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Varetta Dillard was an R&B, blues and soul singer, born In Harlem in 1933, and who defied a crippling congenital bone condition, which impaired her walking throughout her life, to become a singer and win talent contests at the Apollo Theatre in 1951 at the age of 18 which earnt her a contract with Savoy Records. She went on to have three Top 10 hits in the US R&B charts and made great records across two decades before joining gospel groups and working as a music therapist with chronically ill children. This 56-track 2-CD collection comprises most of her A&B sides on the Savoy, Groove, RCA, Triumph and Cub labels from this era. It features her hits with “Easy Easy Baby”, Mercy Mr. Percy” and “Johnny Has Gone”, the last-named a tribute to the recently-deceased R&B singer Johnny Ace. She was a great interpreter of R&B material by the top composers of the day who provided her with songs, like Rudolph Toombs, Otis Blackwell, Rose Marie McCoy, Charles Singleton, Clyde Otis and Jesse Stone, and this collection offers a substantial overview of her career and a great showcase for her distinctive style as a performer.
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