THE CHURCH

Tobi Lark was born Bessie Grace Gupton in 1941 in Alabama.

Her Father was raised in Birmingham and her Mother in Scottsboro, where they both married. The Family moved to Detroit within a few years and settled in a nice home on Willis and Russell in the near east side.

Tobi’s Mother, Emma, was very religious and quickly joined the congregation of the Springfield Baptist Church on Buchanan where she became a member of the Gospel Choir. Although Emma “was this skinny little lady”, she had a big voice and was quickly recognised as a singer of the highest calibre, with some even comparing her to the mighty Mahalia Jackson.

From the age of five, Tobi got to sing solo in the Church choir sometimes even duetting with her Mother.

"They used to stand me on this little soapbox platform" recalls Tobi, “and my Mom used to stand up and holler "yah sing it baby", "yah sing it baby".

By the age of nine I had joined my Mother's gospel group which was called The Emma Washington Singers. I was with them for ten years We travelled extensively throughout the East Coast and the Mid-West, singing in churches, colleges and high schools. During that time the famous Detroit preacher, CL Franklin, became a friend of our family and I got to know Aretha real well. We got to develop a rivalry by the age of nine and could BOTH holler you know!”

MENTORS

At that time the place to be for music people in Detroit was Paradise Valley on the near east side.

“My mom used to work at the Cozy Corner on Hastings Street", says Tobi, "It was a marvellous place and it helped us get to know a lot of people who were performing in the secular world. In 1960,when I was 19 years old, I met Earl Van Dyke who used to play down there. I got real close to him, we were great friends. He used to say to me 'you can't always sing R&B', you've got to learn the standards too. So I did. Like "Misty" and "God Bless The Child”. But I was just a young girl who thought she knew everything but didn’t, so Earl took me to this workshop and drilled me and taught me and I learned.

I used to play the clubs too with Earl, like the Chit Chat on 12th. I always remember singing in front of drummer Benny Benjamin in there, I was backed by the best in the business you know.

Advertising material from 1967-68 courtesy of Graham Finch

Then I got married. Ha. Got pregnant and bore a son whom I called Clarence. I nicknamed him The Man. This was 1961."

During this time BB King had become a friend of Tobi's Mother. This gave Emma the chance to show him how good Tobi was. When he saw her he was so impressed that he gave Lark her first professional engagement.

"I was having to perform the blues however, and BB eventually told me that he felt that my voice was too sweet for that kind of music, that I was really a balladeer and that I needed more experience of life to qualify. ‘The suffering needs to be there to sing the blues', he said. Huh, I got real mad with him. But underneath I knew he was right”.

Performing with BB King was a stepping stone to meeting and recording with Cannonball Adderley, the big time sax player from New York.

"Cannonball came into town one day and heard me sing and decided to take me to New York City to record", recalls Tobi. A 45 came out on the Riverside label called “Deed I Do”/“Cottage For Sale”. I think it did quite well. We recorded it in a studio close to Fifth Avenue. I can’t recall the name but we had some of the best musicians around on those sessions. John Glover was there, Junior Mance, bass player Joe Soloman. Another 45 came out on Jaypee called ‘I’m Never Alone’/’I’m In Your Corner’. It was produced by Cannonball and his brother Nat (JUNAT Productions). Soon after, Cannonball left New York for Los Angeles.

By this time, I was developing family problems. My Mom still saw me as this little church girl and she was always giving me this guilt trip. You know saying ‘you’re working for the devil’ and all that stuff. She messed my career up at a real important time and made me feel guilty that I was not working for God.

My husband didn’t help either when he stopped me from singing saying I could do that in the bath. Huh.

Anyway, I did give up for a while and brought up my son Clarence.”

music : "I'm In Your Corner" - Bessie Watson (JayPee 1001a)

Continued