Wynona Carr (Cleveland, Ohio, August 23, 1923 – May 12, 1976) was a gospel,… Read Full Bio ↴Wynona Carr (Cleveland, Ohio, August 23, 1923 – May 12, 1976) was a gospel, rhythm & blues and rock & roll singer-songwriter, who recorded as Sister Wynona Carr when performing gospel material.
Wynona Merceris Carr was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where she started out as a gospel singer, forming her own five-piece group The Carr Singers around 1945 and touring the Cleveland/Detroit area. Being tipped by The Pilgrim Travelers, who shared a bill with Carr in the late 1940s, Art Rupe signed her to his Specialty label, giving Carr her new stage name “Sister” Wynona Carr (modelled after pioneering gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and cutting some twenty sides with her from 1949 to 1954, including a couple of duets with Specialty’s biggest gospel star at the time, Brother Joe May.
Not having too much success on the charts (except for “The Ball Game” (1952), which became one of Specialty’s best selling gospel records), Carr grew increasingly unhappy with the straight gospel direction of her career and pleaded with Rupe to let her record “pops, jumps, ballads, and semi-blues”. Rupe relented and from 1955 to 1959 Carr recorded two dozen rock & roll and R&B sides for Specialty, which, like her gospel songs, she mostly wrote herself. Despite scoring an R&B hit with “Should I Ever Love Again?” in 1957, overall the change from spiritual to secular music didn’t help Carr much in terms of sales or recognition. Unfortunately she also contracted tuberculosis around this time, which kept her from doing the necessary promotional work and touring for two years, effectively ending her tenure with Specialty in the summer of 1959.
In 1961 Carr signed with Frank Sinatra’s Reprise Records and released an unsuccessful pop album. She moved back to Cleveland, sinking into obscurity and suffering from declining health and depression; she died there in 1976.
Carr’s contralto vocals have a sensual, husky quality quite unusual (or even inappropriate) for gospel singers in her day, which made her eventual switch to R&B and rock & roll seem a logical choice in retrospect. The same goes for her idiosyncratic use of metaphors and themes in her gospel songs: Baseball (“The Ball Game”), boxing (“15 Rounds For Jesus”) and a popular TV show (“Dragnet For Jesus”). This penchant for novelty-like songs also shows in Carr’s later R&B repertoire, for instance “Ding Dong Daddy”, “Nursery Rhyme Rock” and “Boppity Bop (Boogity Boog)”.
Carr’s gospel recordings are very much influenced by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, incorporating blues and jazz stylings and already touching on R&B with her take on Roy Brown’s / Wynonie Harris’ “Good Rockin’ Tonight”, entitled “I Heard The News (Jesus Is Coming Again)”. Her early R&B material (for which she is probably best remembered now) was often uptempo, rock & roll-styled and similar in sound to fellow R&B / rock & roll artists on the Specialty roster like Little Richard, Lloyd Price and Larry Williams, with a strong New Orleans-style backbeat and a rich, warm production. Her final Specialty sessions, conducted by Sonny Bono in 1959, cut down on the rock & roll influences.
Both Carr’s gospel and R&B recordings went largely unappreciated during the time they were released, but found a new audience when Specialty Records released two CDs, covering Carr’s entire output on the label and adding previously unreleased material, such as a recording with Rev. C.L. Franklin (father of Aretha Franklin) and his New Bethel Baptist Church Choir in Detroit.
Sister Wynona Carr
Dragnet For Jesus (Specialty SPCD-7016-2, 1992)
Wynona Carr
Jump Jack Jump! (Specialty SPCD-7048-2, 1993)
Wynona Merceris Carr was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where she started out as a gospel singer, forming her own five-piece group The Carr Singers around 1945 and touring the Cleveland/Detroit area. Being tipped by The Pilgrim Travelers, who shared a bill with Carr in the late 1940s, Art Rupe signed her to his Specialty label, giving Carr her new stage name “Sister” Wynona Carr (modelled after pioneering gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and cutting some twenty sides with her from 1949 to 1954, including a couple of duets with Specialty’s biggest gospel star at the time, Brother Joe May.
Not having too much success on the charts (except for “The Ball Game” (1952), which became one of Specialty’s best selling gospel records), Carr grew increasingly unhappy with the straight gospel direction of her career and pleaded with Rupe to let her record “pops, jumps, ballads, and semi-blues”. Rupe relented and from 1955 to 1959 Carr recorded two dozen rock & roll and R&B sides for Specialty, which, like her gospel songs, she mostly wrote herself. Despite scoring an R&B hit with “Should I Ever Love Again?” in 1957, overall the change from spiritual to secular music didn’t help Carr much in terms of sales or recognition. Unfortunately she also contracted tuberculosis around this time, which kept her from doing the necessary promotional work and touring for two years, effectively ending her tenure with Specialty in the summer of 1959.
In 1961 Carr signed with Frank Sinatra’s Reprise Records and released an unsuccessful pop album. She moved back to Cleveland, sinking into obscurity and suffering from declining health and depression; she died there in 1976.
Carr’s contralto vocals have a sensual, husky quality quite unusual (or even inappropriate) for gospel singers in her day, which made her eventual switch to R&B and rock & roll seem a logical choice in retrospect. The same goes for her idiosyncratic use of metaphors and themes in her gospel songs: Baseball (“The Ball Game”), boxing (“15 Rounds For Jesus”) and a popular TV show (“Dragnet For Jesus”). This penchant for novelty-like songs also shows in Carr’s later R&B repertoire, for instance “Ding Dong Daddy”, “Nursery Rhyme Rock” and “Boppity Bop (Boogity Boog)”.
Carr’s gospel recordings are very much influenced by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, incorporating blues and jazz stylings and already touching on R&B with her take on Roy Brown’s / Wynonie Harris’ “Good Rockin’ Tonight”, entitled “I Heard The News (Jesus Is Coming Again)”. Her early R&B material (for which she is probably best remembered now) was often uptempo, rock & roll-styled and similar in sound to fellow R&B / rock & roll artists on the Specialty roster like Little Richard, Lloyd Price and Larry Williams, with a strong New Orleans-style backbeat and a rich, warm production. Her final Specialty sessions, conducted by Sonny Bono in 1959, cut down on the rock & roll influences.
Both Carr’s gospel and R&B recordings went largely unappreciated during the time they were released, but found a new audience when Specialty Records released two CDs, covering Carr’s entire output on the label and adding previously unreleased material, such as a recording with Rev. C.L. Franklin (father of Aretha Franklin) and his New Bethel Baptist Church Choir in Detroit.
Sister Wynona Carr
Dragnet For Jesus (Specialty SPCD-7016-2, 1992)
Wynona Carr
Jump Jack Jump! (Specialty SPCD-7048-2, 1993)
Touch and Go
Wynona Carr Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Touch and Go' by these artists:
Abra Moore You're traveling through my head again I pull you out…
Adam Melchor Sometimes you just have to figure out Take your life at…
Al Wilson We can make it, baby If we only try Don't let our…
Arabesque Love, I opened my door Though I had never seen you…
Ässät - Sisälletulobiisi Aloituskentälliset - Emerson Lake & Powell Man in the street nowhere to sleep No time for nothing…
Bob Moses Well there's a littke black box where you keep your…
Cars The All I need is what you've got All I'll tell is…
Cher I know we can make it baby If only we try Let's…
Colin Blunstone I still remember a few years ago While we were both…
Ecstasy Passion & Pain Oohoo I ain't just on the run Oohoo I ain't just on the…
Ed Sheeran Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Waking up,…
emerson lake powell Man in the street nowhere to sleep No time for nothing…
Emerson Lake & Palmer Man in the street, no time to sleep No time for…
Emerson Lake & Powell Man in the street nowhere to sleep No time for nothing…
Emerson, Lake & Palmer Man in the street, no time to sleep No time for…
Emerson, Lake & Powell Man in the street nowhere to sleep No time for nothing…
Exposé I can't deny it It makes me nervous To wait for the…
Force M.D's Tenemos derecho a ser estupidos, a desaprender, a estar tris…
Greg Lake Man in the street nowhere to sleep No time for nothing…
Gregory Isaacs I wanna know, why you′re treating me so Hello Miss touch…
John Foxx We stepped out in the shatter light And I watched as…
John Grant What have they been telling you About the way things are? Co…
K.P.M. They say It's touch and go But our love Is for sure They say…
Kim Carnes Sometimes it hurts so much that I wonder What kind of…
Lake & Palmer Man in the street nowhere to sleep No time for nothing…
Lightning Seeds A smile to break the ice, can I know your…
LIVING ROOM 1 - Ed Sheeran Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Waking up,…
Magazine In the corner of your eye I'm loitering with intent You ca…
Malcolm Nuna Touch and go You just dey come and go You never herein…
Mars Ill (Chorus) Heads rush and faces blush when the fader gets tou…
Melissa Etheridge In a room full of silver shadows A customary kiss goodnight …
Ringo Starr We met on a Friday night I saw some other guy…
Rupert Holmes Nobody said that Life is always fair Sometimes it clips yo…
Saachi I was walking Our bodies side by side Hoping someday you'd…
Sam & Dave Standing somewhere all alone Daydreaming hard before I go ho…
She When you take my hand, It will leave you with one. Det…
Stiff Little Fingers Looking back it's funny that we never lied That night we…
Storm I'm looking for some love tonight, tell me what's your…
Swingfly The same girl at the rock bar, with a hot…
The Cars All I need is what you've got All I'll tell is…
The Lightning Seeds A smile to break the ice, can I know your…
Tinashe & 6LACK Wish you would say somethin' to make me change my…
Tomás Tomás Clock hanging over Why we always out of time Fresh rays run…
Vibrolush A little high, I've gone too far and I I…
Vibrolush /Philadelphia Music A little high, I've gone too far and I I…
Victor Haynes Unpredictably beautiful Stood right across the room As pre…
walter alias Slow down [???] [???] was wasted while I'm young But hold…
Write This Down Forgive me for my last impression Cause I lost my mind…
Ed Sheeran Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Waking up,…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Wynona Carr:
'Til The Well Runs Dry You said you love me And then you left You broke every…
Ding Dong Daddy I wanna ding dong daddy I wanna ding dong daddy I wanna…
Finders Keepers Finders, keepers, losers, weepers I won′t weep and I won't m…
Hurt Me Ooohhhh hurt me, hurt me if you choose Come on and…
Now That I'm Free I had a man faithful and true I put him down…
Please Mr Jailer Please Mr. Jailer Won′t you let my man go free Please Mr.…
Please Mr. Jailer Please Mr. Jailer Won′t you let my man go free Please Mr.…
Should I Ever Love Again? machi eoje mannan geoscheoreom As if we saw each other yeste…
The Ball Game Life is a ball game Bein' played each day Life is a…
Til the Well Runs Dry You said you love me And then you left You broke every…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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