I’m going to assume you have never heard of Sterling Harrison. For a long time, neither had I. Harrison was an R&B singer working out of Los Angeles who had a long career performing in low-rent bars and nightclubs.
Over the course of 50 years, Harrison made only a handful of records. The first was recorded in 1955 at age 14, before John Lennon met Paul McCartney and before Elvis Presley became a star. The soul man’s few opportunities to put his voice on vinyl for posterity never produced anything worthwhile yet many who saw his live act swore Sterling Harrison’s showmanship and vocal skills made him the greatest hidden treasure rhythm & blues ever produced.
In the ’60s, Harrison opened for Sam Cooke, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Jackie Wilson and Otis Redding. While he was performing in Nashville, Jimi Hendrix was a member of his band. His music has been described as “deep soul” and his voice conjures up aural images of Redding and Wilson Pickett. Bobby “Blue” Bland’s wife was so impressed that she made sure Sterling Harrison never opened for her husband so he wouldn’t be upstaged.
Hear for yourself on South of the Snooty Fox, a 2007 album with a very interesting back story. Harrison had finally been discovered by Eddie Gorodetsky, writer for the TV series Dharma and Greg, and actor Thomas Gibson, the show’s male star, while performing in a rundown Los Angeles club. Soon thereafter Gorodetsky brought Steve Berlin, the sax player for Los Lobos, to see a Harrison show.
Both were so impressed that they decided to produce an album for him, so in 2001, Gorodetsky and Berlin worked with the vocalist on a 10-song disc with the goal of finally making him a star.
Unfortunately, as was so typical of Sterling Harrison’s career, luck wasn’t about to be a lady. Sadly, he was diagnosed with cancer shortly after work on South of the Snooty Fox was completed and he died in 2005. The album went into limbo until Hacktone – a now-defunct label that resurrected a series of lost discs – rescued this soul masterpiece from oblivion.
Harrison fronts a four-piece band on South of the Snooty Fox featuring guitarist Larry Johnson, whose lead lines support every song. Johnson is outstanding and his tasteful playing never upstages Harrison’s performance. Individually, the band members worked with all-stars such as Marvin Gaye and Barry White.
As neither a musician nor a composer, Harrison put all of his efforts into being a stylist who interpreted other people’s songs. There are rave-ups, ballads, dance tunes, and even some fairly conventional pop-soul. There are a few of Harrison’s concert standards including “There’s a Rat Loose In My House,” “I Believe In You (You Believe In Me)” and “I’ll Take Care of You.” He covers Brook Benton, Bobby Womack and Bobby Bland. Eddie Gorodetsky brought in a Tom Waits song, “The House Where Nobody Lives,” to help make the sessions a bit more contemporary.
Sterling Harrison performed live for almost five decades and loved every minute of his career. Singing was virtually the only job he ever knew. He didn’t drink, smoke, or use drugs because he was afraid they would be harmful to his voice. He should have been an R&B giant but unfortunately he never acquired any of the rewards usually associated with a man of his talent.
