I was playing in Kentucky in 1955 when a promoter told me about a vocalist named Mary Ann Fisher who was gigging around Louisville and Fort Knox. I caught her act, liked her style, and decided… I asked her to join my band. Immediately I started writing some material for her. I remember doing a chart of Ellington's "I Got It Bad," and there was also "What Kind of Man Are You?"--a tune of mine which we recorded a couple of years later. I wrote another song--"This Little Girl of Mine"--and had Donald Wilkerson and Fathead form a vocal trio with Mary Ann. They sang backup to my lead, and in some ways this was an indication of things to come. Mary Ann was a good singer. I used her the way Charlie Brantley or Lowell had used me--as a featured vocalist. She did mostly sentimental and torch songs, and she added a lot to our program... I'd always liked the sound of girls' gospel groups. Albertina Walker--who had James Cleveland playing piano for her in those days--was a favorite of mine… I wanted the flavor of a man's voice--my voice--set against women. I hadn't heard anyone do that with popular music before... I just knew that was what I was searching for. << less