FORTYFIVES06.

It’s So Nice And Hot In The Chi

Ruby Andrews was born Ruby Stackhouse in the Delta town of Hollandale, Mississippi, on March 12, 1947. She went to Chicago about 1953 and attended Hyde Park High. (page 181. Chicago SOUL by Robert Pruter)

Ruby Andrews is the voice of female (so necessary) Chicago Soul. From the lesser known Kellmac label which converted to Ruby Stackhouse. She later was signed on the better known Chicago Label, Zodiac Records. This lady has what I like to call super lungs.

Nothing happened for Ruby Andrews for awhile and she kept herself in show business as a dancer at a nightclub. It was a dancer that she was discovered again. Disc jockey Lucky Cordell introduced her to local record entrepreneur Ric Williams, who was starting up Zodiac Records. Andrews’s third release for the label was “Casanova (Your Playing Days Are Over),”which made her a nationally famous recording star. In early 1968, Andrews launched her most artistically and commercially successful period with “You Can Run (But You Can’t Hide).”

Download: You Can Run But You Can't Hide

The song introduced a new Ruby Andrews. Whereas, “Casanova” was a melodic delight, “You Can Run” featured hot, forceful, arrangements that created an ideal support for Andrew’s biting and shouting-style vocals. This was R&B music at its most rocking and rolling; it had loads of energy and excitement while still retaining enough control and professionalism so that the swing and listenability remains. “You Can Run” was written by the Brothers of Soul vocal group (Richard Knight, Fred Bridges, and Robert Eaton). In April 1968, incidentally, the Brothers of Soul got on the national charts with an excellent single of their own, “I Guess that Don’t Make Me a Loser”.

Ruby Andrews sings a version of this song, too.

The Bridges-Knight-Eaton team in the years that followed kept Andrews on the charts and contributed immensely to her success, notably with “The Love I Need” (1968), “You made a believer (Out of Me)” (1969), “Everybody Saw You” (1970), and “You Ole Boo Boo You” (1971). Most her records were recorded in Detroit and Memphis. She recorded for ABC in the late 1970s but never returned to the charts after her Zodiac years.

I personally do not recommend anything on ABC plus the pressings on ABC records tends to be of poor recording quality in my experience. This is of course based on my subjective opinion.. On Zodiac however, I highly recommend anything Ruby Andrews, Mike Terry (productions), or the Bridges-Knight-Eaton days. One of my mum’s favorites is Ruby Andrews’ take on Hound Dog, which we all know is sung by the famous Elvis Presley. Ruby makes the song sound like Tina Turner’s spirit took over Mr. Presley in this take. It is also on Zodiac Records.


WORDS: RISA!