THE SOUL GUY

More Soul Than You Can Shake A Stick At!

 
Arthur Lee Conley (January 4, 1946 – November 17, 2003) was an American soul singer, best known for the 1967 hit, Sweet Soul Music. It shot to the number two spot on both the pop and R&B charts, earning Conley the number eleven male artist ranking for 1967. The song paid homage to other soul singers like Lou Rawls, Wilson Pickett and James Brown. Conley was born in McIntosh County, Georgia and grew up in Atlanta. He first recorded in 1959 as the lead singer of Arthur & the Corvets. With this group, he released three singles in 1963 and 1964 (Poor Girl, I Believe, and Flossie Mae) on the Atlanta based record label, National Recording Company.


In 1964, he moved to a new label, Ru-Jac Records and released I'm a Lonely Stranger. When Otis Redding heard this, he asked Conley to record a new version, which was released on Redding's own fledgling label Jotis Records, as only its second release.

Conley met Redding in 1967, but after this meeting Redding took Conley under his care, and taught him the finer points of the music industry. Together they re-wrote the Sam Cooke song Yeah Man into Sweet Soul Music, which at Redding's insistence, was released on the Atco-distributed label Fame Records. It proved a massive hit and went to the number two position on the U.S. charts and the Top Ten across much of Europe. It is said that Conley never accepted Redding's death in December 1967.

After several years of lacklustre singles in the early 1970s, he relocated to England in 1975, and spent several years in Belgium, then settled in Amsterdam in spring 1977. In de beginning of 1980 he had some mayor performances as Lee Roberts and the Sweaters in the Ganzenhoef, Paradiso, De Melkweg and the Concertgebouw, highly succesful. At the end of 1980 he moved to the Dutch village of Ruurlo and legally changed his name to Lee Roberts (his middle name and his mother's maiden name). There he occupied himself with promoting new music by means of his Art-Con Productions company. He was also active as a designer of specialized tapestries and furniture.

A live performance, on 8 January 1980, featuring Lee Roberts & the Sweaters, was released as an album entitled Soulin' in 1988.

He died after a long battle with intestinal cancer in Ruurlo, The Netherlands at the age of fifty seven in November, 2003.