Ringleaders Interview + Sitting In The Park Music Show

[boba]

Hi. Today on my radio show I did a short interview with a member of the soul group the Ringleaders. I also did a music show. Both are online.

The Ringleaders were from Saginaw, a small Michigan manufacturing city that was the birthplace of both Stevie Wonder and LJ Reynolds of the Dramatics. The Ringleaders formed in 1964. A year later the group left the city to try to get a record deal. Failing to get a deal in Detroit, the group traveled to Chicago and went to the different companies on record row. The group signed with Ernie Leaner at One-Der-Ful records. The group recorded four songs in one session in Chicago. In 1966, "Let's start over" / "Baby what has happened to our love" was released on M-Pac records (a division on One-Der-Ful). Despite being an excellent two-sider that got local radio play (both on the ballad side and the uptempo side), the group's followup single was never released. The group returned to Saginaw and did only a couple of shows (including a show opening up for the Four Tops) before breaking up. Today "Baby what has happened to our love" is highly collectible as a Northern Soul single in the UK and the studio acetates the group's unreleased tracks ("All of my life" and "Win you over") have sold for large amounts of money.

You can listen to my interview at:

https://www.sittinginthepark.com/interviews.html

I also did a music show. You can listen to the music part of my show at:

https://www.sittinginthepark.com/9-14-2008.mp3

Playlist follows. Thanks for your interest.

Richard Popcorn Wylie - Do you still care for me? - Epic

Freddie Butler - I'm gonna be with you - M+M

Diplomats - Cards on the table - Arock

Uniques - Pretty baby - 620

Rocky Brown - Den of love - Melron

Charmers - I cried - Laurie

Resonics - I'm really in love - Lucky Token

Sonics - This broken heart - Checker

Hi C's - Just how it is - Hi C

O'Jays - Look over your shoulder - Bell

Milton Floyd - I'm a shadow - Rim

Burke Family - Under the spell - Cobblestone

Brotherly Love - I don't see me in your eyes anymore - Music Merchant

Cheryl Williams - I'm your fool - Bengee

Al Jay - Reflections - Bumpshop

Night Riders - Girls in the city - Eclipse

Delfonics - Seventeen and in love - Philly Groove

Fourth Creation - I think I would cry - Daran

[Prophonics 2029]

Thanks Bob for putting the Links up on the show and the hard work you put in on the interview.

[boba]

Thanks Bob for putting the Links up on the show and the hard work you put in on the interview.

thanks

[Djmelismo]

Hi Bob!

Thanks as always for posting soundfile + playlist.

Stand-out tracks for me this time were:

Brotherly Love - "I don't see me in your eyes anymore"

and O'Jays - "Look over your shoulder".

The O`Jays PIR output is amazing

but also very much love those early

pre-PIR recordings. Been listening to

some of their best Minit and Bell stuff

during the last few days.

Best regards

Melismo

[arnie j]

Hi. Today on my radio show I did a short interview with a member of the soul group the Ringleaders. I also did a music show. Both are online.

The Ringleaders were from Saginaw, a small Michigan manufacturing city that was the birthplace of both Stevie Wonder and LJ Reynolds of the Dramatics. The Ringleaders formed in 1964. A year later the group left the city to try to get a record deal. Failing to get a deal in Detroit, the group traveled to Chicago and went to the different companies on record row. The group signed with Ernie Leaner at One-Der-Ful records. The group recorded four songs in one session in Chicago. In 1966, "Let's start over" / "Baby what has happened to our love" was released on M-Pac records (a division on One-Der-Ful). Despite being an excellent two-sider that got local radio play (both on the ballad side and the uptempo side), the group's followup single was never released. The group returned to Saginaw and did only a couple of shows (including a show opening up for the Four Tops) before breaking up. Today "Baby what has happened to our love" is highly collectible as a Northern Soul single in the UK and the studio acetates the group's unreleased tracks ("All of my life" and "Win you over") have sold for large amounts of money.

You can listen to my interview at:

https://www.sittinginthepark.com/interviews.html

I also did a music show. You can listen to the music part of my show at:

https://www.sittinginthepark.com/9-14-2008.mp3

Playlist follows. Thanks for your interest.

Richard Popcorn Wylie - Do you still care for me? - Epic

Freddie Butler - I'm gonna be with you - M+M

Diplomats - Cards on the table - Arock

Uniques - Pretty baby - 620

Rocky Brown - Den of love - Melron

Charmers - I cried - Laurie

Resonics - I'm really in love - Lucky Token

Sonics - This broken heart - Checker

Hi C's - Just how it is - Hi C

O'Jays - Look over your shoulder - Bell

Milton Floyd - I'm a shadow - Rim

Burke Family - Under the spell - Cobblestone

Brotherly Love - I don't see me in your eyes anymore - Music Merchant

Cheryl Williams - I'm your fool - Bengee

Al Jay - Reflections - Bumpshop

Night Riders - Girls in the city - Eclipse

Delfonics - Seventeen and in love - Philly Groove

Fourth Creation - I think I would cry - Daran

hi boba,great website, i think you are doing a wonderful job in preserving this musical history which is so important to us, thanks for all yr time and effort

[Guest inspirations001]

thanks,i was gonna have early night, but now i'm hooked and will be here til 3.00am!!! seriously, what an awesome show,goodness knows how you track all these artists down, but you must be congratulated on your detection work. well done and keep up the great works. have enough stuff here to last a few months!

[boba]

thanks,i was gonna have early night, but now i'm hooked and will be here til 3.00am!!! seriously, what an awesome show,goodness knows how you track all these artists down, but you must be congratulated on your detection work. well done and keep up the great works. have enough stuff here to last a few months!

thanks everyone for the feedback, I appreciate it. A lot of these people are very difficult to find, it takes detective work, word of mouth, and sometimes being in the right place at the right time.

To Melismo: all the o'jays bell sides are awesome, you should check them out. Look over your shoulder is classic, there is a nice version that george kerr did with the escorts also, and there is also the apparently original version by the implements on phillips. I saw the O'Jays live at a free show in Chicago about 5-6 years ago, they started to do look over your shoulder and they stopped because the crowd wasn't into it and only wanted to hear 70s material. I was pissed. They were still great though.

[Prophonics 2029]

Hi Bob how is Vandy.

I am sure we all wish him well and thank him for his time, a fabulous insight into one of the most prolific but obscure Ondereful M-Pact labels.

I am constantly finding new great tunes on them.

Edited September 16, 2008 by Prophonics 2029