Northern Soul Connections #20

Northern Soul Connections #20

lesser known Jerseydelphians re-discovered

Site note - hitting a landmark here as we have reached Number 20 in this long running series from Ken B aka Soul Source member @Kenb

This time around the Northern Soul Connections author takes us on a detailed dig into the going on's New Jersey and Philadelphia  way...

A change in delivery - the pdf version of Northern Soul Connections #20 is available via our very own intergated views and have added a few plain text highlights as well...

Highlights

...parts of New Jersey and Philadelphia are only separated by 6 miles. Between 1963 and 1969 in these places, the folks cited in this article must have been tripping over each other at school, church, street corners, recording studios, radio stations, music offices and venues, let alone formed aggregations as uncredited/unreleased vocalists. You could write the names of the folks cited here on 52 individual cards and toss them into the air - and when they land take 6 or 7 randomly as a grouping and find that there would be a real 45 release containing 'said' artist, producer, writer, label owner, arranger, musician, etc. Some listed here ... Kas-Mo, The Dynells, Selassie Pub, Ves-Thad Records, Rotations (Frantic), Le Tre Femme, Uptight Records, Marshall Verbit (Marnel), and so on. And yet they remained ...

...both us (Van McCoy & Kendra) . Actually, we called the group The Vanettes, but the company messed up and put the wrong name on the label". http://www.spectropop.com/SandiSheldon/ I'm also aware of the You Tube post (repeated at Soul Source) from Sandra McGregor. This latter post is interesting: as it is transcribed as Soul Source "Brenda McGregor was the lead singer, [SIC] Delores McGregor, and Shirley Cook (the other members), I know because I'm Sandra McGregor the younger sister of Brenda". Two noteworthy_Qoints: 1.Sheila McGregor, Brenda McGregor (of Franklinville) , Anthony McGregor, Lawrence McGregor & Otto Cook show up in a 1967...

...talented young ladies had formed a trio calling themselves The Mistiks. They were_Brenda McGregor, Denise Thomas, and Barbara Sullivan (Barbara went on to The Sweethearts & The Lovables). These three Junior High (16yrs-17yrs old) were at Delsea Regional High School, which served the Elk and Franklin Townships. They were under the direction of their Delsea vocal teacher Ms Maria Marcucci. There appearance at the Delsea assembly was Dec 1965. Dolores McGregor was the piano accompanist. Dolores and Brenda also put in another appearance at the same assembly with their 9yr old brother Anthony on Piano-this time under the name the Spiritual-ettes.

...the Rotations (Frantic) Albert DeMagnes, Leona Harden, Arlene Dixon, & Miriam Carter were the Rotations. Leona was a 1965 Delsea High graduate (17-18 yrs old}, Arlene was a 1962 (20-21 yrs old) alumnus (alumnus is used to refer to a male graduate}, and Miriam a Delsea Junior (16-17 yrs old). 
In Nov 1965 they had just cut '(Put A Dime On) D-9'. The publisher of this and 'A Changed Man' Frantic 202 was Dandelion Music owned by Harold Lipsius (Jamie/Guyden, Landa, Universal Distributors, the919 Sound Studio)

In 1964 Johnny Caswell was 25yrs old and travelling as a passenger in a car driven by 17yrs old Palmer Rakes. Stopped by the police, Palmer was charged with driving after midnight on a junior driving licence when he was not accompanied by a parent or guardian. It's the same year 'My Girl/ Hot Dogs' on Smash S-1879 was released.

In 1967 you could catch Le Tre Femme at Mar-Lo 24th & Penrose Ave, South Philadelphia. They were billed as the "Answer To Supremes".
Their first 45 outing in 1968 was on Uptight Records UT-1002 'Open Up The Safe/ Better Get Back'. The songwriter credits for both sides is T. Luis. The interested parties (owners, etc) in Uptight Records was Marshall Verbit (PA) he of Marne[ Distributors, Frances Capitola (NJ), and Anthony Luisi (NJ).. Le Tre Femme

The Rotations - (Put A Dime On) D9

Le Tre Femme - Open Up The Safe

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