Barbara Lynn

Unusual for the time, Barbara Lynn, a female African American singer who wrote most of her own songs and played lead electric guitar (left handed no less).  Soon Barbara was touring with such soul musicians as Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, James Brown, Al Green, Carla Thomas, Marvin Gaye, Ike and Tina Turner, The Temptations, and B.B. King.  Barbara appeared at the Apollo Theater, twice on American Bandstand, and had her song, Oh Baby (We've Got A Good Thing Goin') covered by The Rolling Stones on their 1965 album The Rolling Stones Now!  She continued to record for the Jamie label until 1966 and had several more minor hits. In 1966 Barbara signed to Meaux's Tribe label, and recorded You Left the Water Running, which was covered by Otis Redding among others.  She signed for Atlantic the following year, and recorded another album, Here Is Barbara Lynn, in 1968.  She married for the first time, at age 28, in 1970 and had three children.  This, together with dissatisfaction with poor promotion by the record company, contributed to her decision to largely retire from the music business for most of the 1970s and 1980s.  However, while living in Los Angeles, she occasionally appeared at local clubs, and released several singles on Jetstream and other small labels.

In a just world, Barbara Lynn would have been a major star.  After all, what other African-American woman in the early 1960s, barely out of her teens, not only sang with rich and affecting soul, but also wrote her own hit songs, and was a sharp, facile guitarist.  Perhaps Barbara's formidable talents may have been just a bit ahead of that time.

Wanderin' Spirit
June, 2014
"Barbara Lynn"

This page has been made for viewing in Internet Explorer.  In order for all audio to play in Chrome or Firefox you will need to install the IE Tab extension and add https://www.angelfire.com/* to the Auto URL list, thank you.