Last weekend I found a copy of Ollie & The Nightingales’ 45 featuring the songs, I Got A Sure Thing b/w Girl, You Got My Heart Singing. I usually pick up Stax singles when I find them and since it was half off day at the thrift store, I figured .25 cents was a reasonable investment.
Turns out, Ollie & The Nightingales are the secular version of The Dixie Nightingales, a gospel soul group I’ve also been listening to. I wasn’t aware of this when I bought the 45!
Stax Records convinced the gospel group to “go secular” and they recorded this single which turned out to be their biggest hit in 1968.
The B side, Girl, You Have My Heart Singing, is also an upbeat feel good soul song that’s worth hearing…
I find it amusing that I’ve been living in a gospel soul rabbit hole these past few weeks and when I find a 45 by what I assume is a regular soul group, it turns out they were previously a gospel soul group!
Aaron Hartley 