Lee Fields and the Expressions - Faithful Man, live (from the yours truly sessions)

The breakthrough album and single Faithful Man was released in 2012 

Elmer "Lee" Fields was born in 1951 in Wilson, North Carolina. As a child, some people took to calling him "Little JB" for his physical and vocal resemblance to the Godfather of soul James Brown.

Lee Fields: KCRW Live from HQ

Un de mes chanteurs soul préférés, Lee Fields, est en concert ce lundi 4 juillet à 21h30 à la Place des Festivals.

Ce sera la 5e fois que je le verrai sur scène. J’en profite pour re-publier mon entrevue avec lui parue à la une de HOUR en 2011.

TENACIOUS LEE

Lee Fields takes us through a four-decade journey that has included fronting Kool & The Gang, struggling to step out of James Brown’s shadow and having Sharon Jones sing backup for him

(June 16, 2011)

Sitting at the top of my personal musical pantheon, or damn near it, are the great soul men of the 1960s and 1970s. Marvin Gaye. Otis Redding. Sam Cooke. Al Green. If you ask me, Lee Fields belongs in that rarefied company, even though he’s hardly as well known as the aforementioned R&B titans.

If you were at his 2009 Pop Montreal midnight show, in a Sala Rossa packed with people grooving to the sounds of the singer and his band, The Expressions, you know what I’m talking about. “Man, I tell you, I just be having so much fun,” Lee Fields says over the line when I tell him about that memorable concert. “Every night, walking on stage, it’s a privilege first of all, and to get the chance to do it over and over again? I’m like a kid in a candy shop!”

Born in Wilson, North Carolina, Fields started out singing in church, which was not that different than what he’s doing now, according to him. “See, gospel is about letting the spirit shine through. When I’m singing whatever music, I do the same thing,” he explains. “The only difference between gospel and R&B is that gospel is singing about the good news of our Lord and Saviour, and R&B is singing about all of the trials and tribulations that you have here on Earth.”

COULD HAVE BEEN

As a fan of artists such as Wilson Pickett, Tyrone Davis, Clarence Carter and O.V. Wright (“I could go on and on!”), Lee Fields began his career in the late 1960s as a singer with various bands, including Kool & The Gang before their breakthrough.

“Gene Redd, their manager at the time, saw me performing somewhere and he thought it would be a good idea to put me with them,” Fields remembers. “So I worked with them for maybe six months, we did shows at clubs and some theatres. It was a good combination, but the thing is, those guys would do a hard show and as soon as they’d get off the stage, still with sweat on them, they’d say, ‘Let’s go back to the dressing room and talk about how we can make the show better next time.’ I said, ‘Are you crazy? I thought that after you got off stage, you went out there and had yourself a good time for a minute!’ But they were so focused and I must say that, at the time, it was beyond what I had as far as self-discipline. Still, it was a great experience and I learned a lot from them.”

As a solo artist, Fields released a bunch of 7-inch singles throughout the 1970s, but he didn’t put out a full-length album until 1979′s classic Let’s Talk It Over. Why did it take so long? “I was really trying to find myself as an artist,” he says. “I kept being told I was like James Brown. Whatever I did, it seemed like I was labelled, ‘He’s a replica, he’s not an original.’ That’s what I was sensing and for that period, I was looking to find me, to find who I was as an artist. It’s hard when you resemble somebody so closely… I know the resemblance is uncanny because my own daughter, when she was a little girl, she’d see pictures of James Brown and say, ‘Daddy!’” he says laughing. “Finding myself took a long time, but trust me, man, it was well worth it. Because I know that when people see me now, they see Lee.”

Alas, almost as soon as Fields found himself, the musical landscape changed and he found that his sound wasn’t fashionable anymore. “It was rough in the 80s for me,” admits the singer. “A few shows here, a few shows there, and I had to get mainly involved with real estate. Which I’m glad I did, because it panned out really well for me. Didn’t get rich, but I live a pretty comfortable life, and I got the chance to raise my family. But the longing for music was always there.”

DAPTONE GOLD

It took until the 1990s before he could begin his comeback, first by investing in some recording equipment and cutting some songs at home, then by heavily touring through the southern United States. Fields also released a few albums on the Ace label and one on Avanti Records, slowly but surely building a new fan base.

And then began his formidable collaboration with Philip Lehman and Gabriel Roth (a.k.a. Bosco Mann), the founders of Desco Records and then, separately, the Soul Fire (now defunct) and Daptone labels, all of which Fields has worked with.

“I was the first artist to do a full-length album with them [Let’s Get a Groove On, 1999]. Matter of fact, Sharon Jones was singing backup for me then!” Fields enthuses. “The people there, at Desco at the time and at Daptone now, it’s one big family. I’m pulling for everybody; it really makes me happy to see everyone take another step up. Whatever I can do for Sharon, trust me, I’ll be there, and I feel like she’ll do the same for me. Same thing for everybody there – it’s a family, man.”

More recently, Fields was one of the first artists to record with another label, Truth & Soul, which was launched by Jeff Silverman and former Dap-King Leon Michels. The result was My World, the bloody brilliant LP Lee Fields and The Expressions have been touring with since 2009. “I have such pleasure performing this album when I go out on stage. Ladies, My World, Honey Dove… I enjoy singing those songs so much!”