Ann Peebles had one of the most distinctive voices in Memphis soul and one of the biggest hits of the 1970s, then stepped away from the industry at the height of the disco era to prioritize her family. Born Ann Lee Peebles on April 27, 1947, in Kinloch, Missouri, the seventh of eleven children, she learned to sing in her father's church with the family's group, the Peebles Choir, which opened shows for Mahalia Jackson and the Soul Stirrers. By the mid-1960s she was working the St. Louis club circuit with bandleader Oliver Sain, and a 1968 visit to Memphis led trumpeter Gene 'Bowlegs' Miller to introduce her to producer Willie Mitchell at Hi Records, who signed her almost immediately.

This episode traces her run of hits with the Hi Rhythm Section and the Memphis Horns, from the 1969 debut single Walk Away and the top-ten cover of Part Time L ...