Tobi Lark

Life and career She was born Bessie Grace Gupton in Alabama, the daughter of gospel singer Emma Washington. She grew up in Detroit and first performed in her mother's choir, the Emma Washington Gospel Singers. She toured with the group for ten years, from the age of nine, before securing her first professional job, as a backing singer for B. B. King. As Bessie Watson, she first recorded in 1963, releasing the single "'Deed I Do" backed by the Cannonball Adderley Quintet, on the Riverside label, and then two singles, "I'm in Your Corner" and "Wake Up Crying" on the Jay Pee label. As Tobi Lark, she then recorded several singles for the Palmer, Topper, and U.S.D. labels, but none achieved much commercial success. She also performed with the Impressions, the Four Tops, Ben E. King, Wilson Pickett, King Curtis, and Duke Ellington, among others. The record was released on the Mala label under the name "Tobi Legend", but it was unsuccessful until it was picked up in the early 1970s by followers of the Northern soul scene in the UK. The song became known as one of the "Three Before Eight", played at the conclusion of every all-nighter at the Wigan Casino club, and has since featured on several anthologies of Northern soul music including The Best Northern Soul All-Nighter ... Ever!, The Northern Soul Story, and The Wigan Casino Story.

Newspaper columnist Laura Barton, of The Guardian, has compared the record to a Shakespeare sonnet: and peaked at No. 38 on Canada's national RPM singles chart in November 1970. She continued to work in Toronto, Windsor and Detroit, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and singers including Kenny Rogers. In 1995, she recorded a live CD, and appeared at the Toronto Blues Society's Women's Blues Revue.