Sam Dees - Lonely For You Baby

This song, "Lonely For You Baby", has over the years, become one of the most sought after mainstays of the Northern Soul scene, and it was a true honour to film such a legendary master craftsman for our documentary "The Strange World Of Northern Soul", which we first released back in 1999. Filmed while he was over appearing live in England in 1998, is a monumentally talented true soul legend, Sam Dees. Sam was born on December 17, 1945 in Birmingham, Alabama. Sam has earned a reputation of being a singer's singer, one of the all time soul greats, as well as being a renowned songwriter and producer. Dees was born into a large family and quickly distinguished himself with his voice. At the age of 9, already champion of several singing contests, he founded his own vocal group, the "Bossanovians". As a teenager he travelled and performed, in 1968 he recorded his first single at Nashville, Tennessee's SSS International. He put out his next few singles on Birmingham-based Lolo Records. At the same time he was beginning to earn respect as a writer and producer. Chess Records producer Lenny Sachs gave him an opportunity to self-produce two singles on the Chess label, which Dees recorded in a former church in Birmingham. From there he began recording for Atlantic, where he released his landmark album "The Show Must Go On" in 1975. Since then, Dees recording career moved to the back burner while he wrote hits for other singers, such as "Am I Dreaming" (Atlantic Starr), "One in a Million You" (Larry Graham), "Save the Overtime (For Me)" (Gladys Knight), "Love All the Hurt Away" (George Benson and Aretha Franklin), and "Lover for Life" (Whitney Houston). He released recordings on his own Pen Pad label and also recorded for Ardent Records in England.