Leroy Hutson

All Because Of You

Still even now when I hear the string introduction on all Because Of You I turn to blubber, I don't know what it is but I go peculiar all over. This has got to be the all-time 2-Step anthem. Just listen to the bass-line, it's so funky but yet still cool played by Joseph Scott. Stings as usual on Curtom are provided by Sol Bobrov and my god when it gets to the instrumental bit on the album version well this is what living is all about.. forget; booze, drugs and women... ooh perhaps not women then. (Sorry forget Henry Gibson on congas).

I followed the Maurice Jackson bogg intending to play Leroy's Lucky Fellow but I just couldn't pass by this all-time classic found on the same LP. You'll have to buy the album, it IS for sale, some water damage to the sleeve though but who listens to the sleeve, talking of sleeves the original does not have the Curtom logo on the front.
Hutson as a teenager a member of The Nu-Tones, a four male vocal group from New Jersey. They were the premier local group and won several major talent shows during Lee's grammar school years. In 1968, as part of the duo Sugar & Spice Lee Hutson and Deborah Rollins recorded for Kapp Records. They recorded several singles with some success. Initially attending renowned Howard University in Washington DC to study dentistry, Hutson switched his major to music, marking the beginning of Leroy’s musical career.

It was during those years on campus Hutson met many great people Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock, Debbie Allen, Phylicia Rashad, and of course, Donny Hathaway. At Howard University, Hutson shared a room with Donny Hathaway for nearly three years. He also joined The Mayfield Singers, a group (including Hathaway) put together on Howard's campus by music legend Curtis Mayfield that performed at New York's famed Apollo Theater and Philadelphia's Uptown Theater. The group released one single for Curtis Mayfield in 1967.

There, developing his creative talents, Hutson collaborated with Hathaway on The Ghetto, giving the late recording star his first hit record in early 1970. In 1971, three months out of college, Hutson was asked to replace Curtis Mayfield as lead singer of The Impressions.

He stayed with them for two and a half standing ovation years, and recorded two albums with the group, before amicably leaving to pursue his own career as a writer, producer, arranger, and musician.I remember going to see the impressions in 1971 and being very disappointed that Curtis had left, there were rumours at the time that were denied in Blues & Soul interviews in 1970. Then I later became a Hutson fan and was annoyed with myself that I'd ignored him when I did have the chance to see him.

The first Impressions single to feature Hutson as lead vocalist was entitled "Love Me", released on Curtom in America in June 1971.

Leroy Hutson Discography: (not including re-issues)

The Man! (LP, Album) Curtom 1973
All Because Of You (7") Curtom 1975
Hutson (LP) Curtom CU 5001 1975
So Much Love (7") Curtom 1975
Feel The Spirit (LP) Curtom CU 510 1976
Hutson II (LP) Curtom CU 5011 1976
Closer To The Source (LP) CUK 510 Curtom 1978
Oh Love (LP) Curtom CUK 5020 1978

She's Got It / Classy Lady (12") Elektra 1982
Greatest Hits (LP) Curtom 1988
There's More Where This Came From (LP) Curtom 1989