MARGIE JOSEPH

Margaret Marie Joseph was born either in Gautier or Pascagoula, Mississippi (depending on which source you believe), on August 19, 1950, and sang in a church choir. She studied speech and drama at Dillard University in New Orleans and, during that time, recorded some demos at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Sheffield, Alabama. This led to her 1968 debut single on Okeh Records, “Why Does a Man Have to Lie?” It had the misfortune of coming out just as Okeh’s parent company, Columbia, was discontinuing the imprint. Consequently, Joseph’s record vanished without a trace.

By 1970, she was on Volt (a Stax subsidiary). With New Orleans music legend Willie Tee producing her, Joseph recorded “One More Chance,” which did not make the charts but became an underground favorite. Her second Volt release, “Your Sweet Lovin’,” was produced by Freddy Briggs and made Billboard magazine’s Soul Singles chart in the summer of 1970.

In 1971, her debut LP, Margie Joseph Makes a New Impression, hit #7 on the Billboard Soul Albums chart. It featured an eight-minute remake of the Supremes’ six-year-old hit, “Stop! In the Name of Love,” complete with a spoken-word intro (reportedly inspired by labelmate Isaac Hayes). An edit got to #38 on the Soul Singles chart.

By 1972, Margie Joseph had moved on to Atlantic. She recorded “Come Back Charleston Blue,” a duet with labelmate Donny Hathaway that failed to chart. She also recorded three albums with producer Arif Mardin. On her 1973 cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” Joseph’s vocals garnered comparisons to another Atlantic labelmate, Aretha Franklin. Her most successful Atlantic LP, Sweet Surrender, spawned Joseph’s all-time biggest single, a remake of “My Love” by Paul McCartney & Wings.

The year 1975 saw the Margie album, which critics and fans generally consider her finest work. One of its tracks, “Stay Still,” earned her a rare co-writer’s credit. During a March 1976 live gig in Jamaica, Joseph met Blue Magic, the Philadelphia vocal group best known for “Sideshow” (1974). This led to a collaboration, “What’s Come Over Me,” which gave Joseph her second-biggest single.

Also in 1976, Joseph was moved to the Atlantic subsidiary, Cotillion. Her album Hear the Words, Feel the Feeling was produced by Motown veteran Lamont Dozier. The title track went top twenty on the Soul Singles chart. Joseph ended 1976 with “Christmas Gift,” which turned up on the Funky Christmas compilation and has since become a minor holiday standard. Joseph was later moved back to Atlantic, where Johnny Bristol produced her Feeling My Way album. However, neither it nor its singles garnered much attention, prompting Atlantic to release Joseph from her contract.

She next recorded for the Philadelphia-based WMOT Reords, but the label went out of business before it could release the album Joseph recorded there. At that point, Joseph had had enough of the music business and pursued a teaching career. By 1982, however, she was performing again and signed with the HCRC label, for whom she had the top twenty Soul hit, “Knockout.” Nevertheless, HCRC soon went belly-up, which led to Joseph’s reuniting with Cotillion. Narada Michael Walden produced her 1984 LP, Ready for the Night, the title cut from which became minor hit on the Soul chart. In 1988, Joseph signed with Ichiban and recorded the LP Stay. She returned to teaching, but recorded a gospel album, Latter Rain, for the Sista Praise label in 2006.

In 1993, Salt-N-Pepa drew on Margie Joseph’s 1970 recording of “Your Sweet Lovin’” for their hit single, “None of Your Business.”

Charted singles:

“Your Sweet Lovin’” (1970) R&B #46
“Stop! In the Name of Love” (1971) R&B #38, Pop #96
“Come Back Charleston Blue” (with Donny Hathaway, 1972) Pop #102
“Let’s Stay Together” (1973) R&B #43
“Come Lay Some Lovin’ On Me” (1973) R&B #32
“My Love” (1974) R&B #10, Pop #69
“Words (Are Impossible)” (1974) R&B #27, Pop #91
“Stay Still” (1975) R&B #34
“What’s Come Over Me” (with Blue Magic, 1975) R&B #11
“Hear the Words, Feel the Feeling” (1976) R&B #18
“Don’t Turn the Lights Off” (1976) R&B #46
“Come on Back to Me Lover” (1978) R&B #85
“I Feel His Love Getting Stronger” (1978) R&B #94
“Knockout” (1982) R&B #12
“Ready for the Night” (1984) R&B #69