Brenton Wooden (born Alfred Jesse Smith, July 26, 1941, Shreveport, Louisiana) is an American singer and songwriter identified for his two 1967 hit singles, “The Oogum Boogum Music” and “Gimme Little Signal”.
The household moved to San Pedro in Los Angeles, California when Wooden was a baby. He attended San Pedro Excessive College for a part of his freshman 12 months earlier than transferring to Compton, the place Brenton turned a member of the Compton Excessive College monitor staff and obtained a number of awards for his athletic achievements.
Following his highschool commencement, Wooden enrolled in East Los Angeles Faculty. Quickly after, he took the stage identify Brenton Wooden, presumably impressed by the rich Los Angeles enclave of Brentwood (some sources state that the identify is in honor of his “house county”), with a second potential connection of Bretton Woods. Throughout this era, his musical pursuits started to manifest themselves. He was impressed by Jesse Belvin and Sam Cooke, and he started cultivating his songwriting expertise, additionally changing into a reliable pianist.
Early singles for Brent Information and Wand Information did not chart. Wooden signed with Double Shot Information, and his “The Oogum Boogum Music” reached #19 on the US Billboard R&B chart and #34 on the Billboard Scorching 100 within the spring of 1967. In Southern California, “The Oogum Boogum Music” hit the highest 10 on KGB-FM and #1 on KHJ. Wooden’s largest hit got here a couple of months later, as “Gimme Little Signal” hit #9 on the pop chart, #19 on the R&B charts, #2 on KHJ, and #8 within the UK Singles Chart; bought over a million copies; and was awarded a gold disc. The title shouldn’t be truly sung within the tune; the refrain as an alternative repeats “Give Me Some Form of Signal.” Wooden’s “Child You Bought It” peaked at #34 on the Scorching 100 over the past week of 1967 and #3 on KHJ on 31 January 1968.
Wooden recorded a duet with Shirley Goodman. His subsequent tune to achieve the charts was “Come Softly to Me” in 1977.
He returned once more in 1986 with the album Out of the Woodwork, which included up to date rerecordings of his early hits, together with a number of new tracks, together with the one, “Soothe Me.”
His album This Love Is for Actual got here out in 2001. Amongst his later appearances was in 2006 on the Los Angeles public entry program Thee Mr. Duran Present, the place Wooden and his band carried out a number of of his hit singles. Wiki
