Monk Higgins – ‘Three Hoods’ – Sheba Baby OST 1975

Monk Higgins is best known for the R&B hit instrumentals “Who Dun It” and “Gotta Be Funky.” The prolific Higgins also wrote a slew of songs for others including Bobby Bland and one of the Chi-Lites’ first singles, “Go Go Gorilla.” A mainstay of the Chicago R&B/soul music scene, he was a producer/arranger/session player at Chess Records during the ’60s. Higgins also worked with Three Sounds, Blue Mitchell, Junior Wells, Gene Harris, Muddy Waters, Freddy Robinson, and Etta James, among others. The saxman was born Milton Bland in Menifee, AR, on October 17, 1936. After moving to Chicago, Higgins started doing sides for George Lerner’s One-Derful Records. Later, he began recording for St. Lawrence Records. One of his instrumentals for the label, the cool, funky “Who Dun It,” hit number 30 R&B during the summer of 1966. The flip side was the melancholy past-midnight ballad “These Days Are Filled With You.” While at St. Lawrence, he hired his cousin Barbara Acklin as a secretary. Higgins recorded a single on her under the name Barbara Allen for his Special Agent label. Later, Higgins used Acklin as a background singer on his Chess Records sessions. Acklin later hit as a recording artist in the summer of 1968 with “Love Makes a Woman.” In 1969, Higgins moved to Los Angeles. He arranged and produced acts for United Artists Records, Imperial, and Minit. The multi-talented sax player recorded a few albums for United Artists. The LP Heavyweight (August 1972) included his biggest hit …