Evie Sands' tale of hard luck

[Beausoleil]

Singer Evie Sands endured one of the more remarkable hard luck tales in pop music lore -- time after time, her records seemed poised for chart success, only to fall prey to industry deception.

"Take Me For a Little While"

In 1965 Sands signed to the Blue Cat label of Red Bird. She toured with Red Bird star act the Shangri-Las and began a lasting collaboration with the producer-composers Chip Taylor and Al Gorgoni with the release of the blue-eyed soul[2] single "Take Me For a Little While", written by Trade Martin. Prior to its release, a test pressing of Sands' recording was stolen by a Chicago-based record promoter, who took it to established Chess recording artist Jackie Ross, who was coming off the major pop-soul hit "Selfish One". Ross and her producers loved the song, and recorded, pressed and released the record within 48 hours, beating Sands' version to the street by a week. Backed by the marketing and promotional muscle of Chess, and with Ross' name attached, this version received the lion's share of airplay. The subsequent legal struggle set back Sands' career before it had had a chance to get started. By the time Chess withdrew the Ross single from the marketplace, Sands' version hit number 114 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles but only really broke through in the few cities—such as Los Angeles—that had stayed "on the fence", waiting to see which version to play.[2] Ross was unaware of the duplicity involved, and left Chess shortly afterwards.

I was familiar with Dave Edmunds' version but had completely forgotten about Vanilla Fudge's cover, both of which are pretty good. It's a great song and Evie kills it as the first recorded version.

"I Can't Let Go"

Sands' follow-up single, "I Can't Let Go", was lost amid the chaos following "Take Me For a Little While", leaving "British invaders" the Hollies clear to score a hit cover in spring 1966.

This song was written and produced by Chip Taylor and Al Gorgoni and was later covered by Linda Ronstadt (among others), which was the version I was familiar with.
Again, Evie was the first to record a song but was screwed by her record company. And her version was great.

"Angel of the Morning"

That same year (1966), Sands debuted on Cameo-Parkway and continued the pattern of songs introduced by her becoming successful for other artists. In 1967, Sands' version of the Chip Taylor-penned "Angel of the Morning" got caught up in the label's business problems. Despite the single being one of the most-requested radio songs wherever played, and the initial 10,000 copies selling out, the label's pending bankruptcy aborted the record's potential success. A few months later, then unknown Merrilee Rush scored a top-ten single with the song.

In 1969, Sands finally scored with the A&M single "Any Way That You Want Me", a Chip Taylor composition previously recorded by both the American Breed and the Troggs in 1966.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evie_Sands
https://www.discogs.com/artist/276475-Evie-Sands

Evie is still writing and producing and performs occasionally. A great talent.

[Figarosmom]

1. Quite the story

And I liked all those songs. A lot of people were screwed in that business, it's ruthless.

Anyway here's the one you didn't post. The one she finally made it with.

?si=YEJz0d4MkVge27S4

[Beausoleil]

2. Thanks!