25th Anniversary The Hayley Records Story by founder Rob Moss

25th Anniversary Hayley Records story.

A recollection.

 by founder Rob Moss.

I first visited Detroit around 1990. I was living in Vancouver at the time working for Much Music, the Canadian equivalent of MTV, as an on air presenter on the West Coast affiliate, Much West. I happened on an article in a music trade journal about the release of a book dedicated to the life and times of Motown bass player James Jamerson by a guy named ‘Dr. Licks’, called ‘Standing in the Shadows of Motown’ After purchasing the book from the author I began to communicate with him, first by mail and then by ‘phone. Through his contacts with various members of the Motown studio band he was able to introduce me to my main music hero in Detroit, Andrew ‘Mike’ Terry, erstwhile baritone sax player on thousands of sessions for a variety of different labels, noted arranger, producer and songwriter. I travelled from Vancouver to Detroit to meet Mike, who was a gracious host, not only guiding me around the various studio locations but introducing me to many of his contemporaries from the halcyon days of Motown, Golden World, United Sound and the like.

As the 1990s progressed I became a regular visitor to the city, enlarging my circle of musical contacts and friends, whilst being introduced to a great deal of previously unreleased material. The prime mover in the creation of Hayley Records was former Motown producer and songwriter Clarence ‘Clay’ McMurray, who had set up his own studio in Detroit, having just returned from Motown in  Los Angeles with the intention of launching his own ‘My Town’  label and production company.Having been introduced to some fantastic material that Clay had recorded in LA in the 1970s but never issued commercially, while he was working for Motown, I was able to gain release rights to two of them - ‘Ain’t that something’ by Lyn Varnado and ‘Show and tell’ by Charles Brimmer. I originally thought that material of this quality should not be lost in the mists of time or forgotten in some dingy basement, and so thought I would present it to a soul based company in UK for release. The only problem was that, at that time, there were NO independent companies who released previously unissued soul material of any ilk. I decided to release it myself but did not have a clue how to begin, let alone progress.

Thankfully, in 2000 I was introduced to Glen Gunton of Joe Boy Records in the UK, who was in the early stages of developing his own operation and knew a great deal about vinyl release, cd manufacture and artwork creation.  The first two releases were the aforementioned songs provided by Clay, but without any label name or logo design.They were printed in very small numbers as white label pressings, although they did have a numbered matrix. This was a ‘test’ process, to get my feet wet, more than anything else. Glen had named his company after his son, Joe, which prompted me to follow suit and call my label ‘Hayley’ after my daughter. It so happened that the name ‘Hayley’ was very similar to one of the early Motown related labels ‘Harvey’ and so, with some very creative amendments, we designed a label with a similar colour scheme and added a 'by line' from the second release - ‘Ain’t that something’. From the outset it was decided to limit each release to 300 copies in total, of which 25 would be promo copies, and not to manufacture any more should stock sell out.

Hayley Records 25th Anniversary Part One - A short selection of some of the fantastic, previously unreleased tunes issued by Hayley Records over the past 25 years.

Our first 'official' vinyl release was in 2001, an unreleased track by The Just Brothers I was given by group member Frank Bryant in the form of a battered seven inch acetate called 'Honey'.It had been recorded during the same session as 'Sliced tomatoes' for Lu Pine Records and also had 'Things will get better' on the flip.The technical brilliance of the sound engineers, entrusted to transcribe what was on the acetate into a completed record, is one of the great wonders of the music world. Permission to place 'Carlena', by the Just Brothers, on the flip came from the song's writer, Don Juan Mancha. Turns out it was dedicated to his wife at the time, Carlene, but had to have another syllable,'a',added to fit the cadence of the song. Having gained knowledge of the 'Hayley project', as it became known, Don provided our next release, the magnificent 'My feelings keep getting in the way'  by Lorretta Kendrick which he had written and recorded with her in the early 1970s. He fondly recalled hearing her sing in Detroit for the first time, and being so impressed with her talent, that he arranged a recording session with Clarence Paul in Los Angeles. Though the recording was never released, Lorretta Kendrick eventually moved to California and joined The Naturelles, as their lead singer. The fifth release came from a chance meeting with sound engineer Ken Sands at Clay McMurray's 'My Town' studio on Livernois Avenue in Detroit around 2003, who happened to have some tapes with him that he was willing to sell. Of most interest were two instrumental tracks that he had worked on back in the late 1960s but couldn't recall titles or intended artists. He didn't disclose where they were recorded either, which meant that we would have to create all the release information ourselves. They were eventually released by Thunderbird Sound as 'In heaven and on earth' and 'Our finest hour'. It was only years later that it turned out that they were actually unreleased Motown backing tracks for 'Shake hands with a dreamer' for Jimmy Ruffin and '(At last) I found a true love' by Chuck Jackson.

Hayley Records 25th Anniversary Part Two - A few more samples of the superb, previously unissued tracks released by Hayley Records over the past 25 years.

I first met JJ Barnes around 1995 when Mike Terry took me to his house. We would always meet up whenever I was in town, but it wasn't until the early Noughties that we got to talk about the song '(I believe in) love at first sight', that he'd written back in 1975. The recorded version by former Fantastic Four frontman 'Sweet' James Epps surfaced in 1983 on Motorpool Records but JJ's original recording remained unreleased and undiscovered.When he eventually found the tape at his house, he was certain that it was only the backing track, as marked on the box, that had survived. The elation felt when his vocal kicked in was palpable. Also on the tape was the full over seven minute version of 'I think I've got a good chance' which was eventually edited to provide the flip side of the vinyl record.In the same year (2004), Clay came up with another recording he had made during his time in California - Jimmy Ruffin's superb version of Tony Clarke's 'The entertainer'.When the single was released, we foolishly omitted a novel, circus like announcement, with crowd noises, proclaiming Jimmy Ruffin's greatness! Now lost forever. Throughout the '60s and '70s Don Juan Mancha travelled widely across America to record sessions in many cities,establishing an impressive array of contacts and compadres, who would often pitch various recordings, or potential projects, to him for promotion or placement. One of these came from songstress Cindy Scott in  Philadelphia, in the form of two songs by Dathan Jones, her boyfriend at the time. His take on Stevie Wonder's 'Contract on love' backed with  'Mysterious desire' became our eigth release. Don Mancha would make another significant contribution a year or so later, when he provided two previously unreleased tunes by Sy Hightower, through contacts he had made in Miami. 'I wonder why' and 'Go back baby' sold out rapidly. The next two releases finally made Charles Brimmer's 'Show and tell' and Lyn Varnado's 'Ain't that something' officially available. Fortunately, an instrumental version of 'Show and tell' by Love 'n Comfort Orchestra was placed on the flip, while Lyn Varnado's 'Wash and wear' love accompanied her release.

Hayley Records 25th Anniversary Part Three 

In 2006 I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Almeta Latimore by the producer of her exquisite 'These memories', Leonard Jones. He had managed and operated Fast Track studios in Novi, MI where Almeta had recorded along with Dramatic Experience (The Dramatics), Sugar Billy, the Steptones, John Freeman, Final Decisions and others. A few years later he provided our fifteenth release by the Final Decisions 'I don't feel no pain' which had been left in the can since the 1975 recording. Almeta was genuinely surprised that her record was popular in the UK, and, as if to call my bluff, agreed to perform along with Bobby Taylor, Chris Clark, Pat Lewis, Tommy Good and the Falcons on the 2006 Soul Weekender in Northampton. She insisted that 'These memories' be available to accompany her appearance and gave permission for it, and a recording she had made with George McGregor 'La la', to be released on our label. Her foresight proved to be significant and her performance scintillating. Throughout most of the 1990s and into the noughties, I would visit Detroit two or three times a year.  There were certain people I would always call in on - Frank Garcia and Emanuel Laskey were particular favourites because I'd known them both from the start. Frank had been connected to United Sound when Don Davis took possession and had access to the tape library there, as well as being a musician and singer in his own right from the late 1960s.

Much of the material at his disposal was of no use to anyone and had been ignored and forgotten about. With this in mind, he was able to provide several tracks from master tapes that became Hayley releases including the two 1970s Tony Hester tracks, 'Come out of your thing' and ' Nothing can stop me from loving you' and his unreleased version of 'Keep a hold on me' from the 1960s. From Thelma Records Frank provided a previously unreleased Jimmy Gilford recording, 'All over and done' as well as a duet Gilford recorded with Jimmy Scruggs, 'Don't let me lose it' and a future release - Pat Smith 'Whirlpool'. Frank's contribution to the label was invaluable especially when he made JJ Barnes' 'Lucille', Steve Mancha's version of 'Girl have pity', the Perfections take on Tony Hester's 'Just can't leave you', Bobby Sheppard's 'Surely' and Pat Lewis version of 'Genie' available for release. Although he passed away several years ago Francisco (Frank) Garcia will always have a treasured position in the Hayley Records story and will never be forgotten. The same can also be said for one of Frank's closest friends, Emanuel Laskey. The first hand information he provided about the Detroit music scene in the 1960s was far ranging and comprehensive, especially when he recalled recording sessions, 'live' appearances around the city and the state and the radio and television personalities he worked with. Emanuel's friendship with Marvin Gaye stretched back to the mid 1960s and in the early 1970s they worked together on a recording project that produced two singles, part written by Marvin himself. '(Put you name) in the hall of fame' and 'A different kind of different' by Emanuel Laskey became Hayley's thirteenth release. Ironically one of Emanuel's first producers when he worked at Thelma Records, Clay McMurray, provided our fourteenth release on his wife, Karen Pree whom he had met in California in the early 1970s during his stint with Motown (West). 'Can't help loving (the one who's loving me)' is a jaunty dancer that would have surely been a hit if released. The flip however is a beautiful ballad written by Clay for her - 'You've gotten to me'. A love song for all seasons.

Hayley Records 25th Anniversary Part Four - More extracts from some of the best, unreleased Detroit diamonds within the Hayley Records catalogue over the past 25 years

Around 2014 I was destined to meet a multi talented musical tour de force who would contribute more to our project than anyone else. Dr. Ed Wolfrum was an internationally renowned sound engineer who had worked at Motown, Golden World, United Sound and many other studios around Detroit and throughout the United States. He not only recorded the bulk of Detroit artists but built much of the equipment used to record them. As our friendship developed he disclosed a sizeable archive of unreleased material that had either been disgarded at the time of recording, retained by the studio for non payment of fees or simply forgotten about. Over the following years Ed provided material by Deon Jackson, JJ Barnes, Barbara Mercer, Popcorn Wylie,Rose Battiste,the Stylists, Tony Hester, Jimmy Delphs, Sharon McMahan,Carolyn Franklin, the Dramatics, the Capitols and Edwin Starr that gained a release on the label, as well as many instrumental backing tracks. His dedicated sense of historical preservation ensured that this material was saved to be enjoyed,  not casually disgarded like so many other recordings in Detroit, that were lost forever. Ed frequently referred to this archive material as 'wasted extras', a name he got from producer Ollie McLaughlin who recorded extensively at Golden World and United Sound throughout the mid and late 1960s, and was involved in the recording of a large number of the unreleased sessions Ed Wolfrum made available.

Hayley Records 25th Anniversary Part Five - A selection of some of the most soulful slowies from the Hayley catalogue.

To date Hayley has released 36 vinyl singles and one album, 'Detroit. My home town' but another album is planned for 2025 and several more singles by Pat Lewis, Steve Mancha, Karen Pree, Andrea Henry, Juanita Williams, Emanuel Laskey, Pat Smith, Two Minute Warning and others are in the pipeline. As part of our 25th Anniversary celebrations a special single will be released sometime in 2025 featuring our first two releases Charles Brimmer 'Show and tell' b/w Lyn Varnado 'Ain't that something'. Plenty to look forward to.

Hayley Records Website

http://www.hayleyrecords.co.uk/