Fred Hughes is an R&B singer. He was born in Arkansas, but moved to Compton, California. He first recorded while a student at Compton High School as a member of The Cymbals in 1962 , and worked as a member of a band, the Creators.
Hughes recorded for Vee-Jay Records in the 1960s before its demise, scoring a hit in 1965 with the singles "Oo Wee Baby, I Love You" (a Top 20 R&B hit and #23 Pop) and "You Can't Take it Away" (another Top 20 R&B hit, #96 pop).
Hughes signed with Brunswick Records in 1969 but scored no further pop hits, although two of his releases for the label made the R&B charts, "Baby Boy" at #25, and "I Understand" at #45. According to this website "http://www.
londonlee.com/2006/07/oo-wee.html" he still lives in Compton but has not been active in music since the 1970s.According to the website "http://freddiehughes.blogspot.com," Fred Hughes is often confused with Freddie Hughes, an Oakland, California recording artist, and Castlemont High School graduate.
The 1988 edition of Joel Whitburn's "Top R&B Singles" Billboard-based book lists releases by both artists together as if they were one artist, and AllMusic Guide's brief biography of Fred Hughes conflates the two artists, but it is worth noting that later editions of Whitburn's "Top Pop Singles" do separate the two artists as of the 1994 edition.
Freddie Hughes recorded "Send My Baby Back", which was also a top 20 R&B hit. On the strength of this hit, Wand Records released an album of the same name. Freddie Hughes recorded with several Oakland and Berkeley groups including the Melkeets, the Four Rivers, Music City Soul Brothers, the Casanova Two and he shared a producer, Lonnie Hewitt, with the Ballads.
He recorded "Send My Baby Back" on Lonnie Hewitt's Wee Records, and when the record became popular, it was leased to Wand. He also recorded "I Just Found Out" with Janus records. Freddie Hughes is still active in the music business and has a website: "http://www.
freddiehughes.com/"
