Best remembered for her number one R&B hit "Rockin' Chair" from 1975, Gwen McCrae was a gutsy Southern soul diva with a particular affinity for dance tracks. She was a vital part of the Miami-based T.K. Records stable, which laid a great deal of groundwork for the disco explosion. When the disco faded and McCrae's career suffered, she was embraced by the Northern soul community and continued to make records until suffering a stroke in 2012 that curtailed her career.
Born Gwen Mosley in Pensacola, Florida, in 1943, she grew up singing in her Pentecostal church and later discov...