09/07/2025
Barbara Lynn Ozen (born January 16, 1942) is an American Soul and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Beaumont, Texas. She gained fame early with her 1962 #1 R&B hit "You'll Lose a Good Thing," which she wrote and recorded at New Orleans' famed J&M Studio for the Jamie Records label. Lynn also released an album, also titled "You'll Lose A Good Thing", which featured ten of her compositions. The song became her only #1 hit ever and was covered by Aretha Franklin in 1966. Most importantly it was also covered by Audrey in a stunning 1969 Reggae version produced by Dandy Livingstone on the Trojan label "Downtown" and presently reissued by Harlem Shuffle Records.
Early in her career, Lynn broke many barriers as being one of the few Black female artists who wrote her own material and most famously, being a Black female singer that played the lead guitar (using her left hand) on all her tracks...
She toured with Soul legends such as Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, James Brown, Al Green, Carla Thomas, Marvin Gaye, Ike and Tina Turner, the Temptations, and B.B. King and had her song "Oh Baby (We've Got A Good Thing Goin')" famously covered by The Rolling Stones in 1965.
She joined the Tribe Records label in 1966 before joining Atlantic where she never got the success she deserved. A versatile artist, she recorded a string of top Northern Soul tracks such as "I'm A Good Woman" and "Movin' on a Groove". After taking time off in the 1970s-80s to raise her family, Lynn returned to music with a 1984 Japanese tour and live album, followed by her 1994 comeback studio album So Good.
Recognized for her pioneering role in music, Lynn received the National Heritage Fellowship in 2018...