Blind Dog Radio

Kip Anderson

Kiphling Taquana Anderson, b. January 24, 1938 in Anderson, SC, d. August 29, 2007 in Anderson, SC. A high quality soul singer whose limited output is legendary, particularly among lovers of the ‘deep’ style. Anderson’s first records came in the pre-soul era of 1959 with ‘The Home Fires Are Brighter After All’ for Derrick (leased to Vee-Jay Records), and ‘Till Your Love Is Mine’ for Sharp. A year later the dramatic early soul of ‘I Will Cry’ was released on Everlast. In the mid-60s, ‘That’s When The Crying Begins’ was Anderson’s sole ABC Records single, while ‘Here Am I’ appeared on Tomorrow. His marginally better-known material was issued on Checker Records in the second half of the decade. The first release was the southern country soul ‘Woman How Do You Make Me Love You’, leased from True Spot. Anderson’s next Checker release, ‘Without A Woman’, a Quin Ivy / Dan Penn song recorded at Rick Hall’s legendary ‘Fame’ studio, and the follow-up, ‘A Knife And A Fork’, were as good as any of the deep soul ever recorded there.

Lack of promotion by the Checker label caused Anderson to move to the Nashville-based Excello Records where he cut three more fine singles, ‘You’ll Lose A Good Thing’, ‘Letter From My Darling’, and ‘I Went Off And Cried’, all still in the emotional southern soul mould. There followed an alleged flirtation with Lelan Rogers’ House Of Fox Label and a rare cut in 1973 for Ala, before Anderson faded from view until the 90s, when he re-emerged on Ichiban Records, recording two credible albums, the latter named after one of his old Checker sides.

Kip Anderson died in Anderson, South Carolina, in August 2007, at the age of 69.