8) Debbie Taylor: Never Gonna Let Him Know (1969)




Debbie Taylor  was another name that had seemed to vanish from history after a few years in music  in the late 60’s/early 70’s,until a resurfacing a few years ago. She  was Maddie (Maydie) Galvin from Norfolk, Virginia and ,like many of her contemporaries, had developed her singing skills in gospel before crossing over into soul. Between 1968- 1975 she released a number of  singles and albums on at least 5 different record labels, with the final offering I Don’t Wanna Leave You , an intense and tearful ballad, often being considered her finest performance and the only track to get international release at the time.My preference is for Never Gonna  Let Him Know , which launched the GWP label in 1969. It was a mid-tempo tune, with vocal backing from the Hesitations and Debbie Taylor showing an astonishing range and depth in her voice.  The track is worth it just for the way she drags out  ‘yeah’  every so often. The end result is a rather evocative sound that lingers at the back of the mind. (The intro resurfaced as a sample on the 2014 track Thuggin’ by Freddie Gibbs and Madlib.)


Debbie Taylor seemed to have vanished by the mid-70’s, though some of her work  remained popular on the Northern Soul scene, and some references still cite her as another ‘lost’ singer with a hint of mystique as to her disappearance. In 2011, however, jazz/soul singer Maydie Myles mentioned she had once recorded under the name Debbie Taylor and it stopped being a mystery. Why her records didn’t sell more, however, does remain a mystery.


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