Howard Tate

Howard Tate (August 13, 1939 – December 2, 2011) was an American soul singer and songwriter.

His greatest success came with a string of hit singles in the late 1960s, including "Ain't Nobody Home" and "Get It While You Can," the latter of which became a hit when recorded by singer Janis Joplin. After withdrawing from the music business and struggling with drug addiction, Tate mounted a warmly received comeback in 2001.

Biography Early life According to an interview Tate gave to No Depression magazine writer Edd Hurt in 2006, he was born in Elberton, Georgia. Tate pronounced the town's name as "Eberton," but the 1940 census records for Elberton show a two-year-old boy named Howard Tate as a resident of the city. . According to the census record, Tate's father was named Hult Tate and his mother Roberta Tate. He moved with his family to Philadelphia in the early 1940s. In his teens, he joined a gospel music group that included Garnet Mimms, and, as the Gainors, they recorded rhythm and blues songs for Mercury Records and Cameo Records in the early 1960s.

Tate, working apart from Ragovoy, recorded the album Howard Tate's Reaction, produced by Lloyd Price and Johnny Nash and released in 1970 by Turntable Records, it was distributed in small quantities. Christgau wrote, "Tate's voice is potent enough to activate more inert material."

He and his touring quartet performed songs from his catalogue at Blue Heaven Studios, for an album released in 2010 as a limited-edition vinyl-only, direct-to-disc live recording.

Tate died of complications of multiple myeloma and leukemia on December 2, 2011, at the age of 72.

Discography Albums Get It While You Can (April 1967) Howard Tate's Reaction (1970) Howard Tate (1972) Rediscovered (2003) Live! (2006) A Portrait of Howard (2006) Blue Day (2008)

Chart singles Year Single Chart Positions U.S. Pop U.S.R&B 1966 "Ain't Nobody Home" 63 12 "Look at Granny Run, Run" 67 12 1967 "Baby, I Love You" — 40 1968 "Stop" 76 15 1969 "These Are the Things That Make Me Know You're Gone" — 28 1970 "My Soul's Got A Hole in It" 100 31