography==
Born in Kansas City, Kansas, United States, McDaniels grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. As well as singing gospel music in church, he developed a love of jazz, and learned to play the saxophone and trumpet. After forming a singing group, the Echoes of Joy, later known as the Sultans, in his teens, he studied at the University of Omaha Conservatory of Music before joining the Mississippi Piney Woods Singers, with whom he toured in California. There, he began singing in jazz clubs, achieving note with the Les McCann Trio, and came to the attention of Sy Waronker of Liberty Records.Biography by Bruce Eder at Allmusic.comRichard Williams, Obituary, The Guardian, 15 August 2011.
After recording two unsuccessful singles and an album, he was teamed with producer Snuff Garrett, with whom he recorded his first hit, "A Hundred Pounds of Clay", which reached number 3 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1961 and sold over one million copies, earning gold disc status. Its follow-up, "A Tear", was less successful but his third single with Garrett, "Tower of Strength", co-written by Burt Bacharach, reached number 5 and won McDaniels his second gold record. "Tower of Strength" reached number 49 in the UK Singles Chart, losing out to Frankie Vaughan's chart-topping version.
In 1962 he appeared performing in the movie It's Trad, Dad!, directed by Richard Lester. He continued to have minor hit records, including "Chip Chip", "Point Of No Return" and "Spanish Lace", each in 1962, but his suave style of singing gradually became less fashionable. In 1965 he moved to Columbia Records, with little success, and in 1968, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, he left the US to live in Denmark and Sweden, where he concentrated on songwriting. He returned to the US in 1971, and recorded thereafter as Eugene McDaniels. In 1965 his "Point Of No Return" was covered by the British R&B band Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames on their EP Fame At Last.
After 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, Ray Charles, Della Reese, John Legend, the Roots, Sweetwater and others. McDaniels also attained the top spot on the chart as a songwriter. In 1974, Roberta Flack reached number 1 with his "Feel Like Makin' Love" (not to be confused with the Bad Company song of the same name), which received a Grammy Award nomination. McDaniels also received a BMI award for outstanding radio airplay; at the time of the award, the song had already had over five million plays.
In the early 1970s, McDaniels recorded on the Atlantic label, which released his albums Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse and Outlaw. According to one source: "Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse is a standard-bearer for psychedelic soul/funk/jazz rhythms and is borrowed frequently for its samples." In the 1980s, he recorded an album with the percussionist Terry Silverlight, which has not yet been released. In 2005, McDaniels released Screams & Whispers on his own record label. In 2009, it was announced that he was to release a new album, Evolution's Child, which featured his lyrics, and a number of songs composed or arranged with pianist Ted Brancato. Some of the songs featured jazz musician Ron Carter on concert bass and Terri Lyne Carrington on drums. 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 It's Trad, Dad! (1962, released in the United States as Ring-A-Ding Rhythm), which was directed by Richard Lester. McDaniels also appeared in The Young Swingers (1963). He is briefly seen singing in the choir in the 1974 film Uptown Saturday Night. He was the original voice actor for "Nasus", a champion in the computer game League of Legends.
McDaniels lived as a self-described "hermit" in the state of Maine. In 2010 he launched a series of YouTube videos on his website, featuring his music and thoughts on some of his creations. McDaniels died peacefully on July 29, 2011, at his home, survived by his third wife and six children.
==Discography==
===Albums===
Year	Album 	Record Label
1960	In Times Like These 	Liberty Records
1960	Somestimes I'm Happy Sometimes I'm Blue	Liberty Records
1961	100 Lbs. of Clay! 	Liberty Records
1961	Tower of Strength 	Liberty Records
1962	Hit After Hit 	Liberty Records
1962	Gene McDaniels Sings Movie Memories 	Liberty Records
1963	The Wonderful World of Gene McDaniels 	Liberty Records
1966	The Facts of Life 	Liberty Records
1970	Outlaw 	Atlantic Records
1971	Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse 	Atlantic Records
1975	Natural Juices 	Ode Records
2004	Screams and Whispers 	Genepool Records
As Universal Jones
Year	Album 	Record Label
1972	Universal Jones Vol. 1	MGM Records
===Singles===
Year	Titles (A-side, B-side)Both sides from same album except where indicated 	Peak chart positions	Peak chart positions	Peak chart positions	Peak chart positions	Record Label 	Album
Year	Titles (A-side, B-side)Both sides from same album except where indicated 	US 	AC 	R&B 	UK 	Record Label 	Album
1960	"In Times Like These"b/w Once Before" (Non-album track) 	– 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	In Times Like These
1960	"Green Door"b/w "The Facts of Life" 	– 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	Sometimes I'm Happy Sometimes I'm Blue
1961	"A Hundred Pounds Of Clay"b/w "Come On Take A Chance" (Non-album track) 	3 	– 	11 	– 	Liberty Records 	100 Lbs. Of Clay!
1961	"Take Good Care Of Her"b/w "Are You Sincere" 	– 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	100 Lbs. Of Clay!
1961	"A Tear"b/w "She's Come Back" (Non-album track) 	31 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	Tower Of Strength
1961	"Tower Of Strength"b/w "The Secret" 	5 	– 	5 	49 	Liberty Records 	Tower Of Strength
1961	"Chip Chip"b/w "Another Tear Falls" (Non-album track) 	10 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	Hit After Hit
1962	"Funny"b/w "Chapel Of Tears" (Non-album track) 	99 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	Tower Of Strength
1962	"Point Of No Return"b/w "Warmer Than A Whisper" (Non-album track) 	21 	– 	23 	– 	Liberty Records 	Hit After Hit
1962	"Spanish Lace"b/w "Somebody's Waiting" (Non-album track) 	31 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	Spanish Lace
1963	"The Puzzle"b/w "Cry Baby Cry" (Non-album track) 	– 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	Golden Greats
1963	"It's A Lonely Town (Lonely Without You)"b/w "False Friends" 	64 	30 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	Non-album tracks
1963	"Anyone Else"b/w "The Old Country" (from The Wonderful World Of Gene McDaniels)	– 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	Non-album tracks
1964	"Make Me A Present Of You"b/w "In Times Like These" (from In Times Like These) 	– 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	100 Lbs. Of Clay!
1964	"(There Goes The) Forgotten Man"b/w "Emily" 	– 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	Non-album tracks
1965	"Walk With A Winner"b/w "A Miracle" (Non-album track) 	– 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	The Very Best Of Gene McDaniels
1965	"Will It Last Forever"b/w "Hang On (Just A Little Bit Longer)" 	– 	– 	– 	– 	Liberty Records 	Non-album tracks
1966	"Something Blue"b/w "'Cause I Love You So" 	– 	– 	– 	– 	Columbia Records	Non-album tracks
1967	"Touch Of Your Lips"b/w "Sweet Lover No More" 	– 	– 	– 	– 	Columbia Records	Non-album tracks
1971	"Tell Me Mr. President"b/w "The Lord Is Back" 	– 	– 	– 	– 	Atlantic Records	Non-album tracks
1973	"River"b/w "Ol' Heartbreak Top Ten" 	– 	– 	– 	– 	MGM Records 	Non-album tracks
As Universal Jones
Year	Titles (A-side, B-side) 	Peak chart positions	Peak chart positions	Peak chart positions	Peak chart positions	Record Label	Album
Year	Titles (A-side, B-side) 	US 	AC 	R&B 	UK 	Record Label	Album
1972	"River"b/w "Feeling That Glow" 	115 	37 	– 	– 	MGM Records 	Universal Jones Vol. 1
1972	"We All Know A Lot Of Things But It Don't Never Show"b/w "Tuesday Morning"	– 	– 	– 	– 	MGM Records 	Universal Jones Vol. 1
===Sideman===
Year	Artist 	Album 	Record Label
1969	Bobby Hutcherson	Now! (Bobby Hutcherson album)	Blue Note
 	 	 	Blue Note
 	 	 	Blue Note
 	 	 	Blue Note
 	 	 	Blue Note
 	 	 	Blue Note
 	 	 	Blue Note
 	 	 	Blue Note
===Produced by Eugene McDaniels===
* Richard Roundtree, "The Man From Shaft" 1972
* Merry Clayton, "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow" 1975
* Jimmy Smith, "Sit on It" 1977
* The Voltage Brothers, "The Voltage Brothers" 1978
* The Floaters, "Levitation" 1979
* Floaters, "Into the Future" 1979
* Jennifer Rush "Loving is a Good Thing" 1980
* Phyllis Hyman, "Meet Me on the Moon", 1991
* Carri Coltrane, The First Time 1999
* Carri Coltrane, Flamenco Sketches 1998
==Filmography==
* It's Trad, Dad! (a.k.a. Ring-A-Ding Rhythm, 1962)
* The Young Swingers (1963)
* Roots (1977)
==Video game roles==
* League of Legends – Nasus
==References==
==External links==
* 
 
Category:1935 births
Category:2011 deaths
Category:Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri
Category:African-American musicians
Category:African-American singer-songwriters
Category:American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters
Category:American male singers
Category:Songwriters from Missouri
Category:Liberty Records artists
Category:Singers from Missouri