I believe, if my memory serves me well, I heard Ann Peebles for the first time many years ago on the Andy Peebles show on a Friday night on Radio 1. Some sort of symmetry there, Peebles plays Peebles. I think it was likely to have been "I Can't Stand The Rain" that I heard and was instantly hooked. The following day I made the trip into Glasgow to visit the Virgin Megastore on Union Street to buy something by this singer whose voice I had fallen in love with the previous night. I picked up some sort of "Best Of" type album and soon realised that there was much more than just the track from the night before.
Andy Peebles was my introduction to soul music, and although his show could be a bit hit or miss, you were always guaranteed to hear a few gems that would lead you to seek out their albums. When I listened to my coveted new purchase it sounded to my young uneducated soul ears similiar to some of the stuff I had heard previously like Al Green. I didn't instantly realise straight away that they were both the mainstays of the legendary Hi label, but, after reading up on the label in a book from my local library (pre-internet days!!) it soon became obvious what a hugely important soul label Hi was, with a roster that included not only Al Green and Ann Peebles but also had terrific soul singers like Otis Clay and Donald Bryant.
(You Keep Me) Hanging On
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