Customer Reviews

Nothing Can Stop Me: Greatest Hits

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Eugene Dixon, born in Chicago on July 6, 1937, first sang with a high school group calling themselves The Gaytones in 1955, before joining another local group called The Dukays the following year until 1957, when he began a stint with the army that lasted through to 1960. He then re-joined The Dukays which also had his cousin, Shirley Johnson, along with James Lowe, Benjamin Broyles, and Earl Edwards. After securing a contract with the small NAT label, they had a minor # 64 Billboard Pop Hot 100 hit with The Girl's A Devil, but it was shut out on the R&B charts, as was the follow-up Nite Owl (track 2) which stalled at # 73 Hot 100 in February 1962.

They also cut Duke Of Earl for NAT at the same time as Nite Owl, but when Vee-Jay purchased the rights they changed the billing to simply Gene Chandler (his new name taken from his favourite film actor Jeff Chandler), and it soared to # 1 Hot 100 (3 weeks) and R&B (5 weeks) in early 1962 b/w Kissin' In The Kitchen. Vee-Jay also re-released Nite Owl and this time it scored even lower, reaching # 88 Hot 100 in April.

Chandler would never again come close to a # 1 on the more lucrative Pop Hot 100, but he would do reasonably well on the R&B charts, logging a total of 36 hit singles to 1986, including 14 in the Top 20. On the Hot 100 his best would be the 1970 # 12 Groovy Situation (also # 8 R&B), the 1965 # 18 Nothing Can Stop Me (also # 3 R&B), and the 1964 # 19 Just Be True. Note that, from late 1963 and throughout all of 1964, Billboard had suspended the R&B charts, and only later arbitrarily assigned the same chart position as the Pop charts "for historical purposes." It goes without saying that Just Be True very likely would have scored much higher on the R&B charts.

Here you get 16 of his Hot 100 hits long with 4 R&B charters that also made the Hot 100 "bubble under" listings. Full details are on the reverse which provides a complete discography of the contents. The insert contains 6 pages of background notes written by music historian/writer Robert Pruter, along with several more nice photos of Gene, including one with The Dukays. The sound quality is excellent.

Gene Chandler fans will be pleased with this. This has most of the good stuff form the sixties and includes his beautiful but underrated "Groovy Situation," which rarely appears on oldies and Classic Soul radio stations today. It also includes the later hits "Does She Have a Friend" and his amusing foray into disco "Get Down" (with the catchy hook "Get down baby bubba"). However, it would be nice to have the 1965 live jam "Soul Hootenanny" and "Groovy Situation" on the same CD. But hey, at least you can still find both tunes on CD.

I'm a collector of oldies and I have been searching for some songs on this cd,

I'm surprised Gene Chandler isn't recognized more as one of the greatest of soul music alongside Marvin Gaye. Gene Chandler had such a powerful, moving, entrancing voice. No one could sing a ballad or I lost my love song like Gene. This man truly sung from his heart. Gene is known for Duke of Earl but clearly in this cd Gene sung other great classics. Nothing Can Stop Me is a song that will get you up and going. Think Nothing About Me, Just Be True, Bless Our Love, What Now, The Girl Don't Care, and To Be A Lover are truly touching songs that brings tears to your eyes. Its like Gene is singing directly to you. What A Man Gene Is! No one can sing like him! He doesn't just sing he tells you a story!