A00066 - There's Something On Your Mind

 

As I slowly go through the year 1930, I came upon the bio for Little Sonny Warner

Little Sonny Warner - Wikipedia

and became aware of his only big hit

There's Something on Your Mind - Wikipedia

I listened to the song

Big Jay McNeely - There Is Something On Your Mind (youtube.com)

Big Jay McNeely - There Is Something On Your Mind

and found myself drifting back to a time in the late 1950s when a gathering of young African American women and men, people who I knew to be my parents and related relatives, would begin to play such "grown-up" music before telling me to go to bed.

There is something on your mind, indeed.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins

Fairfield, California

February 12, 2024

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 Little Sonny Warner (b. October 30, 1930, Falls Church, Virginia – d. April 12, 2007, Falls Church, Virginia) was an American blues singer.

Born Haywood S. Warner, Warner was born on October 30,1930 in Falls Church, Virginia.  In the early 1950s, Warner sang as a backing vocalist for Van Walls on the Atlantic Records releases "After Midnight" and "Open the Door". His career received a boost in 1957, when he filled in for Lloyd Price at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. 

Warner's biggest hit was saxophonist Big Jay McNeely's "There's Something On Your Mind", which became a gold record for Checker Records in 1959. He performed with James Brown, Etta James and B. B. King. In his later years, Warner often performed at concerts and festivals in Falls Church.

Little Sonny Warner died in his hometown of Falls Church, Virginia, on April 12, 2007.