| The Valentinos | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | The Womack Brothers |
| Origin | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Genres | Gospel, R&B, soul, doo-wop |
| Years active | 1960-1974 |
| Labels | SAR, Chess, Cotillion |
| Associated acts | Sam Cooke Mary Wells |
| Past members | |
| Friendly Womack, Jr. Curtis Womack Bobby Womack Harry Womack Cecil Womack |
|
The Valentinos (a.k.a. The Womack Brothers), was a Cleveland, Ohio-based family R&B group, mainly famous for launching the careers of brothers Bobby Womack and Cecil Womack, the former brother finding bigger fame as a solo artist and the latter finding success as a member of the husband and wife team of Womack & Womack with Linda Cooke. During their 14-year tenure, the group was known for R&B hits such as "Lookin' for a Love" and "It's All Over Now", the latter single famously covered by The Rolling Stones.
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The foundation of the Valentinos started in church where the five Womack brothers - Friendly, Jr. (b. 1941), Curtis (b. 1943), Bobby (b. 1944), Harry (1945–1974) and Cecil (b. 1947) - performed at their father Friendly's church located on the east side of Cleveland.
Brothers Curtis and Bobby split lead vocals often and by the late 1950s had attracted a gospel following. In 1956, Sam Cooke discovered the group performing while he and his then group, The Soul Stirrers, were headlining and was so impressed with the brothers that he promised to help the group advance in their careers. In 1960, a couple of years after he founded SAR Records and becoming a crossover solo sensation, Cooke made good on his promise signing the teenage act to the label. The group arrived to California in a beat-up Cadillac prior to Cooke signing them.
By this point the group was using their given name, the Womack Brothers, and had advised Cooke that they can't cross over to pop as they felt they would be reprimanded by their God-fearing minister father for doing so. Cooke allowed them to release a self-penned gospel song but on the condition that if the song failed to garner attention that they would record secular music. When the song became a relative failure, the group agreed to record secular music and Cooke changed their name to the Valentinos.
Cooke also made a decision that would hamper the group when he handpicked Bobby to be the official lead singer of the group though the group had recorded music with Curtis also singing lead. In making Bobby the official lead singer, it led to tensions in the group.
Shortly afterwards, the group under its new moniker, recorded "Lookin' for a Love", which was a pop rendition of their gospel singing debut on SAR. The song would peak at number eight on the R&B charts and number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100, going on to sell two million copies.[1] The hit landed them an opening spot on James Brown's national tour.
In early 1964, the group issued their next hit, "It's All Over Now", which was co-written by Bobby and sister-in-law Shirley. Prior to them releasing it, however, word got around that The Rolling Stones wanted to cover it. Despite Bobby's initial protests, the Stones were eventually allowed to release it and their version became their first national hit in the U.S.
Around 1963, Womack began touring with Cooke as his backing guitarist, which furthered tension in the group. Bobby added in instrumentation to several of Cooke's albums including Night Beat and Ain't That Good News. Around the same time Bobby was one of the first people to hear Cooke's chilling anthem, "A Change Is Gonna Come". In December 1964, the Valentinos' career was put in jeopardy when Cooke was suddenly shot and killed while at a Los Angeles motel putting the Valentinos' future in doubt.
In March 1965, several months after Cooke's untimely death, 20-year-old Bobby Womack married Cooke's widow Barbara. Womack said he married Barbara to protect her from herself claiming Barbara would've "done something crazy". Womack wore one of Cooke's suits to the wedding. The marriage caused havoc and controversy. Many of Cooke's fans were angered that Womack and Barbara suddenly married while Cooke's death was still being investigated. Womack said his career suffered so much afterwards that he couldn't get a solo deal for years. Womack later wrote that Cooke's brothers later beat him up in retaliation for the marriage.
With Cooke's death, SAR Records folded and the Valentinos moved to Chess Records where they continued to record despite not finding success with any of their releases on the label. In 1967, Bobby Womack left the group and forged a career as a session musician and staff writer for Atlantic Records, working with the likes of Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett before he signed with Uni Records as a solo artist in 1968 as a result of his success as a songwriter on Pickett's hits "I'm a Midnight Mover" and "I'm in Love".
In 1968, the remaining Valentinos signed with Jubilee Records and had a minor hit on the Northern soul circuit with "Sweeter than the Day Before", co-written by Cecil and then-wife and former Motown vocalist Mary Wells, and led by Curtis Womack, whose raspy vocals was similar to younger brother Bobby's. Bobby Womack continued to work with the group and also contributed to Wells' 1968 album, Servin' Up Some Soul, producing an updated version of Wells' first hit, "Bye Bye Baby". Cecil co-wrote most of the songs on the album while he and Friendly, Jr. contributed background vocals to the album.
By the early 1970s, the Valentinos were dropped from Jubilee and returned home to Cleveland with their musical dreams dashed. Cecil Womack settled in Los Angeles where he lived with Mary Wells and their three children and decided to go solo. Harry Womack moved to California to be near brother Bobby and played bass in his background band and also contributed on Womack's studio albums for United Artists, including the singer's breakthrough albums, Communication and Understanding. By 1973, Bobby Womack was a solo star. Encouraged by his success, the remaining Valentinos (Friendly, Jr., Curtis and Harry) reformed the group and moved back to Los Angeles where Bobby helped them get a deal with the Atlantic subsidiary Cotillion Records, and produced a minor hit, which was their own rendition of Bobby's "I Can Understand It". Due to its success in clubs and minor traction on the R&B chart, the reinvigorated group performed the song on Soul Train as a trio.
However, further recordings ceased after the death of Harry Womack in 1974 and another scandal surrounding brothers Cecil and Curtis as word began spreading that Curtis and Cecil's wife, singer Mary Wells, were having an affair, ultimately leading to Cecil filing for divorce from Wells in 1977 after 11 years of marriage. The relationship also sparked a rift between Curtis and Cecil especially after Curtis and Mary had a child together in 1986. Curtis' relationship with Wells ended in 1990 after 16 years.
Following the Valentinos' split in 1974, Cecil carried on session work as a songwriter, finding work with Gamble & Huff's fabled Philadelphia International Records where he was teamed with his future wife Linda Womack to write hits for the likes of Teddy Pendergrass and Patti LaBelle. Inspired by a burgeoning romance with Linda (Bobby and Linda had a brief liaison in 1970, which resulted in the breakup of Bobby's marriage with Barbara Cooke), which started in 1977, 16 years after they first met, the couple began working as a musical duo, forming Womack & Womack shortly after marrying. The couple would find success with the hits "Baby I'm Scared of You" and "Teardrops", which also appeared on overseas charts. In the mid-1980s, disenchanted with life in the United States and seeking their African roots, Cecil and Linda moved their family to Africa changing their names in the process to the Zekkariyas and continuing to record.
Bobby Womack went on to be a revered soul artist scoring hits such as "That's the Way I Feel About Cha", "A Woman's Gotta Have It", "Harry Hippie" (dedicated to his brother Harry but released a year prior to his untimely death) and "If You Think You're Lonely Now". In 2009, Womack was inducted as a solo artist to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Curtis Womack released a solo album in 1994 that went unnoticed while Friendly Womack, Jr. retired from the music business at the end of the 1980s. Friendly spent the majority of his post-Valentinos period singing background on his brothers Bobby and Cecil's recordings as well as those of other major artists.
Some of the group's recordings are most noted for their covers by artists of various genres. Alongside the Rolling Stones, Solomon Burke and Wilson Pickett recorded covers of the Valentinos tunes "Everybody Wants to Fall in Love" and "I Found a True Love", both of which were written solely by Bobby. In 1972, The J Geils Band covered "Looking for a Love", two years later, Bobby Womack re-recorded the song as a solo artist and had a top ten crossover hit with the release. Another composition that was first recorded by Bobby as a solo release and revived by the Valentinos a year later, "I Can Understand It", became a major hit for the funk band New Birth. Prior to her later work with Cecil, Linda helped Bobby co-write the hit "A Woman's Gotta Have It", which also featured Cecil singing background for his brother. Cecil and Linda's composition, "Love TKO", a major hit for Teddy Pendergrass, has been covered several times.
A popular Australia-based rock combo attempted to use the name of the original Valentinos but had to change their name when faced with the threat of possible litigation by Bobby and his brothers.[2] This group later changed their name to the Lost Valentinos.[3]
Since then, an acapella doo-wop group and a Detroit-based rock band have also tried to use the original group's name.[4][5]
The Valentinos' national and regional hit songs included: