Roburt

Boba chatted with Billy about his solo recordings just after 48 minutes into the interview ............ .... OF REAL INTEREST ......... Billy says he wrote "Mr. Shy" for Ruby Andrews. Ruby actually cut her version of the song (but it had a different title) !!! .

He (BM) hailed from the Chicago area though I know little else about him. "Mr. Shy" was a local radio hit in November 65. The Flash label was owned by Don Clay who was the manager of St. Lawrence Records in 1965. ......... info off the net ................ Billy's brother was George Mcgregor who recorded "Temptation Is Hard To Fight" for Twil/night ....... The B side of this 45 ("Everytime I Wake Up") featured both George & Billy on vocals. The 45 was reissued by Numero in the recent past ..... https://www.45cat.com/record/twi102

POST #18 ......... the Orig and the so called boot, both have different info on them the boot say`s a div of ABC/Dunhill Duke Records was not sold to ABC-Dunhill until May 73, so it seems strange that a 6 year old non-hit 45 would have been legally repressed by ABC in the US a long time after it had first escaped. Could possibly have been a special repress done to meet UK demand though ... OR ELSE .... a definite bootleg.

Seeing as facts are being disputed concerning another 45 just sold on this auction ...... ..... thought I'd add my twopenny worth .......... RE: Groovettes Think It Over Baby / Ain't A Thing You Can Do About It Philadelphia boy, Billy Jackson’s brief flirt with California Soul gave birth to one of the most-wanted .... Billy Jackson had nothing to do with this recording. It was Philly's Gene Dozier who had been using Billy's name since he had moved to Detroit a while earlier. This was Gene's first record session after relocating to the LA area.

Recorded at Arthur Smith's studio in Charlotte, NC. Smith was a C&W musician who had been writing hit songs since the mid 40's. He opened his studio in Charlotte in 1957. The likes of Pat Boone, Ronnie Milsap, Johnny Cash & loads of country artists cut there, however James Brown recorded "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" there in June 65. The fact that JB cut a big hit there probably led other soul singers (such as Pervis Lee) to use the studio. Think the Pervis Lee track dates from 69 and it was issued on a UK (maybe US) pressed 45 not too long back.

I know segregation was still fully in force in the Carolinas into the early to mid 60's and was only outlawed by federal statute (against local polititian's desires). So mixing of the races hardly ever took place until just prior to the mid 60's. Is that the reason why lots of Carolina based beach groups were all-white outfits if formed prior to say 1963 ? If so, it seems strange to me that soul music was the most preferred genre that they all played.

A Detroit newspaper article about 'lesser known' (to your general US listener) Motown songs ...... https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2014/10/23/motown-playlist/17705513/ Don't think any of them will be unknown to UK based Motown fans.

The Jerry Green on Woodward One could also have been the guy that was a member of the Contours from 1964 to 1967.

Donny singing "Wildflower" with Skylark ...... There are other, more soulful, versions of "Wildflower" out there but it doesn't take away from Donny and his original (hit) version.

The leader of Mavis's backing singer ensemble is usually Donny Gerrard. Donny had big hits when the lead vocalist for Skylark in the 70's and also solo hits on Rocket & Greedy from 1975 to 77. In the UK he is best remembered for his top MS cut "He's Always Somewhere Around" (Greedy: 1976). If he's over with Mavis on this upcoming trip, it would be good if someone could interview him about his own musical career whilst he's here.

Dave also stated ............ The LP track was licensed from Mr Wonderful records ......... Which seems to have been the case (judging by the tracks US label of release) and how come the track ended up on a release from the Edinburgh based label. I guess the US Mr. Wonderful 12" has never surfaced over here in any quantity. I'd put "Secret Admirer" up here but can't find it on youtube.

Dave Thorley said this on another thread ............. ... Just as an aside Jerry Green was from Louisville and a one time member of The Heartbreakers. Jerry ... has a night club in the city to this day and sings there himself weekly. I have started a new thread on Jerry as discussing his track & career wasn't really relevant on the other thread (about Tropical Records). The track that kicked off the discussion was included on the UK 12" LP 'Move Into Soul Vol. 6' This guy's work is covered on at least 3 different Discogs pages ....... https://www.discogs.com/Various-Move-Into-Soul-Part-6/release/3301622 https://www.discogs.com/artist/730121-Jerry-Green-3 https://www.discogs.com/Jerry-Green-Connect/release/1443785 His track "Secret Admirer" escaped in the US on the Wonderful Record label in 1985 and the 12" single's label stated 'from the forthcoming LP' but it didn't seem to be included on Jerry's LP that escaped in 1988. I guess the Jerry Green who had "I Finally Found The Love I Need" out on Detroit based Woodward One Records is a different guy. A picture of Jerry (& friends) at a show undertaken at the Breckinridge Inn in Louisville .........

A while back (couple of years ?) a Lou Ragland track was played on the show .... and B.M. gave a short bio on Lou's recording career ........ not a thing I EVER expected to hear on a mainstream BBC radio show.

Don't get me wrong, your statement was 100% correct, just that the Frank Seay link to this thread stands up (IMHO) but Jerry Green had no actual connection to Tropical Records or their record store.

The St. James Club, where Little Eddie Taylor used to perform back in the day (see post #5 above) was also in the same area as the old record store (post #34) ........... the club being on the corner of 36th St & 2nd Ave (which is just east of I-95 and just south of the Airport Expressway). No idea if any of the buildings on that corner today housed the club or if the club building has been demolished. For most of it's life, the Tropical Record Co. offices / base was out of the same building (as the record shop -- which was located on 7th Ave. adjacent to 50th St) . Wonder which studio they used to record their tracks ? Their building -- 4950 7th St -- looks quite deep but if they kept their old record stock at the back of it, then it doesn't seem likely that they had their own studio located there. The company address on the ad I used to open this thread appears to be 4900 7th Ave .... so either that was a mistake or they moved a few yards up the road quite quickly.

Yep, that was also on 'Move Into Soul 6' along with the Frank Seay cuts (& others) ...... ...... But Jerry Green wasn't from Florida & his track wasn't licensed from the same source (AND so has no real connection to this thread). Frank Seay was still Miami based & he had enjoyed earlier releases on Tropical. Incidentely, I used to assist Move Records with their stuff so have every release from the label. But as the mid 80's was a long time ago, I can no longer recall the full info on these tracks.

That record store was next to the corner of 50th Street just by the I-95 expressway. It's just north of where the I-95 connects to the Airport Expressway (the airport being just South West of the location). I wasn't too far away from it last Thursday as I drove into the rental car park at the airport to return our steed before flying home to the UK. I also used the I-95 road a lot during our stay but not that bit of it (which as already stated is a bit of a dodgy area).

Kegsy, you always told me that you discovered lots of top gear that went down well at niters !!

As implied by the group name (Page Three), this trio were all glamour models who tried for a singing career. Their track was produced & arranged by two ex-members of the Shadows. By all accounts they appeared on TotP on 25/8/1977 to plug this track (no doubt coz they were pleasing on the eye). The 45 was also released in Japan. Can't say I'm at all impressed with their vocals though the cut is quite danceable.

But who was this Al Wilson ?????? ..... The Soul City / Rocky Road / Playboy label guy confirmed it wasn't him when he played Cleggy.

A Baltimore TV show that the 'other' Tempests appeared on in 1967 ...... This outfit were (to the best of my knowledge) an 8 strong white ensemble who were around from 1962 to 1968. They gave up after that as club's found it cheaper to book 4 piece rock bands than this larger outfit. They didn't seem to land too many gigs in Baltimore's black clubs, though they did get a gig up in Ohio as support for the Impressions. Bit of a strange coincidence that both outfits cut tracks at Edgewood Studios in Washington.

It ("Christian People") was released (on US Liberty) in September 1970 so guess it was recorded that summer.

A interview he gave back in 1999 ........... https://one-way.org/jesusmusic/interviews/crouch/interview.htm Andre (Crouch) & the Disciples "Christian People" ..........

I don't think it has been mentioned on here but Andre Crouch passed away on 8th January .... ........ https://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/08/showbiz/andrae-crouch-obit/

I recently bought her book ('I'll Take You There') and am about to start reading it soon.