Wiley Humphrey

This obscure Detroit singer only had just the one single released on Elmer Barbee’s eponymous label. Like the excellent Thelma Bailey 45, this record must have suffered from poor distribution as it doesn’t seem to have got outside the city limits. The socially aware “You Can’t Run Away Forever (From The Ghetto)” is a funky number which has attracted a few plays on that scene, but the flip ListenI’m Forecasting Love is a very good ballad. Humphrey’s deep baritone is well modulated and he shows some fine gospel touches especially in the chorus. Despite the slightly out of tune horns the arrangement and production are well handled writer Earthly Y Upchurch, not a name I recognise.

 



Discography

You can’t run away forever (from the ghetto) / ListenI’m forecasting love ~ BAR BEE 10 (early 70s)

 

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