Warwick – Sue Records UK

107 | 1 October 2023

Roy Milton | All About Blues

Band leader, drummer and singer Roy Bunny Milton was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma on July 31, 1907 and grew up on an Indian Reservation before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the late 1920s he joined the Ernie Fields Band as singer and drummer. In 1933 he formed his own band, originally called The Solid Senders. He began recording in the early 1940s. He had ten top ten R&B hits. He appeared with Johnny Otis’ band at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1970. Roy Milton died in Los Angeles, California on September 18, 1983.

His recording of “Early in the Morning”/”Bless your heart” was issued on UK Sue WI 4021 on 29 July 1966; he recorded it a number of times and the Sue release is thought to be the Warwick label re-recording. The UK Sue label incorrectly states that the artist is Little Milton. “Early In The Morning”, Warwick 540, May 1960. Chart position not available.

112 | 24 December 2023

R&B singer Esther Mae Jones (Esther Phillips) was born in Galveston, Texas on December 23, 1935 and grew up in Houston, Texas and Watts, Los Angeles. She was discovered at a talent show by Johnny Otis when she was 14 years old, and rose to prominence with hit records age 15, in 1950. The initial success was not repeated due to her drug addiction. In 1954 she went back to live with her father, and spent time in Lexington, Kentucky, receiving treatment for her addiction. Then her recording of “Release Me” (1960) revived her career. In 1972 she signed with the Kudu label and the resulting album “From a whisper to a scream” and the single from it, “Home is where the hatred is”, were major successes. Two years later she recorded the disco smash “What a difference a day made”.

Esther Phillips died from kidney and liver failure due to drug abuse in Carson, California on August 7, 1984, aged 48. Johnny Otis conducted her funeral service.