Blinky - Heart Full Of Soul The Motown Anthology

I first heard of Blinky Williams in 1968 upon the release of 'I Wouldn't Change The Man He Is' which was her initial Motown single. During her five year tenure less than a handful of singles were issued and three albums were scheduled but cancelled. Her duet album with Edwin Starr 'Just We Two' was excellent but failed to make an impact. She can be heard on the soundtrack to the movie 'The Lady Sings The Blues'. Upon leaving Motown Blinky stopped singing secular music in favour of sacred, in other words she went back to her roots. Jump forward to 1998 and the release of 'Motown Sings Motown Treasures' which included Blinky's previously unreleased version of 'The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game'. This set the ball rolling, albeit ever so slowly, and during the next 20 years several more tracks escaped from the vaults leading to the successful 'Free Blinky From The Vaults' campaign started by ardent fan whose cries were echoed by many others. In autumn 2019 word came that a Blinky project was nearing completion and on 6th December the gates finally opened with the release of the double CD 'Heart Full of Soul'. So with the background set what have we got and was it worth the 50 year wait. Well of course it was worth the wait as it's the best Motown album ever! There are 46 tracks of which over half were previously unreleased. When you hear the quality of the music you will understand when I say that the much delayed release of Blinky's recordings is the crime of the century. Motown should be ashamed at how Blinky was treated. However, she is finally free and has got the recognition she deserves including from none other than Berry Gordy so all is forgiven. Blinky's vocal range is like none of her Motown contemporaries. With a background of singing gospel with the COGICS she can sound raw, bluesy, melodic, tender, joyous but always soulful. It's really impossible to pick out favourite tracks so I'll name only a few like 'What More Can I Do', 'This Time Last Summer', 'A Little Bit Of Heaven (On A Little Patch Of Earth), 'I'm Just A Woman (Not Strong)', 'You're The Loser Now'

RIP Roy Gaines.

Good

Temporary layoffs...

Blink is truly putting it down on this! Jeez!!!!

What a wonderful talent. She didn't get enough publicity as she deserves

Ohhhh im so happy to listen to this ,u love blinky she was very underrated motown artist ,this song i enjoy with a good glass of wisky!!cheers from Buenos Aires ,Argentina

This gem was to have been included in them movie and soundtrack Lady Sing''s The Blues starring Diana Ross.
REST IN PACE ROY GIANES MUCH LOVE

I love it.:-)

Possibly my fav Blinky track. Have known it for about 50 years.

She had a great voice, AND teaming her with Edwin, a good idea, but they deserved to have been given better tracks, which might have then spawned a few hits for them. After all, they are both excellent singers.

This is as good as anything that Motown was releasing at the time, so how come it was left in the vaults? Brilliant recording!

Lovely record.

she sounded like ms.candi and keshia ( back when she was normal) but this song should be a hallmark cards ad. put my heart where the words seek through my glory. i got to record that song with a record inside with that caring written card ...by hallmark. thanks ms. Blinky.

Wow!

Beautiful.

MotownMagic1959
It's so nice when anyone associated with Motown comments on here, great! Blinky Williams was a gospel singer once too wasn't she? This track's my favorite, but of course she's famous for "Oh! How Happy" song with Edwin Starr in 1970 in UK, but not in US. there was one not-released track called "How You Gonna Keep It" on Motown 1168 in June 1970 I've always wondered why it wasn't released?? maybe Blinky will remember that track eh? Thanks for commenting anyway, Cheers :-) JOHN

MotownMagic1959
Thanks Reg, I agree entirely, I often wondered how they managed to produce such a prolific output, and quality was the thing with Berry Gordy Jr wasn't it? I'm the same, a perfectionist really :-). No wonder so many were put aside too as they must have had to be really top notch of course. The ones that were not released as we can hear today, were just as perfect weren't they? I'm pleased to say! JOHN

Thanks for sharing..Blinky story needs to be heard and told..What a talent. Motown was so rich in artist and i just wished everyone got a fair shot.

MotownMagic1959
Yes, they were very much the fashion in the 60's on Motown, along with the famous drumming (Funk Brothers) I think that was part of Motown's sound, you can't really define why it was so popular can you? It was just brilliant :-) Thanks for commenting. JOHN

I often wonder why Berry Gordy isn't out in the public sharing his "first love".  He has so much he could share.  So many stories......

NICE BACK VOCALS!

Glad yo hear that, there wasn't many from Blinky Williams sadly, but this was a very nice track I thought! JOHN

thx too love the music