Reaching the Top 40

Little Milton appears on the first episode of “The!!!!Beat”, a wonderful R&B TV show recorded at WFAA in Dallas in 1966. Host and prime creative force of the show was Nashville disc jockey Bill “Hoss” Allen. It aired in syndication for 26 episodes in 1966 and featured a house band led by Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown.

Following a short break to tour, managing other acts, and spending time recording new material, he returned to music in 1965 with a more polished sound, similar to that of B.B. King. After the ill-received “Blind Man” (R&B: #86), he released back-to-back hit singles. The first, “We’re Gonna Make It,” a blues-infused soul song, topped the R&B chart and broke through onto Top 40 radio, a format then dominated largely by white artists. He followed the song with #4 R&B hit “Who’s Cheating Who?” All three songs were featured on his album, We’re Gonna Make It, released that summer. Throughout the late 1960s Milton released a number of moderately successful singles.

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