In 1967, Texan Archie Bell received his draft letter from the US Army. Bell was understandably depressed at the prospect of going to serve in Vietnam so his bandmate Huey ‘Billy’ Butler performed a silly dance to cheer him up, naming it the ‘Tighten Up’.
They wrote a song about it on the spot, and by the time Bell was discharged from the military in 1969 after being injured in Germany, Tighten Up was a US chart-topper, having made it to #1 the previous year.
The song – a joyous funk shuffle – remains Bell’s defining moment, but it was on the track A Soldier’s Prayer in 1967 that he really bared his soul.
You May Also Like
Fats Domino He was born Antoine Domino in New Orleans in February 1928, and since his first professional…
Al Stewart Al Stewart began his songwriting career during his school days in Bournemouth. He was writing skiffle…
Action Pact Fronted by exuberant vocalist Alison 'George Cheex' Roberts, Action Pact originated from Essex and took their…
Maureen Evans Born in Cardiff, Wales, on 23 March 1940, Maureen Evans began her stage career as a…
Troggs, The The summer of 1966 was on the way and all kinds of good and varied things…
Arcadium This 1960s psychedelic band was fronted by songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Miguel Sergides with Graham Best…
Love Sculpture Love Sculpture evolved from a band called Human Beans, which formed in Wales in 1967. After…
Loretta Lynn Thanks in no small part to the biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), the arc of Loretta Lynn's singing…
