Here’s a slice of rare soul from Betty Moorer, finally finding some success in the Sixties, a decade after starting her first group.
Betty began singing in The Esquires – an R&B trio with her brothers Gilbert and Alvis – in 1957. Their break came when they moved from Milwaukee to Chicago to audition for Curtis Mayfield.

That didn’t work out so Betty went solo, while the brothers recruited two more singers and became a vocal quartet.

It worked out well – both Betty and her brothers had hit singles the same year they moved to the Windy City.

She achieved minor success with this song, Speed Up – also covered in 1969 by The Impalas who tweaked it with a sweet falsetto vocal.

Meanwhile her brothers, by now a quintet recording for Bill ‘Bunky’ Sheppard’s label, had their own first hit with Get On Up.

The future looked bright… but they never matched that success and those records turned out to be the high point of both their careers.