Deborah Manning

Deborah Manning could've/should've been a gospel Cinderella. She got an early break as a young teenager, participating in the chorus of the Bar-Kays 1967 single "Soul Finger." Three years after that, she was discovered by Isaac Hayes and Al Bell as an undergraduate at Memphis State University, singing in a 1970 theatrical piece entitled An Evening of Soul -- her repertory included no less a mountain to climb than Sam Cooke's monumental "A Change Is Gonna Come." Her work was good enough to get her a spot working at Stax Records in preparation for a recording career, and she end...