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Don Gardner was born and raised in North Philadelphia. As early as thelate 1940's he had already started to get up and sing in
clubs and after successful engagements in Atlantic City and Washington, he started to make an impression in his hometown. These exploits led to a deal with Gotham Records. He joined Jimmy Shorter's band but after a
45 for NY based Bruce Records ("How Do You Speak To An Angel" - 53) enjoyed some success, he was able to put his own band together. An early member of Don's band was hammond wizard Jimmy Smith, who was
togo on to make his own mark in the music business. Further record releases followed for Don through the 1950's for labels such as Bruce,Cameo, Junior, Deluxe and Kaiser. In 1960, New Jersey based keyboard player
Dee Dee Ford joined his band and the pairing were signed to a record deal by Fire Records. Theduo were soon enjoying a national hit when "I Need Your Loving" was both a R&B and pop hit in September
1962. They followed this up with"Don't You Worry" which was a smaller US hit and in 1968 was to become the first release on Dave Godin's legendary UK record label,Soul City. Further releases on the duo
followed on the Fire, KC, RedTop and MOC labels and in 1963 Don enjoyed a solo release, "Son,Oh Son", on Luther Dixon's Ludix label. Other solo efforts quickly followed on Jubilee ("I'm In Such
Misery", "I Don't Know What I'm Gonna Do", etc) and then he appeared on vinyl with the Alteers fora G-Clef 45. But he was still continuing to undertake both recordingand live work in conjunction with
Dee Dee Ford. The pairing undertook tours of Sweden in the summers of 1964 and 65. On bothoccasions they recorded in the country, having albums released onthe Sonet label. A Swedish only 45 coupling their versions
of "Shotgun" and "Heatwave" reputedly exists but must be a very rareitem.Back in the US, Don covered Titus Turner's "Dog Eat Dog" which was issued on Tipton Records and he then teamed
up with GloriaToote's New Jersey based Tru-Glo-Town organisation. The 45's "Lets Party" (T'n'T) and "I Can't Help Myself" (Spectacular) precededhis first release on the actual Tru-Glo-Town label
in 1966, "My BabyLikes To Boogaloo". This cut enjoyed regional success starting in November 66 and was followed up with "Somebodys Gonna Get Hurt/ Ain't Gonna Let You Get Me Down". In early 1968,
a Tru-Glo-Townproduction, "I'm A Practical Guy" was leased to Verve Records. Don'sexperience and long track record was recognised in other ways as hemoved into label management with companies such as
Botanic Records (1968). Here he fetched in an old friend, Jerry Williams, to work with the likes of Little Charles & the Sidewinders. His own nextrelease though was on the Mr. G label out of New York, this being
the classy "Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy". Don was soon to relocate to the Windy City though. I believe this wasbecause "My Baby Likes To Boogaloo" had also been successful there.His profile in
the city resulted in him teaming up with local booking agent, Jimmy Vanleer who had just started his Cedgrick / Cedric Record label. Unfortunately Jimmy's record company was just findingits feet, so although Don's
releases, "Cheating Kind" and "Is This Really Love" were top quality outings, they didn't enjoy any commercial success.By 1972, Don was recording back on the east coast. Here Master 5 Records
teamed him up with Baby Washington. Three singles were released on the duo and the second of these gave him his first nationalhit in almost 11 years, "Forever" entering the charts in May 1973. He also
enjoyed a solo release on the label, this being the sought after single that featured "We're Gonna Make It Big" on the top side. Although the label gathered together a number of the pairs joint andsolo
efforts for release on an album in 1974, Don was soon afterwardsallowed to drift out of the recording business.Don's expertise doesn't just confine itself to the music business, he'salso skilled in the building
trade as well as being a master chef. Hissinging and culinary prowess no doubt assisted him during the periodswhen he also ran clubs and restaurants. Today he busies himself teaching jazz skills to youngsters with
an interest in real instrumentsand music. His studio exploits have in no way been forgotten though,this was illustrated by the coupling of his old cuts "Cheating Kind / Is This Really Love" for release in
the UK on a Grapevine label singleearlier this year.THANKS FOR EVERYONES HELP IN PULLING TOGETHER A LOTOF THESE DETAILS.The only real mystery to me now is which 45 came first, his 2nd T-G-T45 or the Sack 45. From
it's # his Sack release would seem to date from 66 or 67 (& be a Chicago release) as the releases before this onSack were by the likes of Tyrone Davis & Bobbie Jean Bland ( ??? a relative ? of Monk Higgins
aka Milton Bland). His 2nd T-G-T 45 musthave dated from early (Feb / March) in 67. With the sides T-G-T / NYconnections they had to be cut on the east coast, so how come theygot an earlier / almost simultaneous
release in Chicago ???Unfortunately Pruter's definitive tome on Chicago soul doesn't evenhave a mention of the Sack label. JRS
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