Five Keys On Inferno

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Hi everyone

I'm looking for clarification please on the following 45 please:

Five Keys featuring Rudy West - No Matter/Hey Girl (Inferno #4005)

I have always thought this to be a Chicago released 45 - albeit sometimes featured on listings of the Detroit Inferno label (Volumes etc.).

The numbering system does not match the Detroit Inferno label and the label design (see scan below) is also very different. In fact the design is similar in style, with the 'shadow' lettering, to many other Chicago labels.

I've just been browsing Keith's Groovesville USA book and spotted that this 45 is listed under the Detroit Inferno label. Plus, the artist is also listed there.

This is what Keith's book says on the artist:

Rudy West, Edwin Hall, Oliver Sidney, George Winfield and Theodore Jones

This was an amalgamation of the Chateaus and Rudy West, only remaining original from Five Keys of Aladdin fame in the 50s.

Anyone shed any light please?

Cheers

Richard

Edited December 26, 2011 by Premium Stuff

[Robbk]

That's certainly a Chicago pressing from a Chicago pressing plant. But that doesn't mean much. I have an Inferno Five Keys pressed at an East Coast plant. I've always heard that that particular Inferno Records was a New York label. The Five Keys were originally from The Hampton Roads area of Virginia (near Virginia Beach and Newport News). And they recorded on The East Coast. Jap Curry (their producer and owner of Inferno?) stayed in Hampton Virginia. They may have recorded there or New York. The label may have been located in Virginia, I'm pretty sure they were operating out of either Virginia or New York when they recorded for THAT Inferno label (which had nothing to do with Harry Balk's Detroit Inferno Records. They had absolutely NOTHING to do with Chicago or Detroit. Curry never even went on the road when his records were hot on Aladdin. He had his own studio. I suspect that he may have recorded all his productions in Virginia, rather than even traveling to New York for a weekend.

Edited December 26, 2011 by RobbK

[Guest]

Bit Of info here Richard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIHZXMsFQ9Q

think you may have to go on Youtube to view the Info tho.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Guest

[boba]

yeah, lots of records that have nothing to do with Chicago were pressed in Chicago and have that clearly chicago font / label

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Bit Of info here Richard. Think you may have to go on Youtube to view the Info tho.

Cheers guys

Here's the YouTube info - anyone any the wiser?

Cheers

Richard

No Matter

Written by Clarence "Jap" Curry

Performed by The Five Keys featuring Rudy West

Recorded in the fall of 1961

Released as Inferno 4500 in 1967

By February 1958, Rudy West and the rest of the group had, pretty much went their separate ways and The Five Keys would not return to a recording studio for 18 months! West was replaced by Thomas Threatt. Then, he recorded for King, like The Five Keys but, as a solo performer. While all this was happening, he had a day job working for the postal service. By the summer of 1960, The Five Keys had, essentially, called it a day.

Enter Clarence "Jap" Curry, a fellow postal worker that happened to have a band. By 1961, Rudy was the featured singer with Jap Curry's band and the two of them started up the Seg-Way label. This group of "Keys" were Rudy West (lead), Willie Friday (tenor), James "Saggy" Boyd (tenor), Ripley Ingram (baritone) and Bernie West (bass).

Four songs were recorded for their new label in late 1961. Two of those were "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind" and "You're The One." The other two, "Hey Girl" and the side featured here, had to wait six years to see the light of day.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Premium Stuff

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I see there's a copy on John Manship's site which states it is a New York release

Still looking for some definitive info to pin it to a location.

Cheers

Richard

Edited December 27, 2011 by Premium Stuff

[Steve G]

Interesting thread I always had the Inferno release as being later than 1961....?

[Robbk]

Some Inferno releases probably went into 1962. In addition to "No Matter/Hey Girl" on Inferno 4500, I have Rudy West "Love Sick/Billy Boy" on Inferno 151, and I've also seen another Five Keys' 45 on the label.

[Robbk]

Rudy West had known Jap Curry for many years previous to 1958. They had been label mates with Aladdin Records near the beginning of the 1950s. They were probably discovered by Aladdin scouts and signed at the same time. They must have appeared together on the same shows/billings around Virginia back when they were starting out. Curry's band may well have back up the original Five Keys in shows or even in some recordings.

[Robbk]

Incidentally, "Jap" Curry got his nickname from giving a report about Japan to his elementary school class. The nickname stuck with him all his life. The coincidence of "Jap Curry" being a Japanese form of a curry food dish did not help him shake that nickname (which was derogatory during the World War II years.

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Some Inferno releases probably went into 1962. In addition to "No Matter/Hey Girl" on Inferno 4500, I have Rudy West "Love Sick/Billy Boy" on Inferno 151, and I've also seen another Five Keys' 45 on the label.

So Robb, do you know where the label is from please?

Cheers

Richard

[Robbk]

So Robb, do you know where the label is from please?

Cheers

Richard

As I stated above, I always heard that it was a "New York label". But what does that mean? I believe Jap Curry ran the label out of Hampton, Virginia. Whether or not he made his distribution deal with a New York distributor, and had his records pressed in New York and Chicago, he may have recorded in Virginia or, possibly in New York. He may have recorded the vocals in Virginia, and had a sound engineer in New York handle the instrumentals. His band may have been recorded in Virginia doing the major portion of the instrumentals, and an engineer in New York may have done the final mix. The answer is that I don't know what actually happened. I guess we'll have to wait until someone who has a good source or knows what went down, replies to this thread. My personal guess is that this could be referred to as a Virginia/NY label (just as Harry Balk's Vicki Productions was a Detroit/NY operation, and Anna Records in 1958 was a Detroit/NY label and Check-Mate Records in 1961-62 was a Chicago/Detroit label, and Aladdin Records in 1956-60 was an L.A./NY label. In 1963-64, Motown was a Detroit/LA/NY label.

If you judge a label's location by its corporate or entrepeneurial address, I'd bet that you'd call this Inferno records a Virginia label, as Jap Curry and all his artists resided in Virginia. They may have done some recording in New York, and may have had their records first pressed in New York, and distributed from there. That may be why people have referred to it as a New York label. In 1958, Anna Records recorded their demo tapes at United sound Studios in Detroit, their songwriting was done in Detroit, the artists and producers lived in Detroit. But they had a record pressing and distribution deal with a label owner in New York (George Goldner) and his firm paid for the final recording, done in New York with New York arrangers and musicians and New York's Goldner as executive producer (with producer credits). The records were mastered and pressed in New York and distributed from there. Did that make Anna Records a New York label in 1958, a Chicago label in 1959, when Chess handled most of those functions, or was it a Detroit label all along? The answer to those questions depends upon one's own definition of a label's "location". Does the latter mean "home city"? Does "home city" require a certain minimum % of business functions being performed there?

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Thanks Robb - great analysis and much appreciated

Cheers

Richard