Not to be confused with confessional poet Anne Sexton, South Carolina soul singer Sexton knew all about baring her soul, specialising in woe-begone smoky ballads charting her romantic disappointments. Initially a backing singer for Elijah and the Ebonies, she first made her name in the mid-60s, when she eloped with saxophonist husband Melvin Burton to lead the Masters of Soul. Infinitely more spiky and no-nonsense than Paul Kelly’s gospel-driven A-side – her only top 50 Billboard R&B hit – ‘You’re Losing Me’ is a stupidly tight, funky floor-filler that turns the tables on a good-for-nothing ex, Sexton’s emotional vow “I’m gonna play your game and show you how to win” rattling with conviction. Written alongside Burton and doubtless drawn directly from their duels, it’s so-be-it sentiments mirror Gloria Gaynor’s greatest moment ‘I Will Survive’, another cautionary tale of B-side defiance. Like many great songs from the time it enjoyed a second life on the UK northern soul scene (along with first single ‘You’ve Been Gone Too Long’), although not enough to stop Sexton drifting away from music in the 80s and retraining in academia. Resurrected in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s enigmatic 2004 Memphis melodrama 21 Grams, the film gave Sexton a lifeline back into the music biz, one she grabbed with both hands.