Air Week: May 13-19, 2019

Faye Adams

This week’s “Juke In The Back” highlights the short, but important career of Faye Adams. DJ Alan Freed called her “The little gal with the big voice” and she scored an impressive 3 #1 R&B hits in just a little over a year (1953-54). Surprisingly, she only had one more hit, before leaving secular music for her first love, Gospel Music. Born Fanny Tuell, Adams got her stage name from bandleader Joe Morris, who hired her after his former female vocalist, Laurie Tate, left to raise a family. Morris’ record label, Atlantic Records was not terribly impressed with the 2 released singles featuring Adams on lead, so they declined to release the new Morris composition, “Shake A Hand.” Morris took Adams over to New York’s Herald Records and right out of the gate, “Shake A Hand” topped the charts for a whopping 10 weeks. Two more #1s followed (“I’ll Be True” and “Hurts Me To My Heart”), before the hits began to fade. Adams had one more hit single in 1957 for Imperial. By the early ’60s, she had left secular music all together and hasn’t been heard from since. Faye Adams’ Herald and Imperial Records output is impressive and is featured throughout this week’s “Juke In The Back” with Matt The Cat.

LISTEN BELOW