Look Who it Was Random video

Sharon Tandy & Billy Forrest - I am what I am

503 views · Published 7 August 2018 · 2:20 · Indexed 22 September 2026

Channel: keurspel (Leon Rossouw) · 2018 · Music

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Sharon Tandy (born Sharon Finkelstein; 18 September 1943 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is the first non-American female vocalist to be signed to the American soul label, STAX, which put Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett on the map. She started her career singing with the Archie Silansky Combo in the early 1960s, before being signed to STAX by Frank Venter, whom she later married. She appeared in South Africa's first beat film, "Africa Shakes", and in 1964 the couple moved to England where Frank later became the UK head of Atlantic Records (changing his name to Frank Fenter). Sharon released several singles between 1965 and 1969, and although none was a hit, she appeared on several contemporary television programmes, such as Beat Club. 

In 1966 she recorded several songs at Stax Records, backed by Booker T. & the M.G.'s and Isaac Hayes. That year she also teamed up with another of Fenter's bands, Les Fleur de Lys, and recorded several singles for the Atlantic label and a session for John Peel's "Top Gear". However, a lack of commercial success and the breakdown of her relationship with Fenter led to her return to South Africa in 1970, where she scored three South African Top Ten hits between 1972 and 1978 as one half of various duos.

Billy Forrest was born William Boardman in Kimberley, South Africa. He began singing in clubs in Johannesburg in 1958, before joining a number of different bands, including The Drifters, The Silhouettes and The Giants. In 1964 he formed his own group, Billy Forrest and the Brothers, and they backed the Ivy League on their tour of South Africa in that same year. He went on to form The Dream Merchants with Billy Andrews (previously of the Staccatos), also in 1964. Towards the end of the 60s he launched a solo career, using various pseudonyms, including Quentin E. Klopjaeger, William E and Dennis, and also recorded a number of duets with the likes of Sharon Tandy and Angelika Illman.

This song is off the compilation LP "Do you love me?" by Geli & Billy & Friends, released in 1973. It's a cover of a song by Greyhound from 1972.

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