Discography and Biography of Esther Phillips. Listen to all their hits.
Esther Phillips Songs
Esther Phillips (December 23, 1935 - August 7, 1984) was a versatile singer, performing pop, country, jazz, blues and soul music. Her first hit record was "Double Crossing Blues", recorded in 1950 for Savoy Records. Several hit records ensued with Savoy, including her duet with Mel Walker on "Mistrusting Blues", which went to number one that year, as did "Cupid Boogie". In 1962, now billed as Esther Phillips instead of Little Esther, she recorded a country tune, "Release Me,". This went to number 1 R&B and number 8 on the pop listings. After several other minor R&B hits on Lenox, she was signed by Atlantic Records. Her cover of The Beatles' song "And I Love Him" nearly made the R&B Top Ten in 1965. She had other hits in the 1960s on the label, such as the critically acclaimed Jimmy Radcliffe song "Try Me". One of her biggest post-1950s triumphs was in 1972 with her first album for Kudu Records. The song penned by Gil Scott-Heron, "Home Is Where the Hatred Is" - an account of drug use - was the lead track on From a Whisper to a Scream, which went on to be nominated for a Grammy Award. In 1975, she scored her biggest hit single since "Release Me" with a disco-style update of Dinah Washington's "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes". It reached a high of a Top 20 chart appearance in the U.S., and Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart. She continued to record and perform throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, completing a total of seven albums on Kudu and four with Mercury Records, for whom she signed in 1977. In 1983, she charted for the final time on a tiny independent label, winning with "Turn Me Out," which reached No. 85 R&B.
Below is a list of Esther Phillips songs, sorted by the most popular first. Place mouse on to see information about song. Click song title to play song and to read details about the song including lyrics (if available). Click year to list all songs from that year. Click label to list songs from that record label. Songs with chart position "---" either never made it into the US top 100 R&B or UK charts or we have no details of their highest chart positions if they did.
(Song are sorted in highest US R&B Top 100 and/or UK Top 100 chart position order)
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to see information about song. Click song title to play song and to read details about the song including lyrics (if available). Click year to list all songs from that year. Click label to list songs from that record label. Songs with chart position "---" either never made it into the US top 100 R&B or UK charts or we have no details of their highest chart positions if they did. 
