{{short description|American singer}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Tina Britt | image = | caption = | image_size = | birth_name = Marion L. Brittingham | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1938|7|5}} | birth_place = Smyrna, Delaware, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | genre = R&B, soul | occupation = Singer, songwriter | years_active = 1959–1970, 2012 | label = Eastern, Veep, Minit | associated_acts = Juggy Murray | website = | current_members = | past_members = }} '''Tina Britt''' (born '''Marion Brittingham'''; July 5, 1938) is an American R&B singer who had two hits on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart in the 1960s. She released one album ''Blue All The Way,'' and six 45s between 1965 and 1970.
==Life and career==
Tina Britt was born in Smyrna, Delaware, and raised in Florida and Philadelphia.<ref name=Basement>{{cite journal |last1=Cole |first1=David |title=Tina Britt: The Real Thing |journal=In the Basement, Brighton, UK |date=Autumn 2009 |issue=55 |pages=39–41 |url=http://www.thesoulbasement.com/Site/_the_Soul_Basement_.html |access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref> She had a peripatetic life travelling with her father, and started singing as a teenager at the First Missionary Baptist Church in Sanford, Florida.<ref name=Basement/> While working in New York in 1965 she was introduced to Henry 'Juggy' Murray who offered her the chance to record secular rhythm and blues<ref name=-liner>[http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=986031 Liner notes, ''Blue All The Way'']</ref> for the Eastern record label, a subsidiary of the Sue label.<ref name=kinda>[http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/tbritt.htm Tina Britt Discography, ''SoulfulKindaMusic'']. Retrieved 8 October 2014</ref> Her first single, a version of "The Real Thing" written by Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, and Jo Armstead,<ref name="musicvf">[http://www.musicvf.com/songs.php?page=artist&artist=Nickolas+Ashford&tab=songaswriterchartstab Songs written by Nickolas Ashford, ''MusicVF.com'']. Retrieved 8 September 2014</ref> but originally credited to their publisher Ed Silvers,<ref>[http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=1781838 "The Real Thing", ''Discogs.com'']. Retrieved 8 October 2014</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20141008090516/https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/spectropop/conversations/topics/45903 "The Real Thing: The Songs of Ashford, Simpson and Armstead", ''Spectacular! Retro! Pop!'']. Retrieved 8 October 2014</ref> reached No. 20 on the R&B chart.<ref name="whitburnr&b">{{cite book |title= Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–1995|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=1996 |publisher=Record Research |page=46}}</ref>
The session that produced "The Real Thing" also gave up the follow-up single "You're Absolutely Right", another Ashford-Simpson-Armstead song and "Look", a side penned by Sidney Barnes and J.J.Jackson.<ref name=Basement/> Competition came from a version by the Apollas on the Loma label and sales were split, resulting in a chart miss for both.<ref name=Basement/> It would be three years before her next releases for the Veep label, a subsidiary of United Artists Records, in 1968. They released two singles, "Who Was That", which reached No. 39 on the R&B chart,<ref name="whitburnr&b"/> and a revival of Don Covay's "Sookie, Sookie." Both records were produced by Juggy Murray.
Veep Records ceased in 1969 resulting in Britt being transferred to Minit Records, a subsidiary of the newly acquired Liberty Records.<ref name=Basement/> They released her only album, the Murray produced ''Blue All The Way''.<ref name=discogs>[http://www.discogs.com/artist/323538-Tina-Britt Tina Britt Discography, ''Discogs.com'']. Retrieved 8 October 2014</ref> However, her only single for Minit, a cover of Otis Redding's ''Hawg For You'', failed to chart. Aside from occasional session work as a background vocalist, notably for Wilbert Harrison's album ''Let's Work Together'', her recording career had ended by 1970, and Britt left the recording industry soon afterwards.<ref name=kinda/><ref name=Basement/> Her later life centred around raising her children. In autumn 2009, when interviewed by ''In The Basement'' magazine, she was living in Philadelphia.<ref name=Basement/> In 2012, she released a new download single, "Play It Back."<ref>[https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/tinabritt Tina Britt, "Play It Back", ''CDBaby.com'']. Retrieved 24 February 2019</ref>
Her singles were compiled, with other previously unreleased tracks, on the 2006 CD ''Blue All the Way ...plus''.<ref name=super>[http://supersoulsisters.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/tina-britt-blue-all-way-plus-1965-69.html "Tina Britt: Blue All the Way ...plus", ''Classic and Rare Soul Sisters 50s–70s'', 7 May 2009]. Retrieved 8 October 2014</ref>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Britt, Tina}} Category:20th-century African-American women singers Category:American soul singers Category:1938 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American singers Category:Singers from Philadelphia Category:20th-century American women singers Category:Minit Records artists Category:21st-century African-American musicians Category:21st-century African-American women singers