Little Beaver

by Ed HoganBorn William Hale on August 15, 1945, in Forrest City, AR, Little Beaver moved to Florida when he was a teenager. After recording for other labels, he recorded sides for the Cat label, an imprint of Henry Stone's TK Records of Hialeah, FL. His first charting singles were "Joey" and "Wish I Had a Girl Like You" b/w "Six Foot Hole." The next single, the hit "Party Down, Part 1," was later sampled by rap and hip-hop artists, like so much of the TK catalog. The mid-tempo groover was his biggest record. The Party Down LP featured vocals by Betty Wright and keyboards by Benny Lattimore ("Let's Straighten It Out") and Timmy Thomas ("Why Can't We Live Together"). Post-"Party Down" singles were "Let the Good Times Roll" b/w "Let's Stick Together," both on the Party Down LP; "Little Girl Blue"; "I Can Dig It Baby" (co-written by Hale, Betty Wright, and Willie Clarke) b/w "Get Into the Party Life"; "Give a Helping Hand" b/w "Mama Forgo"; "Funkadelic Sound"; and "We Three." Other Little Beaver albums are Little Beaver, Black Rhapsody, When Was the Last Time, and Beaver Fever, which was credited to Willie "Beaver" Hale (all were released on Cat).