Betty Harris’ The Lost Queen of New Orleans Soul features all of her classic deep soul, sister funk and northern soul songs recorded in New Orleans in the 1960s – all written, produced and arranged by the legendary Allen Toussaint, and featuring the cream of New Orleans musicians and the incredible Meters.

All of these singles featured here were released on Allen Toussaint and his business partner Marshall Sehorn’s local New Orleans label Sansu, widely distributed in the southern city but in only limited quantities elsewhere. As a consequence, Betty Harris’ music failed to achieve the commercial success of other New Orleans artists such as Lee Dorsey (who she recorded with) and The Meters (who backed her). And so at the end of the decade she stopped recording, retired from the music business to raise her family in Florida.

This is no reflection of the stunning musical quality of all these songs which encompass everything from southern soul, heavy funk, deep soul ballads and northern soul. Betty Harris has been a cornerstone of Soul Jazz Records’ New Orleans Funk and New Orleans Soul compilations.

Always soulful and always funky, Betty Harris’ music contains the essence of New Orleans music. She is the Lost Soul Queen of New Orleans.