Roosevelt Nettles

Louisiana native Roosevelt Nettles walked away from a promising recording/entertaining career more than 30 years ago and doesn't really know why. He grew up in New Orleans with seven siblings and sung professionally as a teenager in Mobile, AL, (where his late brother Willie Roy resided); he assembled and blew notes with the Flames, a doo wop group, before joining the Air Force in 1958 where he formed another non-recording group of doo woppers, the Enchanters. A member of Special Forces, Nettles received orders to go to an Air Force base in Chandler, AZ, then a base near Phoenix. He fell in love with Arizona and made it home after his military duties ended in 1962. In Phoenix he sung in bars, i.e. Stage Seven took on a manager and cut a demo his manager wrote that never got exposed. An introduction to DJ Lucky Lawrence got him the opportunity to cut "Mathilda" (originally by Cookie & the Cupcakes) for Mascot Records that Chess Records purchased and reissued after the song, whose flip was "Drifting Heart," made some noise in Louisiana. Nettles and Chess couldn't agree on a follow-up and that association ended; he then cut a single on Felstad Records -- where the Flares' cut "Foot Stompin' Time" -- entitled "Gotcha on My Mind." His last effort dropped on Capitol Records "You've Let a Fortune Go" b/w "Sorry for Me"; a couple more sides were recorded but shelved. He steadily performed in the Southwest area opening for Ike & Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, and the Righteous Brothers until he shut it down in 1966. He still resides in the Phoenix area where he works as a Chef (a skill he learned in the service) at eateries like the Highway House, Max's, the Bullpen, Tommy Copa's West, and Ice in Scottsdale. ~ Andrew Hamilton