8
based in the Motor City
despite his Stax gig, he
overdubbed the horns and
militaristic backing vocals
(by Johnnie’s labelmates,
The Dramatics) at Detroit’s
United Sound.
The saga of ladies’ man
Jody
gave Taylor his second
R&B chart-topper that
February, making it to #28
pop. Its success spawned
the sequel
Standing In For
Jody
, which made a #12
R&B showing early the next
year. That wasn’t the only
major hit for Johnnie in
1971;
I Don’t Wanna Lose You
and
Hijackin’ Love
both did serious
business without quite reaching the rarefied heights of
Jody
. The next
year brought more solid sellers in
Doing My Own Thing
and
Stop Doggin’
Me
.
With Davis holding the producer’s reins tight, The Soul Philosopher, as
former gospel singer Taylor was sometimes sub-billed at Stax (he’d
replaced Sam Cooke as lead tenor of The Soul Stirrers before going
secular himself on Cooke’s SAR and Derby labels during the early ‘60s),
had developed into a true R&B powerhouse.
