Barbara McNair “Here I Am Baby” (Motown 1106, 1966)

This is the absolute best single Motown released for Barbara McNair. I can even say it’s the best record she ever recorded with confidence. Because in a lot of ways it summed up what kind of woman Barbara McNair was: Independent, Powerful, Successful, Pioneering and (though not credited as such) legendary.

It wouldn’t take too many leaps to think that this would be her view of dating as a “Modern Woman” in the mid 1960s, especially given that she was in her early 30s when she recorded this in the beginning of 1966. Done later as the last sizable hit for The Marvelettes in 1968, Miss Barbara brings all of the confidence fused together with naked vulnerability that you can ever ask of 2 minutes and 50 seconds of soul music.

Why it went virtually unnoticed I never understood. Maybe you can clue me in after clicking and listening.