Little Milton - We're Gonna Make It - Live 1966 -

Milton "Little Milton" Campbell, Jr. (September 7, 1934-August 4, 2005) was a blues vocalist and guitarist best known for his hits "Grits Ain't Groceries" and "We're Gonna Make It." Born in the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness and raised in Greenville by a farmer and local blues musician. By age twelve he had learned the guitar and was a street musician, chiefly influenced by T-Bone Walker and his blues and rock-n-roll contemporaries. In 1952, while still a teenager playing in local bars, he caught the attention of Ike Turner, who was at that time a talent scout for Sam Phillips' Sun Records. He signed a contract with the iconic label and recorded a number of singles. None of them broke through onto radio or sold well at record stores, however, and Milton left the Sun label by 1955. After transitioning from several labels without notable success, including Trumpet Records, Milton set up the St. Louis Bobbin Records label, which ultimately scored a distribution deal with Leonard Chess' Chess Records. As a record producer, Milton helped bring artists such as Albert King and popular R&B singer Fontella Bass to fame, while experiencing success for the first time. After a number of small format and regional hits, his 1962 single, "So Mean to Me," broke onto the Billboard Magazine R&B chart (then called the "Black Singles Chart"), eventually peaking at #14. After a short break to tour, manage other acts, and spend time recording new material, he returned to music in 1965 with a more polished sound, similar to that of B.B. King. After the ill-received "Blind Man" (R&B: #86), he released back-to-back hit singles. The first, "We're Gonna Make It," a blues-infused soul song, topped the R&B charts and broke through onto Top 40 radio, a format then dominated largely by white artists. He followed the song with #4 R&B hit "Who's Cheating Who?" All three songs were featured on his breakthrough album We're Gonna Make It, released that summer.

YouTube | April 23, 2008

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