A Soul Pioneer Who Never Stopped Giving
Some might think San Pedro’s claim to Brenton Wood is tenuous at best. But I’d argue that the Los Angeles Harbor culture has the bigger claim to stake.
Oogum Boogum and “Gimme Little Sign were Wood’s break-out hits from the start and remained a staple in Angeleno households for generations since.
“The tunes like that just feel good, Oogum Boogum’ and Gimme Little Sign are two good-spirited songs,” Wood said. “It is songs like that that get you into a happier mood. It still does it to me!” he said.
He charted again with two more songs ― Baby, you Got It in 1967, and in 1977 he had a hit with Shirley Knight called Come Softly to Me. The aforementioned songs are not only considered classic oldies, but have been background music in every low rider that has cruised San Pedro. In 2001, he produced an album called, This Love is for Real. He has two compilation albums, which include Brenton Wood’s 18 Best, produced in 1991, and in 1999 he came out with 18 More of the Best.
His songs are featured on an innumerable amount of oldies compilations popular in the Chicano community.
Photo by Terrelle Jerricks
In 2008, Random Lengths News asked why the soul music of the 1960s is so much a part of low-rider culture. Wood replied, “It went back to the ’40s and ’50s … it all started back there. Many of those groups were Latin doo-wop groups, made up of different people from the neighborhood. That is what they would do instead of killing each other like today. Back in the day, you did not hear of the violence. Today, it is like a Wild West movie.”
We went back to the music question, and he added, “You know about all the car clubs, the Latin community is very big on heritage and my music relates to that era. Everybody lived in the same neighborhood so they were emulating one another, even on the East Coast. There were a lot of mixed groups; the Latin people had a lot of influence on R&B music.” He noted, “Today they support it totally.”
He has been performing in venues large and small ever since, and is promoting oldies shows around the country. Last year he performed here in San Pedro in his “Coming Home Concert,” at Levels, formerly known as La Conga.
Born Alfred Jesse Smith in Shreveport, Louisiana, Brenton Wood moved west to San Pedro, California, as a child. His father, a longshore worker, and mother who worked at Starkist cannery, made a home for Wood and his siblings at Banning Homes in the 1940s.
Woods said he learned to play the piano from watching a neighbor play at 7 years old.
“There was this man whose name escapes me, he played piano; I watched him and I began to copy him,” Wood seated. “Later when my family moved to Compton, there was a family that had a piano. I would go over and copy what I heard that was on the radio and play for the girls,” he added with a chuckle.
During this time, Wood joined the Compton High School track team and received several awards for his athletic achievements.
Inspired by the late Sam Cooke and Jesse “Mr. Easy” Belvin (co-writer of such ’50s mega-hits as Earth Angel and Good Night My Love ) Wood started to develop his unique singing style.
In 1967, while spending long tedious hours making bomb casing at the Martin Marietta Corporation plant, Wood struck gold.
He told Random Lengths News, “I wrote The Oogum Boogum Song in two and half hours while I was at work.” This song would become one of his big hits and would take young Wood from the factory floor to the stages of the world. “It was great in the beginning, but after a while, the touring was not as much fun.” He went on to make his biggest smash recording with Gimme Little Sign in September of 1967, charting at number 9 on Billboard magazine’s Top 100.
In the 1980s, Wood staged a show at the Dancing Waters.
“I put on a show down here, they had so many people, they were coming out the windows!” he said with a hardy laugh.
Wood spent his remaining years playing around California and in schools, encouraging young people to stay in school and work toward their dreams of becoming successful individuals. According to one of his surviving daughters, Marilyn Smith, Brenton loved his fans so much that he made himself available even as his health declined.
In her homage to her father, Smith reported that Wood was in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank in his final stage appearance in February 2024 in Long Beach. Smith said he went because he did not want to disappoint his fans by not showing up. That was the kind of person he was, right until the end.