Born in Kansas City, Kansas,[2] McDaniels grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. As well as singing gospel music in church, he developed a love of jazz learning to play the saxophone and trumpet. After forming a singing group, the Echoes of Joy, later known as the Sultans, in his teens, he studied at the University of OmahaConservatory of Music before joining the Mississippi Piney Woods Singers, with whom he toured in California.
Career
1960s–1970s
In California McDaniels began singing in jazz clubs, achieving recognition with the Les McCann Trio, and came to the attention of Sy Waronker of Liberty Records.[3][4]
After recording two unsuccessful singles and an album, McDaniels teamed with producer Snuff Garrett, with whom he recorded his first hit, "A Hundred Pounds of Clay", which reached number 3 in the Billboard Hot 100chart in early 1961 and sold over one million copies, earning gold disc status.[2] Its follow-up, "A Tear", was less successful but his third single with Garrett, "Tower of Strength", co-written by Burt Bacharach, reached number 5 and won McDaniels his second gold record.[3] "Tower of Strength" reached number 49 in the UK Singles Chart, losing out to Frankie Vaughan's chart-topping version.[5]
In 1962, McDaniels appeared performing "Another Tear Falls" in the movie It's Trad, Dad! directed by Richard Lester. He continued to have hit records, including "Chip Chip", "Point Of No Return", and "Spanish Lace". Each record was released in 1962, but his suave style of singing gradually became less fashionable, as the public started to favor British acts such as The Beatles. In 1965, "Point Of No Return" was recorded by the British R&B band Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames on their UK Columbia EP Fame At Last. Also in 1965, McDaniels moved to Columbia Records, with little success, and in 1968, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, he left the US to live in Denmark and Sweden where he concentrated on songwriting.
McDaniels also attained the top spot on the chart as a songwriter. In 1974, Flack reached number 1 with his "Feel Like Makin' Love" (not to be confused with the Bad Company song of the same name), which received a Grammy Award nomination. McDaniels received a BMI award for outstanding radio airplay; at the time he was given the award, the song already had over five million plays.
In the 1980s, McDaniels recorded an album with the percussionist Terry Silverlight, which was not released. In 2005, McDaniels released Screams & Whispers on his own record label.
In 2009, it was announced that McDaniels was to release a new album, Evolution's Child, which featured his lyrics, and a number of songs composed or arranged with pianist Ted Brancato. Some of the songs featured jazz musician Ron Carter on concert bass and Terri Lyne Carrington on drums. McDaniel's "Jagger the Dagger" was featured on the Tribe Vibesbreakbeat compilation album, after it had been sampled by A Tribe Called Quest.
