Hattie Littles - Touch Me In The Morning

This priceless footage of Hattie Littles singing the Diana Ross Motown classic song, and also performing it at the Motorcity Revue at The Pontchartrain, was filmed in Detroit in 1990. I miss Hattie Littles terribly. She had a most tragic life, and I was so grateful for a chance to record her, ever since, as a youth discovering Motown for the first time, Dave Godin's raving about her made me so especially interested in her. But Dave Godin told me he'd heard that she'd died many years before we started Motorcity, so when the late great Dave Hamilton, one of Motown's guitar players, with the Funk Brothers, told me that this was totally untrue, and Hattie was still singing gospel in Detroit, I couldn't wait to record her, and she literally cried with joy at being given the chance to sing again. We released two entire albums, "The Right Direction", and "Borderline", and then a greatest hits compilation entitled "The Best Of Hattie Littles". I recorded a total of twenty one tracks on her, and even brought her to England to stay with me at my house, to record her second album for us. She had had such a rough life, supposedly murdering her husband in the 1960s for being abusive, and spending many years in jail, curtailing her recording career throughout the sixties and the seventies. But she had a heart of gold, and was so full of optimism and joy at the new chance she had, and I was so sad to hear that she died of a heart attack in the 1990s, when Pat Lewis phoned and broke the terrble news to me. Back at Motown, Hattie's first ever single on the Gordy label in 1962, "Back in My Arms" coupled with "Is It True", is legendary for its rarity, and thankfully was recently finally released, both sides in fact, on the wonderful new boxsets that Motown are doing of all their early singles. The second single on Gordy in 1963, "Your Love Is Wonderful" (which we recut)/"Here You Come", was acclaimed by the late Dave Godin as one of the greatest pieces of deep soul ever made. But magically, in recent years, so many unreleased tracks have turned up, that Hattie's fans have had a real treat, with such Motown gems as "Love, Trouble, Heartache, Misery", "Money That's What I Want", "False Words", "Wish you Were Here" (written for her by Marv Johnson), and "You Got Me Worried" (written by Clarence Paul). In the early days of the Motortown Revue, Hattie was the opening act for Marvin Gaye, and toured with him extensively, with her cross of blues and early Motown, and it was fitting and historical that when we did our huge concert at the Pontchartrain Hotel in August 1990, that Hattie be the opening act. She was a real treasure of Motown, and I was proud to have given her a second chance to shine.

• Category

  Music

[razelma]

God bless and keep you Hattie...and thanks.

[IanLevine]

But unfortunately she passed away more than ten years ago.

[kamwood11]

Why do you say that she lived a tragic life?

[IanLevine]

Because she was abused by her husband, stabbed him to protect herself, and went to jail for twenty years for it.

[safestud]

I feel this would make a wonderful bio movie. Much like whats love got to do with it and the temptations and the jacksons this is a must make too. Hell even Gwen McCrae would be another good movie too. I would love to do the score for a movie like that. I dj and am a collector of rare 12'' singles as well. It is really fascinating once you get to know the stories behind labels and artists. Makes it seem like a whole interesting and wonderful planet is overlooked.

[IanLevine]

True, but sadly nobody other than the most diehard Motown fans ever heard of Hattie Littles.

[sexpot06]

You are so right i am from Detroit and i had never heard of her before. (maybe that is becouse i was not born until the end of 1988) but i asked around and not many people even in Detroit have heard of her. Thank you for posting.

[tuffy2342]

Beautiful Cover by Hattie, Thank you SO MUCH for posting this. It really is special to get to see Hattie.......R I P Hattie My Dear

[Terry Flanagan]

Awesome rendition. Love this video.

[tuffy2342]

Accidently stumbled upon Hatties wonderful tallent while listening to a compilaton picked up at a used cd store. She was amazing. Thank you for sharing. Anytime I can see and hear Hattie makes my day.

[jimmy stewart]

superb - much better than that other version !!

[Margandy]

Ian

These tracks are superb .... all of them I could just sit and listen to them all day

keep up the excellent work

Andy