MY LIFE, MY STORY, MY SONGS 1951-1961. Today Chuck Willis is rightly acknowledged as a breakthrough pioneer of R&B who, after a few years of R&B only chart hits suddenly broke through to the pop market with five hits between 1957 and 1958. “It’s Too Late” was a hit for Chuck in 1956 and proved instantly popular with other R&B stars as well as pop stars generating recordings from Buddy Holly, Eric Clapton, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich (featured here), Otis Redding and many others including most recently, Kanye West who used a sample of Otis Redding’s version of the song, “It’s Too Late” on his multi-platinum album, “Late Registration” for the track “Gone”. Chuck Willis was a real singer/songwriter before the description was ever used and this superb 2CD set from Jasmine is a fitting testimonial to Chuck’s immense talent. Fully detailed liner notes.
