After yesterday’s dentist visit, I decided that some retail/Detroit soul music therapy was exactly what I needed and this record by Little Ann fits the bill perfectly.

After moving to Detroit from Chicago in 1957, Ann Bridgeforth began singing in church and soon moved on to local clubs. It was there she adopted the stage name Little Ann which was originally her family’s name for her as she was the youngest of seven brothers and sisters.

Her first single was for Ric Tic Records in 1968. “Going Down A One Way Street (The Wrong Way)” was demoed for label owner Ed Wingate who didn’t care for it and rewrote the lyrics and arrangements the day they arrived at the studio to record the song. The single was backed with a random instrumental track and, without much promotion from the label, did not sell well.

But before her sessions with Ric Tic, Little Ann had spent time in the studio with Darrell Goolsby and Dave Hamilton who started Da Da Music Productions in the mid ‘60s. Hamilton got his start working as a Motown session musician and Goolsby was a young singer and writer. The duo worked with Ann to record a number of songs, mostly original compositions but, unfortunately, none of them would be released. Instead, the tapes would sit in Hamilton’s house for the next 40 years.

Ann would move to Canada where she continued working as a live performer and released a handful of singles. She abandoned her career in 1977 to take a job with the Chrysler Motor Corporation.

In the early 1980s, a British DJ named Richard Searling began playing a track called "When He’s Not Around" that he attributed to a fictitious singer named Rose Valentine. The song became a huge hit in the northern soul scene.

It wasn’t until 1988 when two British soul collectors, Gilly and Andy Taylor, found themselves in a meeting with Dave Hamilton where he began playing lost gems of his collection. He pulled out a reel that had "The Possible Little Ann Album" written on it. Even though it was played slower, the pair immediately recognized a track called “What Should I Do” as Rose Valentine’s hit “When He’s Not Around”.

Little Ann’s music began appearing on UK soul compilations and she was even flown to the UK to perform in the late 90s.

Even though Bridgeforth died in 2003, her debut album was finally released by Timmion Records in 2009.