Taurus & Leo....who were they ?

[Blackpoolsoul]

Firstly, if this has been covered before, I apologise

I found a comment on a blog stating that (by a lady saying she was the daughter) that one of the duo was Mr Melvin Dukes Sr. and her uncle Eddie

Does anyone know please and anything of the label (seems only the one release)

 

 

[Roburt]

I have info on this pairing somewhere & even a gig ad for a show they did back in the day. I'm almost sure (grey cells dying fast) that they were from Cleveland and that the gig ad I have is for a show they did at a Cleveland club (it's not on this computer, so I'll have to search it out).

[Sebastian]

Great 45. Don't know the identities of the vocalists sadly.

There's at least one other 45 on the Velvet Sound label, by Billy Soul:

https://www.45cat.com/record/2685us

[Blackpoolsoul]

1 hour ago, Roburt said:

I have info on this pairing somewhere & even a gig ad for a show they did back in the day. I'm almost sure (grey cells dying fast) that they were from Cleveland and that the gig ad I have is for a show they did at a Cleveland club (it's not on this computer, so I'll have to search it out).

Thanks and I know about very cells...it's affecting a lot of us on here....but what would the" young guns" do without us trawling these things out

[Roburt]

Got 2 bits of info back on them from Clevetown contacts …. 

Harvey Hall-Nickerson --  They were Eddie Woods & Melvin Dukes, older brother of Bobby Dukes . Usually backed by Harvey & The Phenomenals . Eddie Woods was a former singer with Don Gregory & the Montclairs .

Alphonso Boyd -- The Imperial Wonders opened for them at Leo's Casino in Cleveland in 1967 or 1968. I didn't remember where they were from but they put on a hot show. We always made friends with the acts that we opened for in Cleveland, but we knew that Jules Berger was starting to find smaller acts to kick our a** when we began asking for more money.

So my memory isn't deserting me, they were from Cleveland. I'll have to ask Lou Ragland what he recalls about them.

Edited May 2, 2019 by Roburt

[Blackpoolsoul]

22 minutes ago, Roburt said:

Got 2 bits of info back on them from Clevetown contacts …. 

Harvey Hall-Nickerson --  They were Eddie Woods & Melvin Dukes, older brother of Bobby Dukes . Usually backed by Harvey & The Phenomenals . Eddie Woods was a former singer with Don Gregory & the Montclairs .

Alphonso Boyd -- The Imperial Wonders opened for them at Leo's Casino in Cleveland in 1967 or 1968. I didn't remember where they were from but they put on a hot show. We always made friends with the acts that we opened for in Cleveland, but we knew that Jules Berger was starting to find smaller acts to kick our a** when we began asking for more money.

So my memory isn't deserting me, they were from Cleveland. I'll have to ask Lou Ragland what he recalls about them.

Amazing !!! in fact BRILLIANT

[Blackpoolsoul]

2 hours ago, Roburt said:

Got 2 bits of info back on them from Clevetown contacts …. 

Harvey Hall-Nickerson --  They were Eddie Woods & Melvin Dukes, older brother of Bobby Dukes . Usually backed by Harvey & The Phenomenals . Eddie Woods was a former singer with Don Gregory & the Montclairs .

Alphonso Boyd -- The Imperial Wonders opened for them at Leo's Casino in Cleveland in 1967 or 1968. I didn't remember where they were from but they put on a hot show. We always made friends with the acts that we opened for in Cleveland, but we knew that Jules Berger was starting to find smaller acts to kick our a** when we began asking for more money.

So my memory isn't deserting me, they were from Cleveland. I'll have to ask Lou Ragland what he recalls about them.

Found this

"Taurus and Leo were Melvin Dukes (Taurus) and Eddie Woods (Leo) from Cleveland Ohio cut their only disc – “Going Out The World Backwards / I Ain’t Playing Baby”, a Bob Hamilton (Ronnie Savoy) track about 3/69 after they were spotted by Ben Crosby in a show at the Peter Pan Lounge in a show with Pat Lewis. Apparently they were a wow live on stage and the record looked like being there way to the top, but unfortunately at the record launch party they were caught "shooting up"in the toilets with the door open!! (according to Don Mancha --who was involved in the promotion of said disc). Taurus and Leo headed back to Cleveland never to be heard of as a duo again. Eddie later recorded as Eddie Woods and one of his tracks was a Northern Soul Biggie. Dukes (Taurus) died after falling over in his drive and as an Emphysema sufferer was unable to get to his respirator, Woods lives in Indian Hills Seniors Appartment complex and lost an arm several years ago in an accident at a canning factory where he worked in Euclid, Ohio."

[Roburt]

As stated above, Melvin Dukes was Taurus and Eddie Woods was Leo. Their stage names were taken from each guy's astrological signs.

An earlier 45 Eddie was on … 

Edited May 2, 2019 by Roburt

[Roburt]

Got some info back from Lou Ragland too …. I recorded Eddie Woods at Boddies recording studio. Eddie also sang as lead vocalist with Don Gregory and the MontClairs on gigs at the Music Box (club) In Cleveland.

Wonder if that Boddies mastertape still exists … just maybe it was one of the unknown artist tapes that Numero got hold of (& released ?).

[Robbk]

Ronnie Savoy (Eugene Ronald Hamilton) produced them, probably in Detroit, rather than New York, given that Travler Music published the songs, Don Davis and Freddie Pride co-wrote the Billy Soul song on Velvet Sound, and Don Mancha (partner in Travler Music and their associated Detroit Productions on Jack Montgomery and The Honey Bees) did the marketing.  Also, the first pressing of Velvet Sound 367 was pressed and distributed by Don Davis' Solid Hitbound Productions, and was pressed on styrene at Columbia Midwest (Terre Haute, Ind.), where most of Solid Hitbound's records were pressed.  I assume the "Chico" Hamilton listed was yet another AKA of Eugene (Ronny) Hamilton, rather than the well-known Jazz drummer, who had played with Count Basie, and been one of the leading Jazz drummers in the 1950s through the  1970s.  It would have been too much of a coincidence that two different, unrelated Hamiltons, from 2 different genres of music would have written and produced that Velvet Sound record.  I don't think the drummer, Chico Hamilton produced any Soul vocal releases.  Perhaps the "Chico" was an error by the printer, who was a Jazz fan, and hadn't heard of Detroit's Hamilton Brothers.  

Ronnie's brother, Bob Hamilton (AKA Rob Reeco), was the producer on the instrumental on the flip.  The "Hamilton" listed on the writing credits of the Billy Soul Velvet Sound 45 was also Ronnie, rather than Dave Hamilton, quoted by John Manship on YouTube, where he uploaded its soundfile.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Robbk