Saturday August 9 marks the birthday of Barbara Mason, an accomplished singer and songwriter out of Philadelphia who can not only claim the first Philly soul hit, but the first true dramas set to music.
She was just 17 years old when “Yes I’m Ready” soared to No. 2 on the R&B charts and No. 5 pop in 1965, but by the turn of the 1970s, she resurfaced as a tough-talking woman of the world with stories to tell about her relationships…and others.
In 1974, Shirley Brown had the hit song “Woman To Woman,” that starts off with one of the great monologues in music as Shirley places a phone call to a woman named Barbara about her man.
In one of the earliest answer songs, Barbara Mason fired back with “From His Woman To You,” letting Shirley know in no uncertain terms she wasn’t about to give up her good thing.
Music Sermon, curated by music industry vet and professor Naima Cochrane covered this as part of the ongoing Black Music Summer series:
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Other songs such as “Shackin’ Up,” “I am your woman, she is your wife,” and “She’s got the papers, but I’ve got the man” (an answer to the late Richard “Dimples” Fields’ “She’s Got Papers On Me” proved that Philly women have always been about that action.
Check out our podcast episode about the legendary Barbara Mason:
