Page 9 - Florida Sentinel 8-21-18

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West Tampa Trio Sang On Aretha’s 1979 Album
ZULEMA CUSSEAUX
Special To The Florida Sentinel-Bulletin by Fred Hearns
As music lovers, civil rights veterans and people all around the world mourn the recent death of legendary singer Aretha Franklin, Tampa can celebrate its ties to the Queen of Soul through three Howard W. Blake High School graduates. These na- tive Tampans are among the performers who were blessed to record and perform on stage with the Queen of Soul.
Long live the Queen! And long live the top selling mu- sical group from Tampa in any genre – Faith, Hope & Charity.
Group founder, Zulema Cusseaux recruited Brenda Hilliard and Al- bert Bailey in high school in the mid-1960s and they began perfecting their har- monies in West Tampa as the Lovelles.
The trio progressed from singing in school to perform- ing professionally in clubs like those on Tampa’s Cen- tral Avenue and on the Deuces (22nd Street S.) in St. Petersburg. They traveled with the Sam and Dave Revue, opening for the hottest duo in soul music during this era.
They sang in clubs in Miami and in Atlanta before moving to New York City in 1970. Together their biggest success was So Much Love, a top 40 hit that was an audi- ence favorite. Hilliard still resides in Brooklyn, while Bailey and Cusseaux re- turned to Tampa after their professional careers ended. Bailey still lives here, while Cusseaux died in Tampa in 2013.
FAITH, HOPE & CHARITY
Zulema embarked on a solo career in 1971 while liv- ing in New York. From 1972 to 1982 she recorded seven albums and had four solo Top 100 hits. She wrote much of her material and played piano on many of her records.
Washington, D. C. native, Diane Destry took Zulema’s place in the group, joining Hilliard and Bailey as New York’s latest version of Faith, Hope & Charity. This talented trio teamed with the brilliant writer, producer and arranger Van McCoy for twonumberoneR&B smashes in the mid-1970s – To Each His Own and The Hustle (which also was a top Pop hit). Hilliard, Bailey and Destry had a third number one song with lead singer (formerly of the Temptations) David Ruf- fin’s 1975 Walk Away From (Your) Love.
In 1976 The Hustle was named the number one sin- gle in the United States, Eng- land and France. More than 40 years later it remains a popular song in America. Yet few people realize it’s Brenda, Albert and Diane’s voices singing “Do The Hustle” to Van McCoy’s infectious groove. The YouTube video of The Hustle shows Brenda and Albert dancing in place in front of McCoy’s piano as Van plays for several swing- ing couples doing The Hus- tle.
Cusseaux, Hilliard and Bailey often collaborated on songs during the 1970s and performed live on shows with such legendary performers as Earth, Wind and Fire, Marvin Gaye, Bill With-
ers, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Sly and the Family Stone. They per- formed at New York’s famed Carnegie Hall, in Japan and appeared on Don Cor- nelius’ Soul Train Televi- sion Program.
Still, many music critics would argue today that the crowning glory of Zulema’s career was writing and ar- ranging the ballad Half A Love, which Aretha chose to sing on her La Diva album in 1979. Cusseaux, Hilliard and Bailey sang background vocals on Half A Love and on the rest of the songs on the album. This was the final project Aretha completed before she left Atlantic after twelve years for Clive Davis’s Arista Records.
The La Diva Album was not one of the Queen’s better known works: it casts Franklin as a disco diva and tossed her work into a sea full of dance tunes by a hundred male and female stars with more established disco cred- ibility. Thus Zulema’s soul- ful contribution to Aretha’s album got lost in the age of the disco craze and never got the credit it deserved.
Still, when Aretha chose one of Zulema’s songs for her final album with Atlantic Records, it put “Tampa’s Queen of Soul” in rare com- pany. Cusseaux’s collabo- ration with Aretha as the writer, arranger and as a background vocalist (with Hilliard and Bailey) along with Franklin’s lead vocals on the song Half A Love places Zulema and Tampa in a special place.
Play Aretha Franklin’s Half A Love from the La Diva album on YouTube and I think you’ll agree.
Tampa General Hospital Earns Top Ranking
Tampa General Hospital has been recognized as the top hospital in the Tampa-St. Pe- tersburg Metro area. It has also been recognized as one of the nation’s top 50 hospitals in six medical specialties by U. S. News & World Report.
The annual ‘Best Hospital’ rankings are designed to assist patients and doctors in mak- ing informed decisions about where to receive care for chal- lenging medical conditions or common elective procedures.
CEO John Couris, said, “This recognition reflects the commitment of our staff and physicians working as a team to provide the best outcomes for our patients. And we will continue to become a top-tier, world class hospital that is fo- cused on patient safety and quality.”
Tampa General Hospital has been ranked as one of the
50 hospitals in the nation in the medical specialties of Dia- betes and Endocrinology; Gastroenterology & GI Sur- gery; Nephrology; Orthope- dics; Pulmonology; and Urology.
In addition, the hospital has received the “High Per- forming” ratings in three medical specialties: cardiol- ogy & heart surgery, geri- atrics, and neurology & neurosurgery.
Tampa General Hospital is a Level 1 Trauma Center that serves as the region’s only center for comprehensive burn care. It is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, one of the nation’s busiest adult solid organ transplant centers, and a na- tionally designated magnet hospital for quality nursing care.
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