Lula Reed, Another Fine Voice Silenced

She was versatile, singing urban blues most of the time but switching to gospel for a 1954 session. Reed's strident 1954 waxing "Rock Love" was later revived by labelmate Little Willie John. She briefly moved to the Chess subsidiary Argo in 1958-1959 but returned to the fold in 1961 (as always, under Thompson's direction) on King's Federal imprint. While at Federal, she waxed a series of sassy duets with guitarist Freddy King in March of 1962. Another move -- to Ray Charles's Tangerine logo in 1962-1963 -- soon followed. After that, her whereabouts are unknown.
--Bill Dahl, All Music Guide

Lula Reed, Do you know who she was ? It's alright if you don't. A lot of people never heard of her; and many of those who knew her from her distinctive, flexible voice-- a voice that was equally effective and all her own, whether she was playing jazz, blues or gospel-- and big hit "Drown in my own tears" soon forgot her. Indeed, "Drown in my own tears" war recorded in 1951 and went to the top 5 on the billboard charts. But Ray Charles recorded it three years later; and now, when people here it, they think of Charles, and not Reed.

Like Big Maybelle, Hadda Brooks and a number of other fine women blues singers, Lula was a victim of the ever-present itch of American music lovers for something new and, during the fifties and sixties, that meant mostly males and male groups like Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Litle Richard, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones. They had a craving-- they had it bad, and that ain't always good-- for Rock & Roll, a bouncy derivative of the blues with a snappy beat and an intoxicating, out-of-this-world crazy feeling to it, a feeling that evoked wild dancing, a lowered inhibitions, and signaled to energetic teeny boppers that, yes, they had a music that was all their own and that, surely, they were one step closer to complete liberation old fogies like mom and dad.

Lula Reed, a great singer in the fifties and early sixties, was silenced by The Creator on June 21, 2008. But, truth be told, she was, in another sense, silenced by an opportunistic music business that sought short-term profits over long-term, artful substance, musical frenzy over musicality. Thus Lula's propensity for sweet, sultry ballads with a soulful voice that reminds you of Dinah Washington went the way of classic blues, folk and spirituals.

After moving from different labels and back again to the same ones, Lula, frustrated, went back to a place where her great voice and good heart would never be out of style: The black church. And the record business never heard from her again.But on the road of quality music, Lula Reed left footsteps for music lovers to follow, and, fortunately, some of that music is coming back. "Boy, Girl, Boy," a sexy duet recorded with the up-and-coming guitarist Freddie King at the Federal Label in 1962, is being reissued. But the first reissue with be Lula Reed 1951-1954 on Classics. "Drown in My Own Tears" will be reissued; and it will feature 24 of her cuts from the Ace label. And of course there are the songs she recorded with collaborator and later husband Sonny Thompson that are a part of the Sonny Thompson collections.

For more on the life of Lula Reed, check out the wonderful piece that was written by Jeff Under on Big Road Blues. Also, see the piece about her obituary in the blog Juke Joint Soul. And purchase Lula Reed's CD with Freddie King or one of the other reissues, play a tune or two and say, to paraphrase the title of one of daddy's favorite tunes, "I will remember you."

Lula Reed, the daddy will remember you.