“The first time I got in a recording studio I was hooked like a junkie getting his first shot,” says soul dynamo Lou Pride. He was also making R&B history. Pride’s debut single “ I’m Comu’n Home in the Morn’un” became a cult hit in England and made him a legendary figure in that country’s Northern Soul movement — the passionate music scene that inspired the movie The Commitments.Forty years later Pride’s still making history — and great music that brings the heartbeat of classic vocal-driven soul, R&B, and blues into the present. And he hasn’t lost any of his fervor.“I’m still thrilled whenever I write a new number,” the Chicago-based songman says, “and whenever I get on the stage to play for people, I know there’s nowhere else on Earth I’d rather be.”Soon Pride will be returning to the studio to cut the sequel to 2005’s acclaimed Keep On Believing, whose title track was inspired by his late friend and mentor Curtis Mayfield. Near the end of his life the R&B giant was paralyzed from the neck down, “but I never saw him without a smile,” says Pride. “He always used to tell me, ‘Lou, don’t ever give up believing. You got to hold on to your dream.’ So that’s where the album’s title and the song ‘Hold On To Your Dream’ came from.”Pride also put his bold, clay-colored singing into service on his latest CD to reprise his first hit and breathe life into 11 more tunes that all evoke the spirit of Hi Records. Their gorgeous, deeply rooted arrangements featuring six horns and a coterie of harmony singers perfectly compliment the leader’s declamatory tale telling.The Hi sound makes sense. In the early ’70s Pride cut a clutch of tunes with that label’s legendary house producer Willie Mitchell. “I also got to sit in the control booth while Willie made albums with some of my heroes, like Al Green, Ann Peebles, and O.V Wright, and showed me how a great R&B record is supposed to get made,” says Pride. Although Mayfield and Mitchell gave Pride guidance and inspiration, it was B.B. King who actually changed his life. Pride had been singing in the choir of the First Baptist Church in his native North Chicago since he was a child, and gospel was on his mind — until his mother and aunt took him to see one of King’s notoriously high-spirited ’60s performances in the Windy City.“I saw him up there singing his head off and all the girls were going crazy — screaming and hollering,” says Pride. “Right then I said, ‘This is for me.’ ” Pride began his secular career while he was in the Army, stationed in El Paso, Texas. He was half of a Sam & Dave style duo with a female singer who went by the initials JLC. When the partnership turned into marriage, the band dissolved and Pride became a solo artist. He cut “ I’m Comu’n Home in the Morn’un” and a handful of other singles there, before relocating to New Mexico. He made his debut album Very Special in 1979, and Pride’s early ’70s Memphis and El Paso sessions were collected more than two decades after they were recorded for a compilation Severn released in 2003.Although Pride stayed on stage through the ’80s, mesmerizing audiences with his haunting voice and lively stage work, he did not return to the studio until 1990, when his friendship with Mayfield led to a deal with the R&B giant’s Curtom Records and the album Gone Bad Again. Since then he has moved back to Chicago, just blocks from where he grew up, and made five more CDs including his 2002 Severn debut Words of Caution. All of his discs are celebrations of the classic true-to-life aesthetic and southern-fried sound of bonafide soul. “Great soul music and R&B has to have a real band — not a drum machine and sampled instruments — and has to tell real stories,” Pride attests.“Another thing I learned about R&B from Curtis is that every song has to tell a story,” he continues. “What’s important about telling a story is that it sounds real, so the people who buy my albums or come to my shows can relate to it, and maybe say, ‘Hey, that happened to me.’ ”That makes Pride a creative watchdog of sorts. “I always keep my ears open for things people might say and observe what they do, because even an off-hand remark or something that seems insignificant can suggest a song,” he avows.“Midnight Call,” the single and video from Keep on Believing, had such a beginning. “I was laying in bed late one night and my phone rang, which really irritated me,” Pride recounts. “I said, ‘Quit bugging me with these midnight calls.’ And my brain started working and I started writing.“I’m always writing,” he notes. “In fact, if you saw me driving my van around the streets of Chicago, you’d think I was crazy because I’m always mumbling to myself and writing lyrics down on pieces of paper. “One of those little pieces could lead to a big song,” Pride says. “And my goal is to keep on working at what I do. I’m on top of my art and my music, and like my song says, I’m going to hold on to my dream.”

Discography:
Keep On Believing, Severn CD 0037
The Memphis/El Paso Sessions 1970-73, Severn CD 0022
Words of Caution, Severn CD 0017

I Won't Give Up, Ice House Records
Love At Last, WMB Records
Twisting the Knife, Ichiban
Gone Bad Again, Curtom Records
Very Special, Black Gold
Gone Bad for a Very Special Reason, Black Gold