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Gene Chandler
by Bill Pollak

Originally published in MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide, Gary Graff, Josh Freedom du Lac, and Jim McFarlin (eds.); Visible Ink Press (Detroit, MI): 1998.

Born Eugene Dixon, July 6, 1937, Chicago, Illinois

Gene Chandler's association with his first and biggest hit, the perennial oldies-station favorite "Duke of Earl", tends to overshadow a long and fruitful career as a consistently effective Chicago pop/soul stylist. Chandler's instantly recognizable, anguished tenor, polished by his years in doo-wop with the Dukays, proved to be a perfect vehicle for the urbane love songs of Chicago's greatest pop/soul composer, Curtis Mayfield. Chandler, Mayfield, and producer Carl Davis collaborated on a string of hits for the Constellation label in the mid 1960s, beginning with "Rainbow," Chandler's most overtly soulful offering, and continuing with "Man's Temptation," "Just Be True," "What Now," "You Can't Hurt Me No More," and "Nothing Can Stop Me," among others. Later Davis/Chandler collaborations on the Brunswick and Checker labels also produced outstanding R&B hits, many written or co-written by Chandler.

In 1970, Chandler's self-produced LP for Mercury yielded another oldies-station perennial, "Groovy Situation," lighter and more pop-oriented than his 1960s material, but nonetheless irresistable. Again collaborating with Carl Davis at Davis' new label, Chi-Sound, Chandler scored two more dance-oriented hit records--"Get Down" (1978, completed by Davis and released while Chandler was in prison serving time for a drug-related conviction) and "Does She Have a Friend?" (1980).

Buy first: [Nothing Can Stop Me: Gene Chandler's Greatest Hits] (Varese Sarabande, 1994, prod. Various) (4 bones) is the most complete and well documented of many available collections of Chandler's recordings. It spans Chandler's entire career and includes "Duke of Earl," "Does She Have a Friend," and most of the big hits in between.

Buy next:

  • [Live at the Regal] (originally released as [Gene Chandler Live on Stage in '65], Constellation, 1965 / Charly, 1986 / Collectables, 1986, prod. Bill Sheppard) (4 1/2 bones) is a reissue of a 1965 performance at this Chicago theatre, on the heels of James Brown's groundbreaking [Live at the Apollo] LP. This disc captures one of the greatest live performances ever committed to audio tape, "Rainbow '65," which was released as a 45 from the LP and gave Chandler his second hit with this Curtis Mayfield song. "Rainbox '65" shows a side of Chandler's talents that his pop/soul records only hinted at. The interplay between Chandler and his admiring (mostly female) audience, as he builds ever so slowly to the song's cathartic climax, is positively scandalous.
  • [Greatest Hits] (Collectables, 1994, prod. Various) (3 bones) contains some of Chandler's early hits for Vee-Jay and Constellation.

Avoid: None

The rest:

  • [Just Be True] (Constellation, 1964, prod. Carl Davis) (4 bones)
  • [Greatest Hits by Gene Chandler] (Constellation, 1964, prod. Carl Davis) (4 bones)
  • [Gene Chandler] (Checker, 1967, prod. Carl Davis) (4 bones)
  • [The Girl Don't Care] (Brunswick, 1967, prod. Carl Davis) (4 bones)
  • [There Was a Time] (Brunswick, 1968, prod. Carl Davis) (4 bones)
  • [Two Sides of Gene Chandler] (Brunswick, 1969, prod. Carl Davis) (3 1/2 bones)
  • [Duke of Earl] (Collectables, 1976, prod. Various) (3 bones)
  • [When You're #1] (20th Century/Chi-Sound, 1979, prod. Carl Davis) (2 bones)
  • [Get Down] (20th Century/Chi-Sound, 1979, prod. Carl Davis) (2 bones)
  • [Gene Chandler] (20th Century/Chi-Sound, 1980, prod. Carl Davis) (2 bones)
  • ['80] (20th Century/Chi-Sound, 1980, prod. Carl Davis) (2 bones)
  • [Nothing Can Stop Me] (Charly, 1980, prod. Various) (4 bones)
  • [Here's to Love] (20th Century/Chi-Sound, 1981, prod. Gene Chandler) (2 bones)
  • [Duke of Soul] (Chess, 1984, prod. Various) (4 bones)
  • [60s Soul Brother] (Kent, 1986, prod. Various) (4 bones)
  • [Duke of Earl] (Vee Jay, 1993, prod. Various) (4 bones)
  • [Gene Chandler] (Vee Jay, 1994, prod. Various) (4 bones)
  • [Rainbow '80] (Collectable, 1994, prod. Carl Davis) (2 1/2 bones)
  • [The Duke] (Gene Chandler/The Dukays) (Vee Jay, 1995, prod. Various) (3 bones)
  • [Soul Master] (MCA Special Products, 1995, prod. Various) (3 bones)
  • [Tell it Like it Is] (Black Tiger, 1995, prod. unknown) (2 bones)
  • [Soul of Gene Chandler] (Brunswick, 1996, prod. Various) (3 bones)

Worth searching for: Much of Chandler's work remains available only in vinyl.

  • [The Gene Chandler Situation] (Mercury, 1970, prod. Gene Chandler) (3 1/2 bones) is an excellent pop record produced by Chandler that includes "Groovy Situation."
  • Also on Mercury from 1971 is [Gene & Jerry: One on One] (Mercury, 1971, prod. Jerry Butler) (3 bones), a fine collaboration between Chandler and Jerry Butler.

Influenced by:  Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler, Billy Stewart, Pookie Hudson

Influenced: The Chi-lites

Read more soul articles by Bill Pollak
 
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