A soul vocalist who came from a family of gospel singers,
Pat (P.P.) Arnold began singing as a four-year-old. She got her start backing
Bobby Day before being invited to join
the Ikettes, backing
Ike and Tina Turner.
Arnold toured with them in the '60s, including one stint with
the Rolling Stones.
Mick Jagger persuaded her to remain in London, and she later recorded for the Immediate label (then run by
the Stones' manager
Andrew Loog Oldham).
Loog Oldham,
Jagger, and
Mike Hurst produced
Arnold's debut LP,
The First Lady of Immediate, in 1967, which included the single "The First Cut Is the Deepest," which was written by
Cat Stevens and later popularized by
Rod Stewart.
Arnold also had moderate success with the singles "The Time Has Come," "(If You Think) You're Groovy," and "Angel in the Morning" in the late '60s, though they were hits in England and Europe rather than America.
Arnold was part of the cast for the play Catch My Soul in 1969, and subsequently acted in the television shows Fame and Knots Landing, plus
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express.
Arnold re-entered the music world in the mid-'80s. She sang lead on a
Boy George song for the film Electric Dreams in 1984 while on 10 Records. She worked with
Dexter Wansel and
Loose Ends on the single "A Little Pain," which she recorded as
Pat Arnold. She then had another English hit with the single "Burn It Up" on the Rhythm King label.
The Beatmasters later produced her song "Dynamite."
–
Ron Wynn, Rovi