Barbara Jean Acklin (February 28, 1943 – November 27, 1998) was an American soul singer and songwriter, who was most successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her biggest hit as a singer was "Love Makes a Woman" (1968). As a songwriter, she is best known for co-writing the multi-million-selling "Have You Seen Her" (1971) with Eugene Record, lead singer of the Chi-Lites.
Life and career
Acklin was born in Oakland, California and moved with her family to Chicago, Illinois in 1948. She was encouraged to sing as a child; by the age of 11, she sang regularly as a soloist at the New Zion Baptist Church and as a teenager started singing at nightclubs in Chicago. After graduating from Dunbar Vocational High School she worked as a secretary at St. Lawrence Records. Her first record was released on the subsidiary Special Agent label, under the pseudonym Barbara Allen, and was produced by her cousin, producer, and saxophonist Monk Higgins. She also worked as a backing singer at Chess Records on recordings by Fontella Bass, Etta James, Koko Taylor, and others produced by Higgins.
In 1966, she started working as a receptionist at Brunswick Records' Chicago office, where she submitted demo recordings of some of her own songs to producer Carl Davis. One of her songs, "Whispers (Gettin' Louder)", which she had co-written with David Scott, formerly of The Five Du-Tones, was recorded by Jackie Wilson and became his biggest hit for three years, reaching no. 5 on the Billboard R&B chart and no. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Wilson then helped secure her a recording contract with Brunswick. Her first two singles for the label were unsuccessful but her third, "Show Me the Way To Go", a duet with Gene Chandler, made the R&B chart. She began writing songs with another Brunswick recording artist, Eugene Record, lead singer of the Chi-Lites; some but not all sources state that they were later married. They co-wrote the Peaches and Herb hit "Two Little Kids", before Record and Davis co-wrote and produced Acklin's first and biggest solo hit, "Love Makes a Woman"; the other co-writers were arranger Sonny Sanders and guitarist Gerald Sims. The single reached no. 3 on the R&B chart and no. 15 on the US pop chart in July 1968, and won a BMI award. and in the UK by Dusty Springfield (UK no. 43, 1969). Acklin also released several albums on the Brunswick label: Love Makes a Woman (1968), Seven Days of Night (1969), Someone Else's Arms (1970), I Did It (1971), and I Call It Trouble (1973). Her first single for the label, "Raindrops", was co-written by Acklin and produced by former Brunswick producer, Willie Henderson. It became her biggest hit on the R&B chart for six years (no. 14), and she released an album, A Place in the Sun (1975).
! width="35"| US<br>R&B<br>
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1966
| align="left"| "I'm Not Mad Anymore"
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| —
| —
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| rowspan="2"| 1967
| align="left"| "Fool, Fool, Fool (Look in the Mirror)"
| —
| —
| —
|-
| align="left"| "I've Got You Baby"
| —
| —
| —
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1968
| align="left"| "Show Me the Way to Go" <small>(with Gene Chandler)</small>
| —
| 30
| —
|-
| align="left"| "Love Makes a Woman"
| 15
| 3
| 15
|-
| align="left"| "From the Teacher to the Preacher" <small>(with Gene Chandler)</small>
| 57
| 16
| 34
|-
| align="left"| "Just Ain't No Love"
| 67
| 23
| 53
|-
| rowspan="4"| 1969
| align="left"| "Am I the Same Girl"
| 79
| 33
| 52
|-
| align="left"| "Little Green Apples" <small>(with Gene Chandler)</small>
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| —
| —
|-
| align="left"| "A Raggedy Ride"
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| —
| —
|-
| align="left"| "After You"
| —
| 30
| —
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1970
| align="left"| "Someone Else's Arms"
| —
| —
| —
|-
| align="left"| "I Did It"
| 121
| 28
| —
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1971
| align="left"| "I Can't Do My Thing"
| —
| —
| —
|-
| align="left"| "Lady, Lady, Lady"
| —
| 44
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|-
| rowspan="1"| 1972
| align="left"| "I Call It Trouble"
| —
| 49
| —
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1973
| align="left"| "I'll Bake Me a Man"
| —
| —
| —
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1974
| align="left"| "Raindrops"
| —
| 14
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|-
| rowspan="2"| 1975
| align="left"| "Special Loving"
| —
| 73
| —
|-
| align="left"| "Give Me Some of Your Sweet Love"
| —
| 98
| —
|-
| colspan="15" style="font-size:90%" | "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
|}
References
Further reading
- Pruter, Robert. Chicago Soul. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.