Bertha Tillman

She was born Bertha Louise Tillman on 6/28/42 in Texas, and died San Diego on 5/31/93 aged 50. Oh My Angel was the first of two records released by her on Bob Shad's New York based Brent label, the other I Wish was released as by Bertha Tillman & The Killers on 7032. Bertha Tillman was working as a shop assistant in San Diego when she was discovered by Hank Blackman of J.J. Jackson and The Jackals. The group provided the background vocals for her evocative rendition of 'Oh My Angel', a song written by the lead singer of The Jackals, June Jackson. Starting the second week in March, the record (Brent 7029) got a lot of airplay in Seattle (as well as various cities in California) and went to #4 on the KAYO (Seattle-Tacoma, 1150 AM) survey for the week of 30 April 1962. Billboard does not appear to have noticed the record when it was released, but it entered the Hot 100 at #95 on the week of 5 May, and reached #61 on the week of 9 June. Inexplicably, the record did not make the Billboard R&B charts, and received little airplay in the East. After cutting one more record for Brent, Tillman went back to San Diego; she died in May of 1993.

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