Soul Portrait

Willie Hutch will probably be a familiar name to those of you who are fans of the Soul & R&B genres; if he is not, you might have just found a new favourite artist! This superstar is most well-known for writing the soundtracks for the two 1970’s motion pictures ‘Foxy Brown’ & ‘The Mack’ and it was the success of the hit song ‘Brother’s Gonna Work It Out’ from the latter film that helped give him success on an international level. Over the years he worked with an outstanding number of prominent musicians including Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson and you might be surprised to learn that he co-wrote the famous Jackson 5 song ‘I’ll Be There.’ In many ways Willie Hutch is an immensely underrated artist and he deserves much more recognition for his work as a Producer, Singer and Songwriter. What seems so astonishing is that his debut album Soul Portrait is not more well-known and has never been re-pressed. This has made the LP a rare, very sought after release and for good reason; it is arguably the best album that Hutch ever released.

‘Lucky To Be Loved By You’ is a beautiful and uplifting love song from this 1969 album and it is a classic illustration of how perfect and moving Hutch’s vocals could be, it is true ecstasy to the ears. Like the rest of the works on the album, this track has a serious Northern Soul feel to it with those horns and backing singers in the background. Hopefully more people will start to become acquainted with Soul Portrait as it is a little known treasure that is likely to give you hour after hour of listening enjoyment.