Blind pianist/singer Bobby Powell -- born in Baton Rouge in 1941 -- started out as a gospel singer in the 1950s. By the outset of the 1960s, however, he'd switched to singing RB and was signed to Whit Records, where he succeeded right out of the box with What Are You Trying to Do to Me b/w Red Sails in the Sunset -- the latter didn't chart nationally but was good and popular enough locally to get picked up by Jewel Records for national distribution. He did even better with his second single, a version of C.C. Rider b/w That Little Girl of Mine, which topped the national RB charts in 1965. Powell's third record, Do Something for Yourself b/w It's Getting Late in the Evening, made it to number 21 on the charts the following year, and in 1967 he once again charted a single with I'm Gonna Leave You. That marked the end of Powell's string of successes, however, although he still released two singles a year, brushed the charts once more at the end of the decade, and had a number 14 hit in 1974 with The Bells. During this same period, Powell also cut an LP for Excello and later issued a handful of more singles. Finally, in the 1980s, he gave up RB and soul music and returned to where he started out, singing gospel music. In 2002, WestSide Records released a compilation of Powell's Whit and Jewel singles. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi