Richard Parker-D Peoples-Mary Love

[Ady Croasdell]

From what I can gather from BMI, D Peoples was a pseudonym for Richard Parker a Chicago singer and prolific songwriter. Parker wrote at least two songs for the Chicago Vows group. Mary Love used to know the Los Angeles Vows when she started out in the mid 60s and also recorded Richard Parker's 'Lay This Burden Down', which was possibly just a coincidence that there should be two separate links to the Vows and Richard Parker.

 

I know from an interview with a close friend of Fred Hughes that Richard worked in Los Angeles for Vee Jay and recorded Hughes there for his V-J and Exodus singles. He also wrote and produced 'If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time' for Vernon Garrett for Modern but I can't recall any other Modern/Kent productions or songs of his.

 

If anyone knows more about his mid 60s L A connections I'd be very interested.

 

Ady

[Guest trickbag]

Uploaded on Jan 31, 2009

Producer, arranger, songwriter Richard Parker has music credits that span from the Supremes to the Dells, from Vee-Jay, Motown, Okeh to yes, Commonwealth United. Richard Parker had an illustrious, if unheralded career in Chicago and Detroit working for a virtual who's who of performers, producers, and labels. Here he becomes the 'Soul Singer'. Apparently done in Chi-Town with a Gene 'Daddy G' Barge arrangement, and a Cash McCall song, Richard shows off the vocal skills he had, and evidently left to his daughter, the late gospel singer/songwriter Kayla Parker-Tolbert. The leaves don't fall too far from the tree. A rare vocal performance by a man who behind the scenes provided sooo much of the great 60's Soul we still love today. If on the disc, you see the name Richard Parker, chances are it's great. Enjoy a rarity of a 'real' Soul Man.

Richard Parker - You're All I Need

 

from you tube.

Does anyone know where Richard is today? He wrote Young Boy and my other cuts at Vee Jay records.

Barbara Green

 

ricky.

 

 

ricky

[boba]

here is his BMI entry. It does show that Fred Hughes "ooh wee baby" was his biggest song:

 

https://repertoire.bmi.com/writer.asp?page=1&blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&fromrow=1&torow=25&affiliation=BMI&cae=23513717&keyID=260937&keyname=PARKER+RICHARD&querytype=WriterID

 

not sure about the d peoples thing, have to look into it. the dutones were based in chicago though.

[Robbk]

D. Peoples' songs are certainly listed on Richard Parker's BMI list.  I second that Parker lived in Chicago.  He may have come to L.A. in 1965 because VJ started a 2nd office there, run by Randy Wood, and started producing there.  He went there to help with production (Fred Hughes).  He must have worked on those projects with Modern Records and Melic records ("Stop The Music" by Johnny Wesley) as a free lancer.

Edited January 8, 2014 by RobbK