Eddie Daye
I’m certainly not qualified to offer any sort of opinion on Eddie’s long series of records in the 50s, even though I do enjoy the occasional doo wop cut. But you can find expert Marv Goldberg’s account of his early career here. I feel on rather stronger ground with his later soul material, and I’ve already written about Betty Wilson’s involvement with him. Daye himself had his own Dayco concern which was really a vehicle designed to get a deal with a larger, better distributed concern.
One of the labels that picked up Daye’s music was his Washington SDC neighbour Eddie Singleton who released an interesting 45 on his Shrine label. Now this concern is of course a legendary one for Northern soul fans and they have certainly picked up on the dancer “Guess Who Loves You”. But flip it over and you have a really strong group ballad called 
What Am I Gonna Do on the other side. This starts off with a shortish rap before Eddie gets into the lyric. But when he does the effect is electric, with his beautifully modulate deep baritone – almost bass – tone and super phrasing. The song itself has some great chord changes and the spare production allows the vocals to come right out front. Great harmonies and subdued horn support too.
Eddie’s other track that I want to mention here is another flip to a very expensive Northern classic “Lean On Me When Heartaches Get Rough”. I’d say that Why I’ve Got To Know is the most expressive piece of music that I’ve ever heard from Daye. His vocal is almost palpably heartbroken but the most impressive feat is that he never loses control until the song is almost through to the run out groove when he does break down. The arrangement is just right too with the softly cooing members of the Four Bars behind him and the brass pushing him on. Further proof – if its needed – that southern soul can be found just about anywhere in the USA, even in the capital city.
Sadly Daye passed away in 2009.
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Note ~ You can find several of Eddie's Dayco tracks on the Stella UK CD "The Rhythm And Blues Of Dayco Records".