P. P. Arnold - Soul Survivor: The Autobiography: The Extraordinary Memoir of a Music Icon

NEB 005

First published in the UK in 2022 by Nine Eight Books

An imprint of Bonnier Books UK

4th Floor, Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London, WC1B 4DA

Owned by Bonnier Books, Sveavgen 56, Stockholm, Sweden

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Hardback ISBN: 978-1-7887-0578-3

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-7887-0601-8

eBook ISBN: 978-1-7887-0579-0

Audio ISBN: 978-1-7887-0529-5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Publishing director: Pete Selby

Senior editor: Melissa Bond

Cover design by Luke Bird

All cover images Gered Mankowitz

Typeset by IDSUK (Data Connection) Ltd

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Text copyright P.P. Arnold, 2022

The right of P.P. Arnold to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright-holders of material reproduced in this book. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publisher would be glad to hear from them.

Nine Eight Books is an imprint of Bonnier Books UK

www.bonnierbooks.co.uk

For the constant love, support and guidance they gave me that formed the foundation of my life, this book is dedicated to:

My sons, Kevin Lamont Arnold and Calvin Kodzo Samue.

The memory of my beloved daughter, Debra Elaine Arnold; my parents, Theora and Mary Cole; my brother Ronald Edward Cole; my grandparents Theodra and Estella Cole; and my grandmother Mattie Benjamin Gray.

My sister, Elaine, my brothers Larry, Kenny and Theo, and all of my nieces, nephews, cousins and dear friends.

And in remembrance of Vernon and Rashied James. I had to cut a lot of our growing-up and the many experiences we shared thats another book. Soon come!

CONTENTS

Present Out of Past

When dat ar ole chariot comes,

Im gwine to lebe you.

Im Bound for the Promised Land

1965 (LA)

Mysterious Ways

When you make your bed hard you have to lie in it. Daddys favourite quote rang in my head. I was living proof. Here I was in an abusive teen marriage. My husband David was abusive, physically and mentally. I was seventeen and working two jobs to support two young children. But my husband was never going to love me or treat me right. He couldnt stand the sight of me.

Once, a Sunday morning for me had meant getting up early for Sunday school and, after that, putting on my choir robes for the eleven oclock service. And then Id sing. I loved to sing. Now I was cooking, cleaning and washing clothes, trapped in a hell Id created for myself. I knew what a hard bed was alright!

I had prayed for a way out for a long time. This particular morning, I wanted to know that God still loved me in spite of everything. Lord forgive me for my sins, I prayed. I know Ive brought this all on myself, but Im afraid and I dont know what to do.

The phone rang. It was Maxine.

Maxine Smith was my brother Ronnies ex-girlfriend. She had a look of Diana Ross and a funny little lisp when she talked. She was really into the Supremes and we used to sing with each other around the house. She was now dating a singer named Jimmy Green, who had a little studio at the back of his house. I had already done one session there with her, for an artist Jimmy was writing for called Bobby Day, well known then for his big hit Rockin Robin.

The other singer on this session was Gloria Scott, who was the lead singer of Ike and Tina Turners backing singers the Ikettes. Actually, there were two sets of Ikettes: one, the real Ikettes (Robbie Montgomery, Venetta Fields and Jessie Smith), toured with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue; while the other ones toured with The Dick Clark Show. Gloria sang with this B group.

Dick Clark was a superstar DJ, famous for hosting American Bandstand, the long-running TV show which gave many rock n roll artists their first national exposure, including Ike and Tina, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and Stevie Wonder. It was one of the first shows where black and white performed on the same stage to unsegregated live studio audiences. Its live show toured throughout America and Ike, a shrewd businessman, had one set of Ikettes performing with Clark while the other toured with him.

Gloria could sing her ass off. She had a Texas sound like mine and our voices sounded really good together. She was very confident and polished. Shed toured on the same bill as the Supremes and many other Motown acts.

She had called Maxine to tell her that the Revues Ikettes were quitting and that Ike and Tina needed girls to go on the road with the Revue. Maxine had suggested me.

Youve got to come to this audition with me. I said Id love to, but no way is David gonna let me. Just say youre going to collect the money from the session we were never paid for. Be ready. Well pick you up in thirty minutes! She hung up before I could say no.

I scrambled a lie together and David agreed to babysit. My hair was a mess, so I put on my black feather hair-net cap. Now I just looked tacky. It was the latest fashion, a kind of feather Afro, but a quick fix better suited to going shopping than for an audition.

Maxine rang the doorbell and I kissed the kids goodbye. At the end of the lawn, a big black and green Cadillac was idling. I freaked out.

Quick, I told the driver. Drive off before my husband sees this car. I knew if David saw me sneaking away and climbing into the Cadillac, that would be it. I looked very young. I was still jailbait and the driver cracked up, seeing me sneaking away like that. Drive, I pleaded. If he sees me, he will kill me. He checked his mirrors, still laughing as he pulled away from the kerb. The driver was Jimmy Thomas, who sang with the Revue and moonlighted as a chauffeur and valet. He was real cute. He had this gold tooth, which was very country by LA standards. I liked him right away.

We arrived at a sprawling ranch-style house located in the hills above Crenshaw Boulevard, in a very exclusive area called View Park. This was still a white Hollywood neighbourhood, but several black sports celebrities and actors now lived there, as well as entertainers like Ray Charles and Nancy Wilson. I had never been to Hollywood before.

An absolutely stunning black woman with beautiful cheekbones and a warm smile asked us in: Im Ann. Ike and Tina are waiting. The audition would take place in a very modern living room, with cheap-looking furniture, like youd see in one of those stores on Crenshaw Boulevard. My father was an upholsterer, so I could tell that this design was not in good taste. There was a coffee table shaped like a guitar and gaudy velvet portraits of Ike and Tina on the walls.