PP Arnold (born Patricia Ann Cole, October 3, 1946) is an American soul singer. Arnold began her career as an Ikette with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in 1965. The following year she relocated to London to pursue a solo career. Arnold enjoyed considerable success in the United Kingdom with her singles "The First Cut Is the Deepest" and "Angel of the Morning".
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Links to Peel[]
PP Arnold's biggest hit, "The First Cut Is The Deepest", a Cat Stevens song (and a decade later a #1 for Rod Stewart), received plenty of airplay on Radio London in the summer of 1967 when Peel was working on the station. (The record was Pete Drummond's "Climber" in the Big L playlist of the week beginning 9 April 1967[1]) It's possible that JP may have played it while hosting daytime chart-based shows on the station, but so far, there is no evidence of this from available playlists or recordings. However, she did record for Andrew Loog Oldham's label Immediate Records, whose roster included artists who interested Peel, such as the Small Faces and the Nice, who were originally her backing group.
She was booked to do a session for Top Gear in the programme's early months, when each week's session artists usually included one with a pop, soul or R&B background. For PP Arnold's session, singers Madeleine Bell and Dusty Springfield both appeared as backing vocalists, though the rest of the musicians who worked on the recordings are unknown. Her session consisted entirely of cover versions, including "Tin Soldier" and "If You Think You're Groovy" (mistitled "If You Think You're Grooving" on the session listing), two songs connected with the Small Faces.
She also recorded the latter track accompanied by them, and it was issued as a single and played a couple of times by Peel in the weeks before her session was broadcast. The session also included a version of the Rolling Stones ' "Satisfaction" and two songs by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, "Road To Nowhere", and You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman", the latter one best known in the hit version by Aretha Franklin.
PP recorded a second session in 1968, with Small Faces
Peel introduced her at a couple of gigs, the latter one in 1970. After that she seemed to fade from the public eye, but in later decades pursued a busy career as solo artist, collaborator and backing singer, working with a variety of artists from Eric Clapton and Nick Drake to Steel Pulse, Peter Gabriel and Boy George.
Sessions[]
PP Arnold - John Peel session 14-1-68
1. Recorded: 1968-01-02. First Broadcast: 14 January 1968. Repeated: 25 February 1968.
- Satisfaction / Tin Soldier / If You Think You're Grooving / You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman / Road To Nowhere
2. (with Small Faces). Recorded: 1968-04-09. Broadcast: 14 April 1968. Repeated: 19 May 1968
- If I Were A Carpenter / Lazy Sunday / Get Ready / Every Little Bit Hurts
Other Shows Played[]
- 1967
- 24 December 1967: (If You Think You're) Groovy (7") Immediate IM 061
- 1968
- 07 January 1968: (If You Think You're) Groovy (7") Immediate IM 061
See Also[]
- Gigography 1968
- Gigography 1970
- Rock Family Trees: The Prog-Rock Years: PP Arnold interviewed re the Nice as her backing band.