Bubbling Under: Valerie Carter- "Ooh Child"

This week I take a look at 70's singer-songwriter Valerie Carter

Welcome to Bubbling Under. Each week I cover a musical artist who charted outside Billboard’s Hot 100. This week: Valerie Carter.

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Everyone has a song that’s comforting to them when they’re going through a rough patch. One of my all-time favourite songs would have to be “Ooh Child” by The Five Stairsteps. It’s also my comfort song. When I’m going through stuff, it helps me cope.

I’m aware of Valerie Carter as a music fan and avid reader of music-related items because her name tends to pop up from time to time. I’m not overly familiar with her version of “Ooh Child”. One night while going through the list used for these posts, I saw it listed as Bubbling Under at #103 in April 1977 and decided to tackle it.

I don’t hate this, but nothing will ever top the Five Stairsteps version. So, who was Valerie Carter?

Valerie Carter’s story starts with a folk rock band called Howdy Moon. Carter was a member of this band who recorded one album in 1974 on A&M Records. A couple of promo singles were released for the tracks “Nora Lee” and “Cook With Honey”. The latter track, which Carter wrote, had already given her some exposure as a songwriter. Popular folk singer Judy Collins had a hit with it before the Howdy Moon album was released.

During the Howdy Moon period of her career, Carter became friends with Lowell George of the band Little Feat. He was one of the producers on her 1977 solo debut, the other two being Maurice White of Earth, Wind, & Fire, and George Massenberg.

Just A Stone’s Throw Away was well-received by critics. Carter toured with The Eagles in Europe, and “Ooh Child” was featured in Matt Dillon’s film debut Over The Edge. I’ve never seen said film and should probably rectify that at some point.

Despite Carter’s second album Wild Child not being as acclaimed critically as her debut, it’s more widely available on streaming services. “Da Doo Rendezvous” was the album’s single, though pockets of Europe went with album opener “Crazy”. The UK even took a chance on a second single with “The Blue Side”

I think all three of these could have been hits. I’m not sure why they weren’t. Critics and her label seemed to be giving Carter their full support.

Carter also dabbled in voice work when under the alias of “Laurel Runn” she lent her voice and singing talents to Nelvana’s 1978 animated special The Devil and Daniel Mouse:

I don’t know the extent of Carter’s problems so I’d rather not get into that here. I do know that she failed to follow these two albums up until 1996.

Carter did release a pair of duets in 1980 with fellow Columbia Records artists Eddie Money and Al Kooper.

The former duet peaked at #65 in 1980:

Two of Carter’s friends, Jackson Browne and Steve Winwood, also had hits of their own with songs about her. Browne with “That Girl Could Sing” and Winwood with the 80’s classic “Valerie” which some people might know best as the main sample to Eric Prydz’ 2004 dance smash “Call On Me”.

Carter continued to perform with other artists. Her website lists Browne, Neil Diamond, and Nicolette Larson as some of the artists she worked with between 1980-1996. Here’s Carter performing with Linda Ronstadt in 1995:

She also released another duet, this time with soap opera star Jack Wagner on his 1986 single “Love Can Take Us All The Way”. This got Carter on Soul Train:

Eventually, a third album, The Way It Is was released in 1996. Some of the artists that she’d worked with such as Ronstadt and James Taylor also appeared on this album. Here’s her cover of “That’s The Way Of The World”:

Carter continued working as a backing vocalist for other artists into the 2000s. Her life became more complicated in the years leading up to her death. In 2009, she was arrested in Florida for drug possession. There was mention of James Taylor showing up at her drug court graduation ceremony.

In everything I’ve read researching Carter for this post, one thing seemed to stand out. The famous performers she worked with always seemed to have her back. That last anecdote about Taylor, Linda Ronstadt having Carter (by this time a backing vocalist) come out and do a number with her, the number of people she’d worked with who appeared on her independent third album. That made me happy for her.

Unfortunately, Carter’s life was cut all too short at the early age of 64 when she passed away from a heart attack on March 4, 2017.

Some lost recordings have surfaced since that time. In 2018, the first of two volumes of lost Valerie Carter recordings was released. This was followed by a second volume in 2022 that included a solo version of “Cook With Honey”.

Last year, with permission from her estate, the Farragher Brothers put together a version of their track “Never Get Your Love Behind Me” that Carter had recorded an unreleased demo for in the 1970’s to create a duet. There’s no doubt that Carter’s work will live on.

Next Week: Beyond The Guess Who returns with 80’s duo Roman Grey and the solo career of former Platinum Blonde member Kenny MacLean.