Mable John, the first woman signed to Berry Gordy’s Tamla Records label and a former Raelett with Ray Charles, passed away on August 25, 2022, at her home in the Los Angeles area. She was 91 years old. In the late 1960s, John also recorded southern soul classics such as her 1966 million-seller, “Your Good Thing (Is About to End)” for Stax Records. She also co-starred as Bertha Mae in Oscar nominated director John Sayle’s 2007 film, “The Honey Dripper”, which also starred Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, and Stacy Keach.
The oldest of 10 children, John was born November 3, 1930, in Bastrop, Louisiana, but was raised in Detroit. She grew up singing in church but started to make a name for herself around Detroit as an R&B singer, opening for the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday at the Flame Show Bar. Berry Gordy was a close friend who pushed John to perform. “He had no money and no way of getting around, but he had these people who wanted to hear his songs, so I drove him around [to peddle his songs],” she once said. One of those tunes, “Lonely Teardrops” eventually became a hit for Jackie Wilson and Gordy’s career was on the way.
When one of Gordy’s songs didn’t attract a buyer, Smokey Robinson and John urged him to launch his own record label and “Tamla/Motown” was born in 1958. John was the first female to record for the label where she cut bluesy tracks such as “Who Wouldn’t Love a Man Like That,” “I’m Finally Through with You” (The Supremes sang back-up vocals), and “Take Me” which featured The Temptations on background vocals. Although, none of them was successful, John was able to tour the top Black venues of the time such as the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
By 1966, John had moved on to Stax Records where Isaac Hayes and David Porter penned her biggest hit around her rocky first marriage, “Your Good Thing (Is About to End)”. The spooky ballad showed John almost talking the song rather than singing it. “I’ve never considered myself a singer,” she once said, “I’m a storyteller.” It reached No. 6 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart in 1966 and sold a million copies. It’s been covered by Lou Rawls, Bonnie Raitt, Boz Scaggs, and Etta James. During her three-year Stax tenure, she recorded numerous tracks such as “You’re Taking Up Another Man’s Place”, and the sassy, “Able Mable”. They went largely unnoticed until a 1990s revival of interest in `60s R&B music prompted Concord Records to issue most of John’s recordings on the CD compilation, “Stay Out of the Kitchen”,in 1992. Universal Music then assembled the My Name is Mable: The Complete Collection of her Tamla/Motown sides.
In 1970, John began a six-year stint as the leader of Ray Charles’ back-up group, The Raeletts. They appeared on national TV programs such as “The Carol Burnett Show,” a Barbra Streisand special, and “American Bandstand.” The Raeletts released one album during this period, “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow”, for the Tangerine Records label. The set produced two Top 40 R&B hits led by John, “I Want to Do (Everything for You)” and “Bad Water”.
For the last half of her life, John devoted herself to ministry in the Los Angeles market. In the 1980s, she was an associate pastor at the Sanctuary of Praise Church. Later, she founded Joy in Jesus Ministries which did an annual holiday event called “Christmas All Over LA” where John would give participants a holiday meal, clothing, and everyday necessities that had been donated by celebrities such as Valerie Harper, Dennis Weaver, and Ernest Borgnine. She was profiled by CNN ‘s Gloria Hilliard in 1998 for her charity work which continued up until recently.
John was also the owner of Otis Music, a BMI-affiliated publishing company which controlled songs that have been recorded by Natalie Cole, Simply Red, Aloe Blacc, and Ray Charles. John recorded her first gospel album, Where Can I Find Jesus, on her own Meda Record label in 1992 and cut a sophomore set, Sanctified Blues, in 2007. With music journalist David Ritz, John co-wrote a trilogy of fiction books for Random House that were loosely based on her life experiences: Sanctified Blues (2006), Stay Out of the Kitchen (2007), and Love Tornado (2008).
In 2007, she played Bertha Mae in her first feature film “Honey Dripper” which starred Danny Glover, Stacy Keach, and Charles S. Dutton. In 1992, John was honored with the Rhythm & Blues Foundation’s Pioneer Award for her vast career achievements. John appeared as herself in the documentaries 20 Feet from Stardom (2013) and Harlem to Hollywood (2018).
Survivors include John’s son Limuel Taylor, daughter Sherry Archar, son Paul Collins, and grandson, Jesse Jr. She is also survived by three great-granddaughters Jasmine, Lindsey, and Leslie: and her last brother, Mertis John. She was preceded in death by her husband Samuels, and her sons Joel, Jesse, and Otis.
A funeral service is tentatively set for September 24, 2022, at 11 a.m. at Crenshaw Christian Center, 7901 South Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, Calif., 90044.
(Media Contact: Bill Carpenter (202) 441-9870/carpenterbill@me.com)
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