Little David (1)

How many soul artists called Little David were there? A good few so that disentangling them is a pretty difficult thing to do but I’m going to have a go at isolating two of them – this singer from Brooklyn, NY here and the Carolina musician here. This Little David recorded two 45s for the local 521 label, which was based at the Brooklyn, NY club of the same name, whose most famous artist must be the excellent Paul Walters. But David’s first release has a strong ballad side. Love Me is a melodic R & B slowie on which he sings strongly aacconpanied by a vigorous organist and some helpful background singers. David’s other 521 effort has a fantastic uptempo blues “It Hurts Baby” on it, with a super guitarist and some powerful horns too.

 

UPDATE ~ I'm delighted to say that both David's son, Mike Smith, and his sister Rosetta Smith have been in touch with me. Mike very kindly sent the lovely picture of his father and Geroge Williams (left) from the Fatback Band and also provided this brief biography of his father:-

"David Smith was born in Goldsboro NC. He moved to Brooklyn when he was about 19. He performed at the 521 club in Brooklyn NY on Fulton Street on a regular basis. His stage name was Little David. He had also recorded Moonlight, Love Me,and Everybody's Laughing In My Face on the 521 label. My dad was a talented guitarist and vocalist. He wrote all his songs including It Hurts Baby. His records sold out but he did not see any money as many artist during those days. Instead of staying on the road he decided to raise his family. David was a great dad and person. He passed away in 1994 but he passed the torch to me. We come from a long family line of musicians. The photo is my dad on guitar and George Williams trumpet player for the Fatback Band. I know if he had continued with the music he would have been a legend as all of his musical friends are today but he put family first."

I'm very grateful to both Mike and Rosetta for sharing the info about Little David.

 

NEW UPDATE ~ I'm very pleased that Rosetta has been in touch again with the booklet about the party in honour of Little David in 1964. The cover is really fine and the contents of the inner booklet really do give a sense of David's talents. This special momento of Little David is wonderful to show here and I'm so grateful to Rosetta for letting me add it to this page.

Thanks to my friend Matt Futerman who lived in Brooklyn around the time the 521 releases were recorded and he says that looking at the address on the labels, especially the last one issued by Fred Tartt, they must have been cut before 1963, "when zip codes in the USA changed locally and nation wide".

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