Mr. Clean

The fertile Baltimore/Washington D.C. R&B scene spawned Winfield Parker, whose recording career goes back to 1959, when he was one of the saxists in Sammy Fitzhugh & the Moroccans on their "Linda Baby." The band subsequently recorded for Atco before Winfield set out on his own. Powerful Baltimore agent Rufus Mitchell heard Parker in Annapolis and convinced him to concentrate on singing rather than his horn. Parker cut his first single, "My Love For You," for Mitchell and Jack Brown's Ru-Jac label in 1963. In all, Winfield made nine 45s for Ru-Jac, including "Rockin' In The Barnyard," "Sweet Little Girl," and "Mr. Clean," before he moved over to Philly deejay Jimmy Bishop's Arctic logo in 1969 for the horn-driven funk workout "Shake That Thing." More Bishop-produced singles for Scepter, Spring (where he charted with a remake of Edwin Starr's "S.O.S."), and GSF followed during the early '70s.

By Bill Dahl

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