Ruby Andrews, Chicago soul legend, dies at 79

Soul music legend Ruby Andrews has passed away at the age of 79. Born Ruby Stackhouse in Hollandale, Mississippi, in 1947, she later moved to Chicago, where she began her professional singing career while still in high school.

Andrews achieved her major breakthrough in 1967 with the single ‘Casonova (Your Playing Days Are Over)’ on Chicago’s Zodiac Records. The track reached number 9 on the R&B charts and number 51 on the pop charts. She followed this success with several notable hits, including the 1969 R&B Top 20 single ‘You Made a Believer (Out of Me)’ and the 1970 Top 40 hit ‘Everybody Saw You’.

Throughout her career, she worked closely with the Detroit-based production team known as the Brothers of Soul. In later decades, she recorded blues-influenced material for the Ichiban label, produced by Swamp Dogg. Her final studio album, ‘Hip Shakin Mama’, was released in 1998.