Born Fay Tuell, 1923, Newark, New Jersey Fay began her career at age five with two older siblings in the Tuell Sisters gospel group, regular...
Born Fay Tuell, 1923, Newark, New Jersey Fay began her career at age five with two older siblings in the Tuell Sisters gospel group, regularly appearing on Newark broadcasts. In 1942 she married Tommy Scruggs, under whose influence she moved into the direction of secular music. By the early 1950s she was a staple of the NYC nightclub circuit. Fay Scruggs was very determined to become a successful singer. For years she haunted the corridors of the office buildings housing the many small record companies and song publishers in New York City. It was Ruth Brown who spotted her while performing in Atlanta and Ruth's encouragement led to an audition for promoter Phil Moore in his Carnegie Hall office. Moore immediately became her manager, changed her name to the more theatrical "Faye Adams", and introduced her to Joe Morris, a popular rhythm and blues bandleader, who led a successful touring company known as the "Joe Morris Blues Cavalcade". The Cavalcade's previous featured singer, Laurie Tate, had recently resigned to raise a family and Faye was hired as her replacement. Morris was contracted to Atlantic and recorded one session with Faye for that label in late 1952. The resulting single, the novelty "That's What Makes My Baby Fat", went nowhere, but, undaunted, Morris felt he had the perfect song for Faye to record, his own composition "Shake A Hand". His Atlantic contract had expired and Morris signed with another NYC independent, Herald Records. The first Herald release by ... Less
