Spotlight Records Label / Discography

[monitors]

Can anybody provide me with a Spotlight Records label discography?

And it is a label from 50's or 60's ?

Thanks in advance.

clem

[Jaco]

Can anybody provide me with a Spotlight Records label discography?

And it is a label from 50's or 60's ?

Thanks in advance.

clem

According to R & B Indies there are 5 or 6 different Spotlight labels

There are certainly 2 from the 50's being from Toledo and Philadelphia if that helps.

[monitors]

thanks for the information. But I'd like to have all discography from toledo and Philadelphia. If you have a link

thanks in advance

Clem

[George G]

thanks for the information. But I'd like to have all discography from toledo and Philadelphia. If you have a link

thanks in advance

Clem

AFAIK the Spotlight label from Toledo had two 45s - Marty Cash and the Bonnevilles. There are both 'urban hillbilly' records and date from '63/'64 ish. A long way from soul

[monitors]

Thanks for your information

I found the label on popsike, link below. It is this discography that I'd like to have

Spotlight label

https://www.popsike.com/LISTEN-NORTHERN-SOUL-POPCORN-571FREDDIE-MITCHELL/330435247198.html

[Guest motownsoul]

Hi ,

Just to let you know...I know of only three pressings on the Spotlight record label. they are all from 1956 I believe. All are Detroit based artists. They are :

Spotlight 389 Bob Crewe ----------------------------- "I Get Sentimental"

Spotlight 391 The Senators ,

with Sax Kari & His Orchestra ---"You'd Better Stop"

Spotlight 393 Bob Crewe , ------------------------- "Penny,Nickel,Dime Quarter"

The second pressing, by "The Senators" is a great up-tempo R&B ripper, possibly with Calvin Frazier on guitar.

It was written by Sax Kari, and it's the answer song to Chuck Berry's "Maybelline", whichhad been released the previous year. I have it on a 45, although it's only listed in Osbornes' guide as only on 78, which he lists only the 'B'side.."Honey Save..." (a depressing ballad).

[Robbk]

Since when was Bob Crewe a "Detroit-based artist".  He worked out of New York.  Sax Kari was Detroit based.  And Dave Hamilton and his Peppers were Detroit based, as well (they backed up New York-based, Bobby Lewis, on Spotlight 397(released in 1957).  I think the pressings look like New York pressing plant labels, and Crewe and Lewis were New York based.  I think this  Spotlight label was located in New York, but had a Detroit connection (component), just as Harry Balk's and Mikahnic's Twirl/Storm Records and their Embee Productions were released as New York labels and New York Productions, but the producers and many of the artists resided in Detroit.  There were very few Detroit labels during the 1950s who could break a record nationally.Many of the artists and producers from Detroit went to Chicago and New York to record, and had record companies in those cities release their product.

Edited May 14, 2014 by RobbK

[boba]

Robb, wasn't Sax Kari a famous New Orleans musician?

[Robbk]

Robb, wasn't Sax Kari a famous New Orleans musician?

Kari was born in Chicago, but he and his band were almost constantly on the move on The Chittlin' Circuit for many years.  Yes, he recorded a lot in New Orleans, but also in Chicago, Detroit and New York.  In the mid to late 1950s, he recorded a fair amount in Detroit, and had several Detroit releases, working a fair amount with Robert West's labels, and having releases on small Detroit labels.  He also recorded a fair amount in Chicago (including for Chess).

[Robbk]

Hi ,

Just to let you know...I know of only three pressings on the Spotlight record label. they are all from 1956 I believe. All are Detroit based artists. They are :

Spotlight 389 Bob Crewe ----------------------------- "I Get Sentimental"

Spotlight 391 The Senators ,

with Sax Kari & His Orchestra ---"You'd Better Stop"

Spotlight 393 Bob Crewe , ------------------------- "Penny,Nickel,Dime Quarter"

The second pressing, by "The Senators" is a great up-tempo R&B ripper, possibly with Calvin Frazier on guitar.

It was written by Sax Kari, and it's the answer song to Chuck Berry's "Maybelline", whichhad been released the previous year. I have it on a 45, although it's only listed in Osbornes' guide as only on 78, which he lists only the 'B'side.."Honey Save..." (a depressing ballad).

Now that I think about it, given that Kari worked for Chess in Chicago, and there was a Senators group on VJ's Falcon/Abner subsidiary, that Sax Kari release may have been a Chicago production,  So, Spotlight Records may just have been a New York label, which had some production using some Midwestern artists.  As I stated above, most Detroit productions released on Detroit labels went "nowhere" nationally.  Lots of artists and their managers went to New York to try to get better exposure. 

[boba]

Now that I think about it, given that Kari worked for Chess in Chicago, and there was a Senators group on VJ's Falcon/Abner subsidiary, that Sax Kari release may have been a Chicago production,  So, Spotlight Records may just have been a New York label, which had some production using some Midwestern artists.  As I stated above, most Detroit productions released on Detroit labels went "nowhere" nationally.  Lots of artists and their managers went to New York to try to get better exposure. 

 

I interviewed the Senators on Abner, they are the same group on Bristol and had no more releases as the Senators. They were from Gary, IN. 

 

Sax Kari was known as a nola artist, although I can't speak to his specific work in the '50s.

Edited May 14, 2014 by boba

[Robbk]

I interviewed the Senators on Abner, they are the same group on Bristol and had no more releases as the Senators. They were from Gary, IN. 

 

Sax Kari was known as a NOLA artist, although I can't speak to his specific work in the '50s.

That was mostly in the very late 1960s and entire 1970s.  He was a Chicagoan, who recorded in Chicago, Detroit and New York during the 1950s.  He and his band traveled all over The Chittlin' Circuit, and worked for many, many labels, often not getting label credit.

[Roburt]

This music news snippet from 1953 implies that Sax Kari was Chicago based back then ........

 

[Robbk]

This music news snippet from 1953 implies that Sax Kari was Chicago based back then ........

I think he had a house in Chicago all through the 1950s, but recorded also in Detroit and New York during the '50s (especially the late '50s)  I suspect that his Spotlight recording sessions took place in New York,  Same for Bobby Lewis and Dave Hamilton and His Peppers, as well as Bob Crewe.