Just a quick update on Saturday’s show featuring Little Jake Mitchell and his large band, The Soul Searchers. I just found out St. Pete’s own Frankie Gearing, another veteran of the classic soul era, will join Little Jake for several songs during the Side Door show Saturday night.
Both Jake and Frankie are featured in John Capouya’s book, Florida Soul, that tells the story of our state’s soul music pioneers starting with Ray Charles. John will be selling and signing books at the show Saturday night. This show will be sold out by showtime, so get your tickets early by calling our box office at 727-822-3590 or following this link for on-line tickets and information.
Frankie Gearing, raised in St. Pete, would try to sneak into the Manhattan Casino on 22nd St South, to hear James Brown, Little Richard and other R&B greats. She told them she wanted to be a singer—and she ended up performing with almost all of them. In her career, she has been the lead singer in at least four recording groups.
She idolized Etta James when she sang with the girl group The Co Eds at Gibbs High School, then with The Laddins, The Steinways and The Glories, a trio or “girl group’’ signed to Columbia label Date Records. They recorded at the famous American Studios in Memphis, where Aretha Franklin and many others laid down soul hits.
Gearing’s best-known work came in the 1970s as a member of another female trio, Quiet Elegance, named and managed by two of Motowns’s Temptations. They recorded for Hi Records—Al Green’s label—and produced by legendary Willie Mitchell. Frankie’s biggest chart-making hit there was “You Got My Mind Messed Up.” Gearing and Quiet Elegance also toured internationally with Al Green and O.V. Wright.
Gearing still performs, mostly here in St. Pete. Frankie still has her soulful sound, and will be featured in Little Jake’s show, performing classic soul, both solo and in duets.
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