Evie Sands

Evie Sands Biography by Fred Thomas Any Way That You Want Me As a vocalist, a songwriter, a producer, and a nimble instrumentalist, Evie Sands' musical time line has been consistently evolving since she started out in the early '60s. During the girl group era, Sands recorded several singles for Blue Cat and Cameo that showcased her yearning blue-eyed soul vocal style. Throughout the '70s, she transitioned into the roles of both singer/songwriter and producer, keeping her soulful essence on her 1970 debut album, Any Way That You Want Me, and subsequent efforts. As the years went on, Sands' songwriting gifts were recognized not only by new generations of fans but other artists as well, with her tunes being covered by Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, Beck, Beth Orton, and many others. Sands briefly retired from performance in the '80s to focus on writing and production, but she ultimately returned to the studio and the stage, continuing to release new material like her stylistically fluid 2020 album, Get Out of Your Own Way. Evie Sands was born in Brooklyn, New York. Enamored with music from the start, she was singing and learning guitar and keyboards early in life and recording her first publicly shared songs by her teenage years. After releasing early singles "The Roll" b/w "My Dog" in 1963 and "Danny Boy I Love You So" b/w "I Was Moved" in 1964, Sands worked with the songwriting/production team of Chip Taylor and Al Gorgoni on several electrified Northern Soul tunes that got her music career in motion. Among these, "Take Me for a Little While" (released on the Blue Cat subsidiary label of Red Bird Records) cracked the Billboard charts, setting the scene for singles that followed shortly thereafter like "I Can't Let Go" (which was also a hit for the Hollies) and Sands' 1967 rendition of "Angel of the Morning." During this time, she made regular television appearances and was revered by other artists for her intuitive musicianship and captivating artistic presence, with stars like Johnny Cash and Dusty Springfield both publicly singing her praises. Late-'60s tunes like "Picture Me Gone" and "Billy Sunshine" became instant Northern soul classics, but Sands scored her first enormous hit with the 1969 track "Any Way That You Want Me." The song remained on the singles chart for 17 weeks, eventually peaking at the number 53 position and selling around half a million copies. Estate of Mind The next year, Sands released her debut full-length on A&M, also entitled Any Way That You Want Me. The album kept Sands' blue-eyed soul roots at its foundation, but also ventured into lush orchestral arrangements and slightly dreamier instrumentation than her earlier singles. The set also included "It's This I Am," a song penned by Sands herself that marked the beginnings of her focus on songwriting. 1974's Estate of Mind featured a wealth of songs written by Sands, and it yielded two major hits with "I Love Makin' Love to You" and "You Brought the Woman Out of Me." With the release her self-produced 1979 album Suspended Animation, Sands moved into a phase where she was focusing on songwriting and production more than public performance. At that point, it had become commonplace for other artists to cover her songs, with Sands originals providing inspiration for renditions by Dobie Gray, Cher and Gregg Allman, Gladys Knight, Barbra Streisand, and many others. Women in Prison After some time away from live performance, Sands returned to the stage in 1996 when she went to see Chip Taylor perform at a club gig and he asked her to perform with him. This, along with a surge of interest in Sands' back catalog from a new generation of listeners, sparked a new wave of output. Sands reunited with Taylor and Gorgoni to record 1999 album Women in Prison. The album spawned multiple European hits, including "Cool Blues Story," a duet with Lucinda Williams. A tour in support of the album ensued, with dates in Europe and the States. Several of Sands' albums were re-released in the mid-2000s, and she spent some time around then playing lead guitar in Los Angeles group Adam Marsland's Chaos Band. In 2014, Sands and Billy Vera released the collaborative album Queen of Diamonds/Jack of Hearts, a collection of their interpretations of Chip Taylor compositions. The album included a live bonus track of "Take Me for a Little While" that Sands recorded on-stage with Belle and Sebastian. In 2017, she issued the mini-album Shine for Me. The self-produced release came out on Sands' own R-Spot Records label and was supported by live dates in the Northeast and on the West Coast. Three years later, she returned with Get Out of Your Own Way, her first solo full-length album in nearly 20 years. Again self-produced and self-released, the record incorporated numerous aspects of Sands' multifaceted musical personality, from her unique, left-handed lead guitar style to her mystical and soul-fused vocal performances. Both Shine for Me and Get Out of Your Own Way were made with Sands' longtime bandmates Teresa Cowles, Jason Berk, and Eric Vesper, and Get Out of Your Own Way included vocal contributions from Isobel Campbell and ex-Translator member Willie Aron on its lead single, "If You Give Up."