Maiden of the Melody: Your Virgo Harvest of Soul Music

We’re in the full swing of Back to school, Summer becomes amorphously Fall, sort of. Schedules firm up, plans come into play. It’s Virgo Season, and we start to process all of the things we accomplished in Spring and Summer and start to reserve for longer nights, colder days and for the cycle of life to begin anew.

I remember this season as when I’d help my Great Grandmother with canning perishables alongside shopping for school supplies and clothes. As a Virgo Rising myself, I appreciate the process that starts during this season, indeed, the 2nd half of August through early November is my favorite time of year.

So by no doubt, our Astro-Playlists will have some of my favorite artists you know and probably don’t. Be ready to learn about The Queen (Dinah Washington) and Hoss (Patsy Cline) and a really diverse cast and crew as we span an hour and 45 minutes and 40 tunes worth of getting our melody memory in check. As the nights creep longer, enjoy the best that this year has provided you as we plunge into fall.

Dinah Washington 1970 Michael Ochs Archives — Dinah Washington, 1962

1) Dinah Washington – September In The Rain (1961). Dinah Washington was born August 29, 1924
2) The Pips – Linda (1962) Merald “Bubba” Knight, Gladys’s Brother, and the only Pip still alive, was born September 4, 1942)
3) After He Breaks Your Heart – The Wanderers (1963) Ray Pollard, lead singer of The Wanderers, was Born August 25, 1930

4) The Drifters – Let The Music Play (1963) Rudy Lewis, lead on such Drifters classics like “Up On The Roof” and “On Broadway” was born August 23, 1936

5) Gogi Grant – Here Comes The Heartache (1963) Gogi Grant was born September 20, 1924

6) Gloria Gaynor – Let Me Go Baby (1965) Gloria Gaynor was born September 7, 1949

7) Valerie and Nick – I’ll Find You (1964) Valerie Simpson was born August 26, 1946

8) Patsy Cline – When I Get Through With You (1962) Patsy Cline was born September 8, 1932

9) Irene Reid – My Heart Said Bossa Nova (1963) Irene Reid was born September 23, 1930

10) Inez Foxx – I See You My Love (1963) Inez Foxx was born September 9, 1942
11) Brook Benton – Walk On The Wild Side (1962) Brook Benton was born September 19, 1931
12) Rudy Lewis – Baby I Dig Love (1963)

13) Dinah Washington – Pagan Love Song (1961)
14) Martha & The Vandellas – Wait Til My Bobby Gets Home (1963) Long time “Original” Vandella Rosalind Ashford was born September 2, 1943. This cover of Darlene Love’s hit where her sister Edna provided the harmony lead with Rosalind providing the same role to Martha Reeves is the closest she got to a lead on a Vandellas recording.
15) Dee Dee Sharp – Never Pick A Pretty Boy (1964) Dee Dee Sharp was born Dione La Rue September 9, 1945
16) Dinah Washington – Ring-A-My Phone (1958)
17) Patsy Cline – The Wayward Wind (1961) Cover of fellow Virgo Gogi Grant’s massive #1 hit

18) Freda Payne – It’s Here For You (1966) Freda Payne was born September 19, 1942

19) James and Bobby Purify – I Don’t Want To Have To Wait (1967) Robert Lee Dickey, James Lee Purify’s cousin, not brother, who became famous as Bobby Purify, was born September 2, 1939

20) Lola Falana – Coconut Groove (1967) Actress and dancer Lola Falana was born September 11, 1942.

21) Marlena Shaw – Looking Through The Eyes Of Love (1969) Marlena Shaw was born September 22, 1942

22) Jackie Trent – Send Her Away (1966) British Singer-Songwriter Jackie Trent was born September 6, 1940

23) Little Milton – Can’t Hold Back The Tears (1965) Little Milton was born September 7, 1934

24) The Righteous Brothers – Love Keeps Calling My Name (1966) Baritone Blue Eyed Soul singer Bill Medley was born September 19, 1940

25) Ray Pollard – All The Things You Are (1965)

26) Louise Murray – The Love I Give (1965) Member of The Hearts, The Jaynettes (Sally Go ‘Round The Roses) and other records under the direction of Zell Sanders Louise Murray was born September 16, 1939

27) Judy Clay – You Can’t Run Away From Your Heart (1967) Adopted sister of Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, carving out a career of her own, Judith Guions, better known as Judy Clay, was born September 12, 1938

28) Archie Bell & The Drells – World Without Music (1969) Archie Bell, of Houston Texas (smile) was born September 1, 1944

29) Marlena Shaw – Matchmaker, Matchmaker (1967)

30) Brook Benton (with Cissy Houston) – Let Me Fix It (1970)

31) Inez and Charlie Foxx – Speeding Ticket (1969)

32) Jackie Trent – 7:10 From Suburbia (1968)

33) Martha Reeves & The Vandellas – It Ain’t Like That (1969) One of Rosalind Ashford’s last background vocals as one of the Vandellas was on this composition by fellow Virgo Valerie Simpson

34) Valerie Simpson – Back To Nowhere (1971)