During the summer youth program of 1970 and '71 at St Paul's Catholic church
a young Tunnie Smith was singled out by Father George Artist for his outstanding singing
abilities.
He was soon introduced to Joe Delpit and Reginal Brown to sing along with their show and
dance band "The 13Th Amendments. It didn't take long before Tunnie was a full member of the
band and became a featured singer performing throughout Louisiana.
After a year and a half of performing at nightclubs, military bases and universities Tunnie landed
a record deal with Rick Hall's Fame/UA record label.
His first single from 1973 was a wonderful mid-tempo number entitled "Finders Aren't Always Keepers"
flipped with "Do That To Me"
It gained National distribution and had some good success. Tunnie left Fame records and was
introduced to Stax record executives Al Bell and John Smith.
After signing with Stax Tunnie met legendary writer and performer David Porter where they recorded
an album which was scheduled for release around 73/74.Unfortunately Staxs association with CBS came to a halt
and the project got shelved.
Tunnie went home and carried on performing around the Louisiana area with his new band Sweet Music Orchestra"
Fast forward to 1983 Tunnie whilst recording some vocals at River City Recording met Chicago producer
and arranger George "Paco" Patterson. George was musical director and had worked with The Isley Brothers
Wilson Pickett and many other well known artists.
During this period Tunnie along with George formed a great partnership and along with some top session musicians
record some incredibly lush, well produced and atmospheric songs
The A Side "Dancing On Da Cloud" kicks of with female backing vocals and cascading strings layered over each other
to create a full bodied 2 Step Rare Groove classic, which we can only compare in the highest esteem to an
out take from Marvin Gaye or Leon Ware. It oozes sheer class with rasping horns and Tunnie showing he
hasn't lost any of the singing prowess he got singled out for as a young boy in1971.
"I Found A Miracle" is a slightly slower affair than the A side but still kicks a punch. It starts with pounding drums
and again those cascading strings whilst Tunnie's scatting vocals flow until the verse arrives.
It is a powerful beat ballad-esque song that sits perfectly back to back with "Dancing On Da Cloud."
We at Super Disco Edits are very excited to be able to bring you the first instalment of Mr TUNNIE SMITH!