Gloria Scott -

Gloria Scott is an American soul singer from Houston who released the 1974 Casablanca album What Am I Gonna Do. She first recorded with The Tonettes, a precursor to Sly & The Family Stone.

Background

Gloria Scott was born on February 26, 1946, in Port Arthur, Texas. Her family moved to Houston before her first birthday, and Scott first heard her mother Ella sing in church. Ella Scott sang on a gospel program with Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers before marriage, and both parents later worked as cooks. The household included nine children, with Scott as the second child.

Scott learned harmony at home by singing lullabies with her siblings. She took piano lessons at age ten and sang “White Christmas” at a school program. The Scott family moved to California in 1960 and lived first in East Palo Alto, then Sunnyvale. Her parents later opened Ella’s Cafe in Palo Alto.

Scott met Sylvester Stewart through her aunt Centranella Boulding, whose gospel group included Stewart, Rose Stone, and cousin LaTanya. At a summer-school dance in Sunnyvale, Scott sang the Carla Thomas chestnut “Gee Whiz” with Stewart’s band. Stewart took Scott to Bay Area dances and wrote and produced “I Taught Him,” a two-part 1964 Warner single billed to Gloria Scott & The Tonettes, comprised of Rose and LaTanya. They promoted the single at the Cow Palace on a bill that included Marvin Gaye and Betty Everett. Gloria also sang Bay Area dates with Bobby Freeman and later worked with John Turk and Clifford Coulter.

Charles Sullivan heard Scott sing in San Francisco and brought her to the Fillmore Auditorium for an audition with Ike & Tina Turner, which placed her among the Ikettes. Scott worked in the Turner revue for about nine months. Tina Turner allowed Scott to sing lead on portions of the Ikettes repertoire. The Turner organization also placed Scott in a separate Ikettes unit for a Dick Clark tour. Scott left the revue after Ike Turner threatened to dock one night’s pay over a missed flight to Houston. She earned her next credit behind Bo Diddley on his 1972 Chess release Where It All Began.

Scott moved to Los Angeles, where songwriter Herman Chaney brought her to the Soul Unlimited office of Barry White, who signed her to a seven-year contract and linked her with Casablanca Records.

What Am I Gonna Do

Gloria Scott released her debut album, What Am I Gonna Do, in April 1974 on Casablanca.

The album contains eight originals, including six songs contributed by fellow soul singer Tom Brock, who served as associate producer with Barry White and co-arranged the material with Gene Page.

“What Am I Gonna Do” surges on sweeping strings and a propulsive backbeat, then places Scott’s lead above the chorus replies. “It’s Better to Have No Love” lingers in a slow lover’s-plea cadence and releases the ache through the refrain. “I Think of You” glides through the same heartbreak register with a closer vocal focus.

“Love Me, Love Me, Love Me, or Leave Me, Leave Me, Leave Me” saunters through a poised ballad chart and presses the repeated title demand into the chorus. “(A Case of) Too Much Lovemakin’” brightens the set through uptempo orchestral lift and firmer floor pace. “Help Me Get Off This Merry-Go-Round” pleads through a rounded closing cadence, with Scott set at the front of the arrangement.

A1. “What Am I Gonna Do” (3:41) – Vance Wilson, Thomas Anderson
A2. “It’s Better to Have No Love” (3:16) – Brock
A3. “I Think of You” (4:40) – Brock
A4. “Love Me, Love Me, Love Me or Leave Me, Leave Me, Leave Me” (4:19) – Lunie McLeod, Brock

B1. “I Just Couldn’t Take a Goodbye” (4:31) – Brock
B2. “That’s What You Say (Everytime You’re Near Me)” (3:18) – Wilson, Anderson
B3. “(A Case of) Too Much Lovemakin’” (3:51) – Brock
B4. “Help Me Get Off This Merry-Go-Round” (3:45) – Scott, Brock, Robert Relf

Sessions occurred with Together Brothers engineer Frank Kejmar. White produced What Am I Gonna Do in sequence with albums by Love Unlimited and the Love Unlimited Orchestra. Brock’s involvement coincided his singular album, I Love You More and More.

The album displays a close portrait of Gloria with both hands at her face; designed by John and Barbara Casado with photography by Josyane Weisburd and Sherman Weisburd.

Casablanca lifted “What Am I Gonna Do” as a March 1974 single (b/w “What Shall I Do”), which reached No. 74 on Billboard Hot Soul Singles. Australian Casablanca paired “(A Case of) Too Much Lovemakin’” with “What Am I Gonna Do” on a 1974 single.

Subsequent Activity

In late 1974, Gloria Scott released the non-album Casablanca single “Just As Long As We’re Together (In My Life There Will Never Be Another)” (b/w “There Will Never Be Another”), produced by White and co-written with Vance and Frank Wilson. The a-side appeared on Discoteca Casablanca, a 1976 Italian label comp with cuts by Buddy Miles, Greg Perry, and Karen Pree.

Scott recorded a second album in 1975 with producer H.B. Barnum, but the contents went unreleased due to contractual entanglements with White, who de-prioritized her career. In 1979, she surfaced on the debut solo album by Supremes co-founder Mary Wilson. Concurrently, Scott appeared on the chorus of Love at First Bite, the soundtrack to a disco-themed Dracula remake starring George Hamilton.

From 2008, Scott made annual appearances in Germany for Baltic Soul Weekender. Her performance of “Help Me Get Off This Merry-Go-Round” appeared on a 2009 split-single with Ann Sexton, both backed by Baltic Soul Orchestra. In 2010, Scott released a 12″ cover of “That’s the Way Love Is,” a 1989 song by Ten City.

In September 2022, Gloria Scott returned on Acid Jazz with her second album, So Wonderful, released 47 years and 10 months after her debut — the 10th longest documented gap between studio albums; surpassing the 43–45-year spans of Ave Sangria, Casa das Máquinas, Fanny, Fresh Maggots, July, Linda Hoyle, Linda Perhacs, Shuggie Otis, The Standells, and the Strawberry Alarm Clock.