North Philly singer Barbara Mason is best known for “Yes, I’m Ready,” the 1965 song she wrote when she was 17, that became a top five pop and R&B smash.
That song is a prototypical Sound of Philadelphia recording that features Kenny Gamble on backup vocals and musicians who would become members of the Sigma Sound Studios house band MFSB, including guitarists Bobby Eli and Norman Harris, bass player Ronnie Baker and drummer Earl Young.
Now, 61 years later, Mason has another hit.
“Forever,” a deep cut from her 1968 album Oh How It Hurts, which was released on the Arctic Records label owned by legendary Philly DJ Jimmy Bishop, has gone viral on TikTok.
The song has slowly gathered steam on the social media platform since first resurfacing last summer, and is now featured on over 241,000 videos. Mason’s pleading voice singing “Just to be with you, forever,” is a particularly popular choice among romantic couples smooching in the “Seeing if he melts into the kiss” TikTok trend. IYKYK.
The unexpected exposure has also boosted Mason’s prominence on other platforms. On Spotify, for instance, the 78-year-old singer now has 1.1 million monthly listeners. And while “Yes, I’m Ready”’s 32 million streams are still Mason’s most on that music service, “Forever” is now a strong second with over 12 million.
Naturally, Mason’s record label has taken notice. In a new release this week headlined “Gen Z Craves Authentic Philly Soul,” Jamie Records announced a new compilation of Mason’s music from the 1960s, including one previously unreleased song.
On May 22, Jamie Records will release The 1960s Archive Collection, an 11-song compilation of songs by the singer who was inducted into the Soul Music Hall of Fame in 2016. Those songs — with the exception of “Forever” — have never been available to stream. The album will also include the ballad “You Left Me Behind,” which has never been released in any form.