This section will examine soul music tracks that were later covered by top 40 artists.  Let's first look at Big Joe Turner who had a number of his major hits covered.  The track playing here is Bill Doggett's Ram-Bunk-Shush, one of his well-known instrumentals.

Big Joe Turner (born Joseph Vernon Turner Jr, May 18, 1911 was an American blues singer from Kansas City, Missouri.    He came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings.  Although it wasn't one of his most popular records, The Midnight Special Train, released in 1957 by Atlantic Records, represents a great example of this performer's jazz talent as well as his ability to sing the blues.  The version he performed was written by J. Gerald and A. Nugetre.

Johnny Rivers (born John Ramistella on November 7, 1942 in New York City) is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer.   He used to play music for his high school band in  Baton Rouge LA. where he formed his own band, called the Spades.   Into 1965 Johnny Rivers continued to record mostly live, Go Go style records including a cover of "The Midnight Special Train" during that year.  Most of his recordings were with Capitol Records, but in the late 1970's Rivers started his own record company, called Soul City Records,

We have to go back to the 50’s to discuss the exciting performance of doo wop recording star Bobby Day.   His real name was Robert James Byrd Sr. not to be confused with Bobby Byrd, the singer with James Brown.   Most of Bobby Day’s hits. including "Over and Over" from 1958, were covered by other artists.  Because of this, Day played a major role in the soul sound of the 60’s. 

Born in Fort Worth Texas in 1928, the family moved to Los Angeles, CA where Bobby, at the age of 15, formed a R&B recording group called the Hollywood Flames.  During their early years, the group recorded under a variety of names, on a couple of different labels.  In 1957 the group “hit it” with a song that Bobby Day co-wrote called Buzz Buzz Buzz. 

See the profile on Bobby Day in the Soul Legends section of this website.

The group was named after the individual, Dave Clark , who was the drummer.  He formed the band around 1957, originally as a partnership, but from 1963 to 1968 he employed the other members, paying their wages and also paying for the recordings. He owned the copyright in the recordings for this period.

The Dave Clark Five had 17 records in Billboard's Top 40, with 12 Top 40 United Kingdom hits between 1964 and 1967. Their cover of  "Over And Over" went to number one in the U.S. on the Billboard Charts Hot 100 at the end of December 1965,