Another legendary Northern Soul smash, that we filmed for The Strange World Of Northern Soul, from Detroit wonderboy Little Carl Carlton, recorded when he was a teenager originally. Detroiter Carl Carlton first began recording as Little Carl Carlton in the late 1960's. First for Lando records with "I Love True Love" and then "Competition Ain't Nothing" for Back Beat records. Carlton scored minor chart hits for Back Beat with "46 Drums - 1 Guitar," "Oh Mary How I Got Over," "I Can Feel It" and "Drop By My Place," which broke the R&B Top 20 and the pop Top 40. After Back Beat was sold to ABC records in 1972 Carlton's first release for his new label was "I Wanna Be Your Main Squeeze." The b-side was given a 'disco-remix' and re-released as a 1974 single "Everlasting Love" garnered him a Top Ten pop hit and the album produced two more singles "Morning, Noon and Night" and his second pop hit, a cover of Rufus' "Smokin' Room." 1975 saw Carlton travelling to Philadelphia to work with producer/songwriter Bunny Sigler. Though the album credits the backing musicians as MFSB, the core rhythm section is Instant Funk, which was a part of MFSB and scored a million-seller four years later with "I Got My Mind Made Up." The resulting album, "I Wanna Be With You," is generally regarded as one of Carlton's best albums. Despite the release of three singles, "Ain't Been No One Before You" (released January 1976), "Ain't Gonna Tell Nobody (About You) (charted the summer of 1976), and "Live For Today, Not for Tomorrow" (released late winter 1976), the album failed to sell or chart. Many believed that it had to do with the royalty dispute that Carlton was involved in with ABC at the time. For a year and a half, Carlton had to wait until his contract with ABC lapsed until he could do anymore recording. He resurfaced in late 1977 with a Mercury single, "You You," a lovely lush ballad produced by the Dramatics' L.J. Reynolds along with the group's musical director John Brinson. The next few years he made numerous appearances around the Detroit area looking for a new contract and a chance to record. In 1979 old friend Leon Haywood brought Carlton to California and landed him a deal with his label 20th Century Fox records. Haywood produced Carl's first 12" single "This Feeling's Rated X-tra," which charted in 1980. His next 12" single, "She's A Bad Mama Jama" earned Carlton a gold record in 1981, staying at number two for eight weeks straight. An album, "Carl Carlton," was released which went gold also. Such success afforded Carlton the opportunity to appear on such top-rated TV shows as Solid Gold, Soul Train, and American Bandstand and to tour major venues doing some dates with Rick James. A second 12" single of "Sexy Lady" failed to chart in late 1981 and the label soon folded. His next album was "The Bad CC" (RCA), which included a catchy synth-heavy cover of the Four Tops' "Baby I Need Your Loving." The 1982 12" single brought him to a larger audience than his previous club hits but failed to receive the radio action it deserved. 1986 saw the release of Carlton's sixth album, "Private Property" (Casablanca). It is safe to say that Carlton wanted and needed a hit. So one can probably excuse the title track and first 12" single for being a "Mama Jama" clone. It did the trick, landing in the upper half of the R&B charts. The same can be said for the follow-up, "Slipped, Tripped and Fell in Love." Dropped from the Casablanca roster, Carlton started working with Leon Haywood again in 1994, releasing a single, "Rock N Roll" b/w "Main Event." An album. "Main Event" was also released later that year but neither failed to bring him back to the charts. We filmed him in Detroit in early 1999, and re-recorded "Competition Ain't Nothing".