The main people involved with Marquee Records were originally Tom Shannon, Nick Ameno and Carl Cisco. That was when the original orange label was in use. A second later series with a purple label saw record distributor, label owner, publisher and eventual owner of Westbound Records, Armen Boladian, involved. It was he who owned the master tapes. Sadly, his memory isn't the best for the minutiae of the 60s recording world and the Tommy Smiley track seems to be a one-off record that they cut. Not surprisingly, it's very heavily influenced by the late 60s Motown groups the Four Tops and the Temptations. Co-written and arranged by Detroit musical virtuoso Dale Warren, it's a tough record to find - and collectors aren't selling.
Amazingly, since writing that last paragraph, a plea on Soulful Detroit Forum was responded to and it turns out that Tommy is living and recording in Estonia, of all places. A biography of him tells us that he's originally from Mississippi but moved up to Detroit to study singing, which is where he cut this disc. He then worked on club dates and recordings in Memphis with Hayes and Porter, and in 1977 RCA produced an album called "We've Got Love" on him, recorded in that city at Ardent studios with top Memphis session men. His next career move was as a Platter in the World Platters, one of the group's many incarnations. No doubt, it was while touring with them that he ended up in Europe, first in Germany and now Estonia. Tommy Smiley & Estonian Friends "You're The One For Me" is his latest CD.
Way more info than you'll ever need. I didn't know about the Al Kent one though, where did that info come from? I can use it when we put out the flip! On the CD the sound is from a very good master tape so snap that up too!
Ady