Arthur Conley
Arthur Conley, aka Lee Roberts (Photo: Public Domain)

Everyone recognizes the 1967 mega hit “Sweet Soul Music” but many people know nothing about the man behind the music. Or that he was gay. 

Arthur Conley was born on January 4, 1946, in McIntosh County, Georgia. He grew up in Atlanta. Showing vocal talent from a young age, he sang in his church and was included in an all-girl gospel group—The Evening Smiles—until his voice dropped.

In 1959, at the age of 13, he became the lead singer of Arthur and the Corvettes. They released a handful of singles on the Atlanta-based record label, NRC Records, between 1963 and 1964, but the songs failed to chart. 

In 1964, Conley also recorded a solo single, “I’m A Lonely Stranger” on Ru-Jac, a small Baltimore, Maryland label. Ru-Jac’s founder, Rufus Mitchell, passed it on to soul legend Otis Redding. 

Redding was looking for acts for his own fledgling label, and Conley’s voice blew him away. He invited him to record a new version of the song at STAX studios, and in 1965, “I’m A Stranger” became the second release on Redding’s Jotis Records. 

Otis Redding and Sam Cooke

Redding and Conley didn’t meet in person until 1967. They headed to FAME Studios in Alabama and worked on a reworked version of a Sam Cooke song called “Yeah Man.” 

They added new lyrics, with Conley name-checking some iconic soul legends, such as Lou Rawls and James Brown.

It was Conley who insisted on adding Otis’ name to the mix. They also added a brass fanfare intro, which bears more than a passing resemblance to Elmer Bernstein’s theme tune from The Magnificent Seven. 

The song, clocking in at just two minutes and 20 seconds, proved a hit, reaching No. 2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard R&B charts. 

Sam Cooke died in 1964, but the late singer’s estate did not take kindly to the fact Redding and Conley were listed as sole co-writers of “Sweet Soul Music.” Cooke’s late business partner successfully sued and Cooke’s name was added to the credits.

Conley recorded a couple more songs with Redding, but then tragedy struck. On 10 December 1967, on a flight to a concert in Wisconsin, Redding was killed in a private plane crash, alongside five others.

Conley struggled to repeat the alchemy he’d found with Redding. He worked with a succession of songwriters and producers, but the results were mixed. He enjoyed another hit with “Funky Street,” and recorded a cover of the Beatles’ track “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.” The b-side was a tribute he wrote for Redding, called “Otis Sleep On.” The single went to number 51 on the Billboard chart in 1969. 

That same year, Conley also took Redding’s place for a one-off single from supergroup Soul Clan, singing alongside Ben E. King, Joe Tex, and Solomon Burke. He also joined the band for a successful European tour. 

Relocating to Europe

However, Conley’s hits dried up in the early 1970s. In 1975, he moved to London. He found the city too expensive and later moved to Brussels in Belgium. In 1980, he moved to Amsterdam and changed his name to Lee Roberts. (Lee was his middle name and Roberts was his mother’s maiden name.) 

At that time, Amsterdam was the most progressive place in Europe in regard to gay rights. Ed Ward wrote for NPR in 2014, “At last Conley was able to live in peace with a secret he’d hidden — or thought he had — for his entire career — he was gay. But nobody in Holland cared.”

There are reports Conley met the love of his life in Amsterdam in 1981: a Dutch carpet weaver who had no idea who he was. Some observers believe Conley’s sexuality held back his career in the U.S., where soul music was dominated by some macho male figures. 

Despite reinventing himself, Conley still loved to sing. He briefly worked with a band called The Sweaters. A live album, Robert Lee and The Sweaters, was recorded in 1988. It featured Conley singing a selection of soul classics (but none of his own), to an enraptured, excited crowd. Many suspected they were witnessing an iconic soul singer, even if “Lee” refused to confirm he was actually Conley at the time.

The Sweaters were short-lived and Conley moved on to other music business activities. In the 90s, he promoted a heavy metal band from the Hague called Shockwave. 

“Sweet Soul Music” lives on

In the late 1990s, Conley moved from Amsterdam to a small town on the Netherlands-German border called Ruurlo. On November 17, 2003, he died, aged 57, following a battle with intestinal cancer. 

All these years later, “Sweet Soul Music” lives on. It’s been covered by such legendary acts as Ike and Tina Turner, and Sam and Dave (themselves namechecked in the original lyrics). Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band performed a version during Springsteen’s ‘Tunnel of Love’ tour in 1988. 

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