Fontella Bass - Rescue Me

[97ih11]

:p

[GC0020]

an ADVERT brought me here..!

[toysbyus1]

As good as she sounded back in the 60s when her big hit came out......and what pipes!!!

This is when Soul ruled.....and the world was filled with great black music...not the rap crap that they do now.........

Oh, to be able to hear newer black bands do this stuff.......now, that would be something.

Thanks, Fontella!!!

Steve

[biglinguist]

Her voice is great here, better than I expected. Shame the budget didn't run to a proper full horn section.

[HafizAhmadzai]

given her age in the video, HER VOICE IS AWESOME AS ALWAYS.

[WonderWomanFan4life]

isnt this a commercial?? what commercial is this for? Viagra or something 

[jnmklo9]

Fantastic

[lindsay3640]

good but not the best version i,v ever heard

[theEricWalker]

There is nothing better than a black woman singing her face off...

[dbldw]

The sad thing is the rumor is she wrote most of this song, shared it with someone and never received proper credit/royalties for her contribution to it. I guess that was before the days of people understanding how the publishing industry works!

Sending prayers her way. I heard she had a major stroke a few years ago.

[GeminianButterfly]

Well, I'm not black and I think this song was out before I was born but I damn well love it and the enthusiasm in the singing. It's the kind of music that makes you happy. (:

[0utcastAussie]

Damn.. Those musicians, including Fontella must've felt sooooo good hearing that ch00n pumping out just so awesome.

[ithinkimaybenuts]

This is fantastic. She came and did a workshop with our chorus when I was in eighth grade. I wish I knew then what a big deal it was.

[HogbergPhotography]

OMG! This is great! What a feeling and emotion.. much better then modern music! I wish I had been born earlier.. Mmm.. LP:s and b&w analogue photography.. Mmm..

[currymusodave]

Great song!

[auntifranny]

Fontella Bass! Yes I remember this song from back in the day, and oooh, she can STILL " saaang" !!!

[tijbajmex]

the guy in gray suit has a liverpool accent

[InvisibleManFI]

@tijbajmex

That's Jools Holland, and that's a well-educated London accent.

Jools is a musical god! :)

[saywhatsaywell]

Poor Fontella suffered a stroke in 2005. Hopefully she is making a great recovery and will be able to return to the stage eventually. This song truly is one of the best. And what a voice!

[salaheddinefrihi]

God bless you sister and that which moves you...

[salaheddinefrihi]

Gorgeous...and she is having great time doing it...why is it that music like everything else in our days is degenerate? God bless you sister and that which moves you.

[cimidiver]

come on man, just because music was good and different back in the day doesnt mean that there isnt good music today. If your only going to put in the effort to listen to the radio, then of course all your going to hear is shit. All it takes is a little effort to find good modern music. Im tired of all this lazy, elitist nostalgia bullshit.

[TONY8558]

holy craps she sounds exactly like when she sang it the first time:D :D :D. Pretty much one word to describe her voice........BEAUTIFUL :D

[freein2339]

She still sounds great....

[ziggysway]

this the first some i learned when was a young baby lol. i loved this show when was on. It was the bomb. it came on so damn late. david peaston is his aunt. he was on this show too sang with dianne reeves. wow I was a fan of his when he on showtime at the appollo. his mother is martha bass. this all started from lstening to jaheim lol

[blue5639181]

Damn, even better than the black and white version

[skeptyky]

PAS BELLE LE VIE EN FONTELLA !! yes very good

[Monk3597]

Is Fontella still alive?

[ClarinetBoy5]

alive and still rockin it!

[BandMomForever]

Right beside Aretha!!

[loosestudios]

Fontella Bass (born July 3, 1940, St. Louis, Missouri) is an American soul singer, who is best known for the 1965 R&B hit "Rescue Me", which she also co-wrote

"had the first million seller for Chess since Chuck Berry about 10 years before. Things were riding high for her but when it came time to collect my first royalty check, I looked at it, saw how little it was, tore it up and threw it back across the desk."

Then they black ball her got a reputation of being a trouble maker."

[ziggysway]

Their scared asses was so scared to speak probably back in those days those guys swindled thosw great singers. i can imagine what they did to her or anyone who wanted to right a wrong.

[caravaggio]

Wow! I love this version! Her voice has aged like a fine wine. <3

[donthompson10166]

yeah and a wow from me too!

[noaTr]

wow! the basist look just like steve arkle... scary!!!! :)

[detectiveMel2]

i like the older, black and white one best but wow she aged well!

[DieHardBeatlesFan]

OMG a very young Jools Holland lol

[YT28666]

Wonderful song.

[kittybabe157]

She got better as she got older! Wish I could see her now!! What a voice!

[MrHal]

she has a song released with the cinematic orchestra at the moment

[georgiatbilisi2008]

very cool!

[joelok48]

Great David Sanborn solo in there. Great vid. Thanks for posting this gem.

[Futterman]

What is the date of this vid?

[Soul74]

I think its 1988.

[LushonFeare]

is that jools holland :O

[tripleh770]

lol, the guy at the beginning 'YES!

[afroboyz84]

Fontella Bass, she is amassing! i wasn't born at that time.. but she amaze me:) love her voice and her sense of love to the music and message at that time of period..war and stuff..everybody needs to be rescued at some time:)loooooove

[suspectdevice71]

That soul sister got a serious jive on her!!!

[suspectdevice71]

Fontella Bass was a long term salsa partner to legendary Scottish rougue Dr. Charles Follen McKim Maloney. Together they invented the Maccarena and the lambada. They were working on what Maloney described as "the most feindish dance of all" before Maloney disappeared.

[locobuick]

You are quite right, suspectdevice71. The irrepressible Scottish psychiatrist Dr. Charles Follen McKim Maloney and Fontella Bass practiced their choreograpy on board the doctor's hot air balloon. Miss Bass did not go with him on the final balloon ride when he vanished.

[theoneandonlyspanner]

motown but chicago style-ie with grit-ace! especially this version, more like how she originally wanted it before they made her clean it up to bag a hit and shift units. Not to knock either verison.

[sleinad]

Actually, this song is from the Chess record label, not the Motown label. Chess specialised in blues music but needed a bit hit to be able to "pay the rent", as it were. So, they decided to release a song emulating the Motown style - hence the Funk Brothers sounding rhythm section.

[theoneandonlyspanner]

I'm aware of that, hence the fact the "motown" the were trying to emulate, but with the ingrained "chicago style".

[MusicManKevin]

The late Roquel Billy Davis - who produced this classic in '65 - was from Detroit and was Berry Gordy's songwriting partner in the 50s. When he was hired to be Chess' A&R director in the early 60s, he melded the Motor City sound he helped develop with the swing of Chicago jazz & blues and came up with a style that had a groove all its own. Fontella Bass & the late Billy Stewart were two (of many) acts at Chess who benefited from Billy's efforts.

[Rainfall50]

Thanks for all the info.

[TheMichiganian]

Rap is okay, but the old-time soul was the absolute best music produced in the United States. Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, nothing, and I mean absolutely NOTHING compares. The list is WAY too long to post here, but go with Martha Reeves and the Vandellas' "Dancin' in the Street", segue to anything Motown, Philly, Chi-Town. Get 'em, listen to 'em, and toss everything else!

[lyndloo]

GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cherifchel]

I could listen to her singing and the bass guitar thumping all day long. This vid is amazing!

[santnicola]

now.... THIS is hip 'black' music... not the trash posing as black music heard today..... the corporates have destroyed the music industry....just listen to old motown, english northern soul, isac hayes, curtis mayfield, aretha, stax, barry white etc and listen to the radio today and you'll know what i mean

[kbelna]

YOU KNOW IT! Hel yeah - I LOVE REAL BLACK MUSIC - I love rap too but this is the good shit - you groove with me on that?

[cjs33139]

@kbelna Sorry but rap music has DESTROYED the black community. As a person of color, I don't see rap music as having any positive qualities. I miss the old days of good music for people of color. I hope it comes back someday. These days rap music is all about money, bling and treating women like bitches and hoe's. How healthy is that!

[taildragger53]

@cjs33139 I agree with you--- Fontella Bass comes from the era of CREATIVE music when so many REAL innovators in Jazz, Blues, Soul were still alive.(Coltrane, Hendrix,Miles Davis)

Those artists link was the church & gospel...today that link is, largely, lost. Replaced by "attitude" & corporate greed.

Everybody today sounds the same. All you have to do is act profane or be an imitator and "sample" others genius.. but i really wonder if they have as much FUN today making "music"(?)

[GoldenOx]

@santnicola

Man you are so Spot on with this . I agree 100%!

I am happy that i am not the only one who thinks like that.

The groove is gone!

[taildragger53]

@santnicola No doubt about. This can be proven in the fact that every great track , whether jazz funk, soul,or straight jazz from the 1950s-60s-70s is SAMPLED by todays crew. Torn to bits and replaced by drum machines & verbal garbage. This is because the well of true creativity has RUN DRY. Nobody can replace Otis Redding, James Carr, Fontella, Etta James or even any of the Philly singers.

[kevj247]

yes yes yes yes