Soul Salute: Shorty Long

Today's SOUL SALUTE honors Shorty Long.

Frederick Earl "Shorty Long" was born May 20, 1940 in Birmingham Alabama and like many from Alabama moved to Detroit where he would record for the Motown organization to mild success through the mid 1960's.

One of his first recordings was in 1964 "Devil In a Blue Dress", a slow tempo song that did not chart nationally, a more uptempo recording by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels would find great success in 1966.

Here is Shorty Long's version.


Shorty Long's two biggest hit songs were his own compositions.

"Function At The Junction" from 1966


And his biggest hit, "Here Come the Judge" from 1968. Inspired by a comedy skit on the television show "Rowan & Martin's Laugh In"



What was unusual for Shorty Long is that at that time only he and Smokey Robinson were allowed to write and produce their own material which was something other artists with Motown had to fight for their own careers with the label going into the 1970's. But with Berry Gordy's tight grip on Motown's operation procedures, Shorty Long was also one of the Motown artists that didn't get a fair amount of promotional support from the company compared to Motown's more famous artists.

Tragically we lost Shorty Long when both he and a friend drowned in a boating accident in the Detroit River on June 29, 1969. He was only 29 years old.