Little Beaver

Blessed William Hale on August 15, 1945, in Forrest Town, AR, Small Beaver moved to Florida when he was an adolescent. After documenting for other brands, he recorded edges for the Kitty label, an imprint of Henry Stone’s TK Information of Hialeah, FL. His initial charting singles had been “Joey” and “Desire I Had a woman AS IF YOU” b/w “Six Feet Hole.” Another single, the strike “Party Down, Component 1,” was afterwards sampled by rap and hip-hop performers, like so a lot of the TK catalog. The mid-tempo groover was his biggest record. The Party Down LP highlighted vocals by Betty Wright and keyboards by Benny Lattimore (“Let’s Straighten It Out”) and Timmy Thomas (“Why Can’t We Live Jointly”). Post-“Party Down” singles had been “Allow Good Times Move” b/w “Let’s Stay Jointly,” both over the Party Down LP; “LITTTLE LADY Blue”; “I COULD Drill down It Baby” (co-written by Hale, Betty Wright, and Willie Clarke) b/w “ENTER the Party Lifestyle”; “Provide a Assisting Hands” b/w “Mama Forgo”; “Funkadelic Sound”; and “We Three.” Various other Small Beaver albums are Small Beaver, Dark Rhapsody, When Was the Last Period, and Beaver Fever, that was acknowledged to Willie “Beaver” Hale (all had been released on Kitty).