Sandy Posey
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Sandy Posey (born 18 June 1947) is an American popular singer who is probably best known for her 1966 recording of Martha Sharpe's composition, Single Girl. She is often described as a country singer, although, like Skeeter Davis (1931-2004), perhaps her nearest comparator, her output has varied and, later in her career, the term, "countrypolitain", associated with the "Nashville sound", was sometimes applied [1]. Posey had three "hit" singles in the United States in the 1960s, all of which peaked at number 12 in the sales charts [2].
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[edit] Session singer
Sandy Posey was born Sandra Lou Posey in Jasper, Alabama [3]. In her teens, after initially finding employment as a receptionist at a recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, she was a session singer, appearing, for example, on recordings produced by Lincoln “Chips” Moman (born 1936) for Elvis Presley and on Percy Sledge’s When a Man Loves a Woman (a number one "hit" in the USA in 1966).
[edit] Solo career
Under Moman’s tutelage, Posey began recording in her own right. Her first "single" record, under the name Sandy Carmel, was Kiss Me Goodnight (1965), written by William Cates, which was coupled with First Boy.
[edit] Born a Woman
At the age of 19, as Sandy Posey, she had her first hit, Born a Woman, which was written by Martha Sharpe [4]. Recorded in Nashville on 15 March 1966 [5] and released by MGM, this reached number 12 in the US sales charts in September 1966. Born a Woman was regarded by some as a women's liberationalist song ("You're born to be stepped on, lied to, cheated on"), although it was lampooned by others [6] and Helen Reddy, whose song, I Am Woman, became a feminist anthem in the 1970s, dismissed it much later as "dreadful" and its lyrics as "not exactly empowering" [7]. Posey received two "Grammy" nominations for Born a Woman in 1966 in the categories of vocal performance (female) and contemporary (R&R) solo vocal [8].
[edit] Single Girl
Posey's next single release was Single Girl, also written by Martha Sharpe, which was notable for the gentle crescendo and piano refrain of its final verse. Recorded in Nashville on 19 August 1966 [9], this also reached number 12 in America in January 1967 and number 15 in Great Britain, where it benefited from frequent plays on offshore “pirate” radio stations. Single Girl was re-released in Britain in 1975 and reached the top 50 for a second time [10].
[edit] Other work
Posey’s final "top 20" hit was I Take It Back, another US number 12 in July 1967, though she continued recording as a solo artiste into the early 1980s when she reverted to session work. Posey made a number of country recordings with a religious theme after embracing Christianity in 1974 [11].
[edit] The Elvis connection
In 1968 Posey married Wade Cummings, who performed as an impersonator of Elvis Presley under the name of Elvis Wade [12]. Posey herself appeared with Presley, who died in 1977, during an engagement in Las Vegas in 1969.
[edit] External link
- Sandy Posey: MGM home page (with extensive discography) [6]
[edit] Notes
- ^ See Michael D'Arcy, June 2001 [1]
- ^ Charlie Gillett & Simon Frith (1976) Rock File 4
- ^ Posey’s birth name has sometimes been cited mistakenly as Martha Sharpe because Sharpe wrote some of her early recordings: see for example, Hugh Gregory (1993) Who's Who In Country Music.
- ^ Sharpe made her own recordings of Born a Woman and Single Girl in 1973 for a Monument album (KZ 32234).
- ^ MGM home page [2]
- ^ See Peter Doggett, sleeve notes for Sandy Posey, A Single Girl: The Very Best of the MGM Recordings (2002)
- ^ Helen Reddy, interview in Sunday Magazine (Australia), 2003
- ^ Peter Doggett, 2002
- ^ MGM home page [3]
- ^ Guinness British Hit Singles (15th ed, 2002)
- ^ Michael D'Arcy, June 2001 [4]; sleeve notes for A Single Girl CD, 2002
- ^ [5]
