BRENTON WOOD

Brenton Wood went from high-school track star to first-class purveyor of laidback West Coast soul. His three biggest hits were all in 1967.

He was born Alfred Jesse Smith in Shreveport, Louisiana, on July 26, 1941. His family moved to San Pedro, California, when he was a boy. He attended San Pedro High School before moving to Compton, where he joined the high school track team and earned several awards for his athletic achievements. After high school, he enrolled in East Los Angeles College.

At this time, he began to write songs and became a competent pianist; his main influences were Jesse Belvin (“Goodnight My Love,” 1956) and Sam Cooke. He also assumed the professional name of Brenton Wood, likely taken from the exclusive Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood. His earliest recordings came out on the Brent and Wand labels, but failed to chart.

By 1967, Wood was on the Double Shot label, who had enjoyed recent success with the Count Five’s garage rocker, “Psychotic Reaction.” Wood’s Double Shot debut, “The Oogum Boogum Song,” was an ode to a woman with odd fashion sense. For decades now, soul-music fans have tried to discern if what Wood sang in the fade was “Check out the boots, hey,” or “Check out the poosay.” In either case, the single went to #1 on KHJ radio in Los Angeles and soon broke nationally. In the spring of 1967, it topped out at #19 on the Billboard Rhythm & Blues chart and made #34 on the pop side.

Wood’s biggest hit, “Gimme Little Sign,” came out a few months later. The title does not actually appear in the song; rather, Wood sings, “Just gimme some kinda sign, girl.” But that didn’t stop it from going to #2 on KHJ and becoming his second hit to peak at #19 on the national R&B chart. It was even bigger in the pop market, climbing to #9. It also went top ten in England, Wood’s only song to chart in that country. “Gimme Little Sign” sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.

Wood ended 1967 with “Baby You Got It,” his third and final song to go top thirty on the R&B chart and top forty pop. It also hit #3 on KHJ. Though his chart career was essentially over, Brenton Wood became a music entrepreneur. He formed his own record label, Prophesy, in 1972 and released the funk jam, “Sticky Boom Boom Too Cold.” He also recorded a duet with Shirley Goodman, formerly of Shirley & Lee (“Let the Good Times Roll,” 1956). Wood’s 1977 remake of the Fleetwoods’ 18-year-old smash, “Come Softly to Me,” grazed the lower reaches of the R&B chart, his last single to do so.

His next release, the album Out of the Woodwork, came in 1986. It featured remakes of his Double Shot recordings and included the single, “Soothe Me.” He also released two albums in the ‘90s, followed by Classic by Design in 2000 and This Love Is for Real in 2001.

Covers of Brenton Wood’s songs include Alex Chilton’s version of “The Oogum Boogum Song” and remakes of “Gimme Little Sign” by Ronnie Jones, Rick Nelson, Brown Boys, the Trailers, Hepcat, and Danielle Brisebois. In 2019, Wood’s original recording of “Oogum Boogum” turned up in a commercial for Kinder Joy products.

Charted singles:

“The Oogum Boogum Song” (1967) R&B #19, Pop #34
“Gimme Little Sign” (1967) R&B #19, Pop #9
“Baby You Got It” (1967) R&B #30, Pop #34
“Lovey Dovey Kinda Lovin’” (1968) Pop #99
“Some Got It, Some Don’t” (1968) R&B #42
“Me and You” (1968) Pop #119
“A Change Is Gonna Come” (1969) Pop #131
“Come Softly to Me” (1977) R&B #92