Happy birthday Marvelous Marvin Sease!! Boy, do we miss you! Today is his birthday and I just wanted to take a moment to celebrate this legend and remember all of the wonderful music he left with us. Marvin was a dynamic performer and loved his audience. I know, I was there with him through several of his shows - what a thrill! He was an entertainer and put his best into each performance.
Here's his bio that I took from the Soul Blues Music website (http://www.soulbluesmusic.com/marvinsease.htm):
Born Feb. 16 1946 in South Carolina Mr. Sease got his start by joining a gospel group in nearby Charleston called Five Gospel Singers and later when he was 20 he sang with the Gospel Crowns. But soon his heart was in R & B and he put together Sease, a backing band featuring his three brothers. When this went nowhere, Sease himself put out several 45s, and eventually scored a regular gig at a Brooklyn nightspot called the Casablanca. Sease recorded a self-titled LP in 1986 featuring one of his most popular songs, "Ghetto Man," and began working the South's so-called chitlin circuit of ghetto bars, rural juke joints, and blues festivals. While shopping the LP, released on his own Early label, to record stores, Sease stumbled upon a contact who eventually got him a deal with Polygram, which re-released the LP on London/Mercury in 1987 with the addition of the newly recorded, ten-minute track "Candy Licker." "Candy Licker" became an underground success on jukeboxes across the South; it was too explicit for radio airplay, but audiences - especially female ones - flocked to see Sease in concert. He thusly fashioned himself as a smooth, X-rated ladies' man but he sings soul blues and gospel-drenched soul with salacious lyrics that also appeals to male fans of southern soul.
Marvin was so versatile and he left us with a lot of excellent music. I'm posting "Candy Licker" here because that was part of his legacy. I think it had a huge impact on music and changed the way a lot of artists wrote and sang their songs. The "Candy Licker" lyrics were so far out there but we loved it all anyway! Here's one of my many, many favorites of his, "Please Take Me." He created so much great music beyond "Candy Licker" and the southern soul world will forever remember this legend and what he's done for the music industry.
XXOOXX
Southern Soul Paradise
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