Ronnie Whitehead Discography

[Guest Dr Pickles]

Can anyone help me with info on his releases?

 

Many thanks

Doc

[Roburt]

A bio here ..... https://www.myspace.com/ronniewhiteheadthewhiteheadbrothers

and some of his best outings are on this 2fer LP package..........  https://www.discogs.com/Various-Eccentric-Soul-Mighty-Mike-Lenaburg/release/2693031

[Weingarden]

Note that his Brent 45, "Begging You"/"Out of Breath," is under the name Ronnie White.

[Guest Dr Pickles]

Many thanks for the input.

Some great tracks on the compilation album.

 

One I can't find any info on by Ronnie is "Got To Give You Up".

On an original album or single release?

 

Many thanks

Chris

[Roburt]

Seems that the Phoenix based recording team cut a lot more tracks than they managed to get released (didn't most though) .........

.... a bit off the net (amended slightly to remove errors & unnecessary info) .....

“Big Mike” Lenaburg was born in 1946 in Liverpool, England. His family moved to a predominantly black neighborhood in Pasadena, CA when he was 3 months old …... In 1960 Mike’s brother Harry suffered from emphysema. Doctors recommended moving to a dryer climate and the Lenaburg family decided to relocate to Phoenix ….. Mike quit High School at the end of his sophomore year. He explains: “I got the all night slot at KRIZ and I couldn’t keep up with school.” He worked at KRIZ and made pretty good money for a sixteen year old. Eventually though a new program director fired him and he returned to school …....... In 1965 Mike recorded “Rainy Day in Vietnam” with The Seargeants in Sydney’s garage but was unable to release it …... Mike & a friend were partners in the Out of Sight Record shop they owned from 1967 until 1968 on 1834 E. Broadway. They opened the store but they kept on losing money on it, so they 'closed the doors' a year later. However, a lot of the kids from the neighborhood come through there and thus they had met some talent that they recorded. However, the only record they recorded on the Out of Sight label was “A Woman 73” by Oklahoma Zeek with the B side “Soul Skate” by the Soulsations …... Mike recorded some of his artists at Audio Recorders. One of the first ones he recorded was with Small Paul Hamilton who made his name by being a “300 pound James Brown” with a voice that belied his tender age of 14 (?) The songs they cut were “There’s Gonna be Some Crying” and “Do the Everything” ….. Floyd Ramsey who ran Audio Recorders had been keeping a close Mike’s efforts for a while when he recorded Small Paul and Oklahoma Zeke (John Lewis) and the Soulsations at Audio’s Studio B which was a little cheaper (around February 1967). Mike had cut 5 records in two hours time. Floyd had been impressed with this kid’s ever more ambitious doings. After Mike recorded Joe Houston in around May or June 1967, Ramsey called Mike up, told him he liked the material he was recording and asked Mike if he would like to produce records for Audio Recorders …... After Floyd Ramsey asked Mike to be a staff producer, Mike started looking for singers. One of the first talents he spotted was Ronnie Whitehead who was the then fifteen year old son of Ernie “LC” Whitehead senior who had been a renowned local gospel singer. Mike had heard about him at Bo Stewart’s B&B Records. (L.C. had been tragically shot in a bar on Broadway in 1964) ….. Ronnie Whitehead recalls he was walking down Broadway one day and saw Mike’s record shop. Curious, he looked in. Big Mike spotted the young teenage boy and asked what his name was. When Mike heard that he was one of the Whiteheads he recalled that they were a musical family. He asked Ronnie “Do you sing?” Ronnie said yes. Mike told him he’d record him in the studio and gave him the words to “Beggin You” and “Out of Breath” to memorize. When Ronnie told his mother that someone wanted to take him in the studio she didn’t believe him. But a few weeks later when she and her friends Dino and Bertha sang backup on Ronnie’s recording session of “Beggin’ You,” Ronnie says he had never sung with a band before they recorded. They did everything in one take. “I didn’t even know you could record something twice. I just thought you’d record and that was it.” Looking back Ronnie says, the songs were too high. “If I would have known anything then I would have dropped the key lower.” Mike says Ronnie was a very likable young kid, witty, talented and he could dance. He’d start hanging out with Mike and Duffy at their record shops listening to music and singing along with the records. Brent Records released “Beggin You” and “Out of Breath.” Floyd Ramsey knew Bob Shad who owned Brent Records and also the Shad label which had released a popular doo wop record by the Knockouts. Bob Shad was also involved with Dick Clark and others in Jamie Records (Duane Eddy had recorded all his songs for Jamie Records at Audio Recorders and via that work Floyd got to know Shad). Mike leased Ronnie’s recordings but he was billed as 'Ronnie White' by Brent Records and the tracks broke out in Atlanta. It looked like they actually may have a chance of breaking big. However Shad had another act, Big Brother & The Holding Company (their tracks were put out on Shad's Mainstream label). The same week BB&HC broke out nationally and Brent didn’t put any more effort into promoting Ronnie’s stuff …... The same story from another perspective; Mike was just hanging out at his Out of Sight record store on 18th Street and Broadway. He stopped a boy he recognised who was just on his way home from school and asked him “Aren’t you one of the Whitehead boys?” So Ronnie Whitehead came in and Mike recorded “Out of Breath and “Begging you” with him (Mike had co-written the songs with the Soulsations bassist Tony Flores). The cuts were released on Brent Records. A while later he recorded 2 more tracks with Ronnie “Got To Give You Up” and “Cold Feet.” Ronnie, Rochelle and Gary Whitehead sang the vocals with some of the musicians being old members of the old Blazers (Richard Casen, Rodney Brown and Bernard White ex of Dyke & the Blazers plus a few other guys). They recorded “Funky Night Club” and “Blending Soul”, Mike Liggins “Standing On The Corner” followed along with another session that featured the Soulsations on “Broadway Shing-a-ling” (on whichTony Flores sang lead). When the booked singers didn’t show up to sing “on “Sun Begins to Shine” they just cut a number “Soul Skate” with the Soulsations ….. Mike says he recorded about 13 songs for Audio Recorders but none of them became a major hit although Ronnie Whitehead (or Ronnie White as he was known then) was on Brent Records and another artist Lon Rogers & The Soulblenders on Remco (Floyd Ramsey’s label). The Soulblenders also included some of the old Blazers (Richard Casen, Rodney Brown & Bernard Williams). Duffy had found Lon Rogers. They recorded “Too Good To Be True” and “My Girl Is A Soul Girl.” Mike talked to Phil Reagan at Union Review Records and got him to listen to “Too Good To Be True.” Reagan liked the record but he couldn’t use it because he had a record on the verge of becoming a hit already, so he contacted Eddie Ray at Imperial. Records Ray also liked the record but he was concentrating on the O'Jays at the time, so also passed. A few other record companies were contacted but all the labels eventually passed on putting the record out.

 

... the internet site I lifted the above from is .... https://phoenixsoul.mysite.com/

 

I believe the Ronnie White 45 on Brent was just about the last record put out on the label. So probably “Got To Give You Up” was cut with a release on Brent hoped for but the label never picked it up for release. Brenton Wood was just about the biggest artist on Brent, but he had jumped ship to Double Shot by February 1967. I guess that by that date, Brent was struggling and Bob Shad was putting his efforts elsewhere.

Edited June 3, 2013 by Roburt

[Guest Dr Pickles]

Hi Roburt

 

Many thanks for your help and putting the time into this.

 

To me, this is what Soul Source is all about

 

Regards

Doc

[Pomonkey]

Out of breath is such a belter, the promo with Begging you is everywhere but the issue with this on is deceptively hard to find