One of numerous woman singers who passed through
James Brown's touring show as a protégée of sorts,
Anna King made one solid
Brown-produced album in 1964, Back to Soul, which contained a couple of modest hit singles. A member of the True Light Gospel Singers while growing up,
King did a couple of obscure early-'60s singles before she replaced
Tammy Montgomery (later to record as Motown star
Tammi Terrell) in
Brown's show in 1963. In 1963 and 1964, she recorded sessions on which
Brown not only produced, but also wrote much of the material (sometimes under pseudonyms), yielding the low-charting single "If Somebody Told You" and a duet with
Bobby Byrd, "Baby Baby Baby," that reached number 52 in the pop charts. Given
Brown's involvement,
King's releases for the Smash label often resembled his own early-'60s singles in their tough brand of early soul, though
Anna had a respectably strong, earthy voice of her own.
King left
Brown's show in early 1965, and strangely considering the modest commercial success she enjoyed, she released just one more single, which came out in 1965 on the End label. She did later sing with
Duke Ellington's band for about a year and a half (though she didn't record with them), but left popular music for gospel, performing and recording as part of
the Brockington Choral Ensemble. ~ Richie Unterberger