10 Facts About Barbara Acklin

Barbara Jean Acklin was an American soul singer and songwriter, who was most successful in the 1960s and 1970s.

Barbara Acklin's biggest hit as a singer was "Love Makes a Woman".

Barbara Acklin was encouraged to sing as a child; by the age of 11, she sang regularly as a soloist at the New Zion Baptist Church and as a teenager started singing at nightclubs in Chicago.

Barbara Acklin worked as a backing singer at Chess Records on recordings by Fontella Bass, Etta James, Koko Taylor, and others produced by Higgins.

Barbara Acklin began writing songs with another Brunswick recording artist, Eugene Record, lead singer of the Chi-Lites; some but not all sources state that they were later married.

The instrumental backing track of "Am I the Same Girl", with piano replacing Barbara Acklin's vocal, became a bigger hit when released as "Soulful Strut" by Young-Holt Unlimited.

Barbara Acklin released several albums on the Brunswick label: Love Makes a Woman, Seven Days of Night, Someone Else's Arms, I Did It, and I Call It Trouble.

Barbara Acklin continued to tour as a solo artist and as a backing singer for the Chi-Lites, Tyrone Davis, and other acts.

Barbara Acklin had begun recording a new album in 1998, when she fell ill and died from pneumonia at the age of 55 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Barbara Acklin was survived by her son, Marcus White, her daughter, Samotta Acklin, and her godson, Elliot Myrick.