Oscar Toney, Jr. - For Your Precious Love (LP)

Styles : Soul

Released : 1967

1 - He Don't Love You (And He'll Break Your Heart)
2 - Dark End Of The Street
3 - Down In Texas
4 - Moon River

5 - Ain't That True Love

6 - Do Right Woman-Do Right Man

7 - For Your Precious Love
8 - Turn On Your Love Light

9 - Any Day Now

10 - That's All I Want From You

11 - No Sad Song

 This album is mostly filled with covers of soul oldies and then-current soul songs, including "Dark End of the Street," "Moon River" (again following the Jerry Butler version), "Do Right Woman -- Do Right Man," "Turn on Your Love Light," and "Any Day Now." Toney specialized in updated, orchestrated versions of familiar soul songs, and while he sang them well, the format was kind of retro and unoriginal, even in 1967. Top Southern soul session guys Tommy Cogbill (bass), Reggie Young (guitar), Bobby Emmons (keyboards), and Chips Moman (engineer) provide accomplished backing for Toney's emotional vocals, which have traits in common with both Jerry Butler and Otis Redding, and favor ballads. Toney did contribute one original, "Ain't That True Love," and "No Sad Songs" would be covered a year later by Joe Simon.

 Biography
Toney was raised in Columbus, Georgia, and sang gospel in churches while young. In his teens, he joined a gospel group called The Sensational Melodies of Joy, and after this joined secular group called The Searchers (no relation to The Searchers), who released a few singles between 1958 and 1961. In 1964, Toney released a solo single, "Can it All Be Love", on King Records, but did not garner any widespread notice.

Toney then began working with the record producer Papa Don Schroeder, who used Toney as a backup replacement for James & Bobby Purify when one of the two singers was unavailable for a live performance. Schroeder had Toney signed to Bell Records in 1967, and his first single, a cover of "For Your Precious Love" by Jerry Butler & the Impressions, was produced by Chips Morman. The tune would be the first and most successful of Toney's four chart hits. His last single was 1969's "Down in Texas" b/w "Aint That True Love", which failed to chart, and Toney left Bell when Schroeder quit the music industry.

In 1970, Toney released a single, "Down on My Knees", on Capricorn Records, but the tune did not chart; three more singles, all flops, followed on Capricorn, which dropped the singer in 1973.

Toney's career was tenuous in America, but the British love for Northern Soul resulted in a second wind. Later in the 1970s, he was signed to the British record label Contempo Records for six singles and an album, yet none of these sold well, and in the 1980s Toney left the secular industry to focus on gospel again.