Billy Always

The godson of Mahalia Jackson, vocalist Billy Always had an extensive childhood career in gospel. He was the lead singer in his church choir at nine, and touring and recording with Rev. Isaac Whittman as an 11-year-old. Aretha Franklin gave him studio and recording time in 1969, and added background vocals with Cissy Houston and her sister Carolyn on an unreleased Always single. Always was introduced to Barrett Strong in the '70s by Franklin's background vocalist Evelyn Green, and he later co-wrote several songs with Strong, among them "Man up in the Sky," which both Strong and Johnny Bristol recorded. The LP Billy Always was a self-produced, written, and performed session that his attorney financed in 1979. A pair of tracks, "I Mean to Love You" and "Some Kind of Love," were later issued as a bootleg single. Always met legendary Memphis-based producer Willie Mitchell in 1980, and Mitchell produced the single "Didn't We Do It" for his Waylo label in 1981 and the LP Billy Always in 1982. Mitchell produced another Always album, Trust Me, in 1988, which was issued on Epic. Ann Peebles also recorded Always' "Didn't We Do It," and "Come to Me," which he co-wrote with Bernie Miller, was included on Walter Jackson's LP Tell Me Where It Hurts.