Roburt

Of course, the guys from the successful film division always kept an overview of things at the record label. Film execs knew the value of a star name and so decided to land one for the record label. Mary Wells was in dispute with Berry Gordy at Motown and so she was poached in summer 1964. She was tempted to the label by a large 'signing-on fee' plus the carrot of possible roles in films and so she duly joined the label. Though top record producers & songwriters were hired to cut tracks on her, none really repeated the level of success she had enjoyed at Motown (though she did have 2 R&B Top 20 hits early in 65 -- "Use Your Head" & "Never, Never Leave Me"). By the end of 1965, she had moved on to Atlantic and the label was left without a figurehead artist again.

The thread about the Cornelius Dwyer 45 got me thinking what a strange concern 20th Century (Fox) Records was. 20th Century Fox was (of course) originally a large successful film company. They had movie soundtracks & songs from popular films under their ownership plus of course they ran the 20th Century Fox Symphony Orchestra that provided the background soundtrack on films as well as playing a few live gigs in LA. The film executives wanted to exploit the music they had under their control more effectively and (as records were selling in much greater numbers by the mid to late 50's), they started a record company division in 1958 (20th Century Records). In 1963, this was renamed 20th Century Fox Records. Although the parent company was Hollywood based, they decided to set up the record labels HQ in New York (where many big record companies had their home base). Even though they set on an experienced team to run the record label, they struggled to make a massive impact (hit wise). So around spring 1966 they re-organised the management, the old guys moving on and a new team taking over. This didn't really seem to work and the label soon went into hibernation for a few months. However in July 1966 they re-established the record label's west coast office and poached Jackie Mills from Mainstream Records to act as A&R chief. At the same time, Seymour Poe (Exec VP of the film division) signed a deal for ABC Records to act as distributor for the label. Things got going again in 1967 with product being sourced by both the NY and LA offices of the label. Once again however, the label failed to make money and after initially closing the west coast office (which Calif's Jesse James had been signed to), in 1970 the parent company shut the label down again. But the record biz was very lucrative back then and so the film guys decided it was worth another try in 1972. This time, they did manage to get lots of success, mainly from April 1973 onwards with the likes of Barry White spearheading the hits they enjoyed. BUT back to 1966 ........ as the label was fading away back then, it's releases became more random. TV had become big and was having more impact than film, so I guess the film guys got involved again and as a result 'Batman' Adam West was signed to a record deal in March 66. A 45 followed around April and this had the Catalogue No. # 627. The Cornelius Dwyer 45 became 20th Century Fox 45 # 637 not too long afterwards ... this must have been one of the last 45 releases by the failing label (which probably accounts for its rarity .... does issue copies exist ??). Of course, with 20th Century being a strong international company, the label had numerous overseas licensing deals. So loads of stuff from the label escaped around the world, many via the deal they had done with EMI (who placed the releases on its Stateside label in various countries). Anyone here have a list of the last 45's the label released and when in 1966 these escaped ???

Deffo, some real duffers there.

Can't help with a large format 60's piccy of her (though no doubt there are decent quality photos of her in that era in an old Cleggy Weekender programme or in the CD booklet that goes with a Kent CD). Adey / Ace will certainly have one. I've dozens of decent photos of her takem at various UK shows but they're from a much later period than you require. HOWEVER ......... here's one of her when she signed to Jubilee in 1968 (when "The Hurt Is Just Beginning" was due out on Josie) ...... ........ in piccy with her is Jubilee's Tommy Smalls (ex NY radio DJ Dr Jive) ...............

I guess Keith Jones owned / ran Key -Jo Records. Did any other artists have releases on the label ? A less souful outing from Alvin ......

Was very popular (US R&B chart Top 20 / Pop Top 40) and sold (in US / UK) over an extended period. Guess it was pressed in more than one plant on a number of occasions, so it should be available in various incarnations.

I like (& have) all 3 versions ......... Dells is the best IMHO ...

His summer 1970 outing on Pin Point Records ...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZsFsLx-lQM

His Action(-Ville) Records outing from spring 1967 ......

Is much at all known about Alvin Christy who was active on the New York recording scene from the early / mid 60's through to the early 70's .... He made dance themed, northern & funk tracks for the Key-Jo, Action & Pin Point labels............

It ain't that rare on 7", there were quite a few copies about at the time of its release. Of course, most who now seek copies weren't interested in it back then. I got a couple of copies for just pence and also a 12" copy (though that mix is crap compaired to the 7" version). Still got 1 copy of both the 7 & 12 somewhere here.

Swamp got back to me with a quick piece of related info ............. He states that he worked quite a bit with Matt Parsons in the early 60's -- they wrote songs and produced tracks together. Sometimes Matt used Nostrap instead of his real name to ID some of that work. Some examples of artists they worked with were Little Jerry (Williams), J.D. Bryant, Freddie Houston, Tony Middleton, etc. ........... PLUS of course, Witches & the Warlock ...... below a scan of their BRA 45 ..........

I've asked Swamp Dogg (Jerry Williams) to send his thoughts back to the 60's to try to pull up his recollections on the group & his work with them. ........ He says he's gonna get back to me & I'll pass along what he reports. As an opener, he tells me he has enough tracks (under his juristiction) to put out an album full of their (the Witches & a Warlock) tracks and has been considering doing this recently ...... SOUNDS MOST INTERESTING ......... Swamp was involved with the Miami based BRA label and so no doubt he had something to do with "Behind Locked Doors" appearing as a release on the label.

The live LP they made together didn't really capture the atmosphere of their live shows (or even the true sound of the songs they played). Together, they made great music. The Senate were massive fans of US soul singers and backed many of them on UK tours. I got the LP back when it was first released but have always been a bit disappointed in what it contains ......... but that's 'by the by'. I saw Garnett a few times back then live (1966/67). He toured at least twice (probably 3 times) and we caught him on the Saville Theatre show plus on club dates. My old Dony mate, Tom Sleight, even went to see him twice in 2 days (at the Nite Owl on Sat 23rd Sept 67 & at the Mojo on Sunday 24th Sept). Garnett had noticed him down front at the Nite Owl & pointed him out to the Mojo audience as being back to see him again so soon afterwards (it had been the 2nd last Mojo allniter ever on the Saturday night & I just coudln't miss that event, so only got to see Garnett on the Sunday show). I was one of the 'in crowd' at the Mojo (knowing Pete Stringfellow's brother Geoff well), so got to visit the dressing room before the show to chat with Garnett. He was a really nice guy but had no real idea about the UK soul scene or who his fans were or even how we got to know his tracks so well. ANYWAY, live he was great. "Looking For You" was just a 'throw-away' B side back then so he didn't perform it in his live show. He did however do great versions of "Its Been Such A Long Way Home" & "I'll Take Good Care Of You" + others I can't be sure of now (the LP isn't to hand to check what he sang). It was still very special back then to get to see one of our 'top idols' perform live and I'm just glad I got to witness him (in his prime) a couple of times.

Greg, I visited your Facebook site a few weeks back after clicking on the clip of the Caffey Bros 45 you posted up here -- some great tracks are up there. I've been a member of the Southern Soul Forum for 15+ years and members there have become firm friends in that time. So much so, that a few of the SS listies that are gospel fans / experts have made me CD-R's of obscure tracks down the years. I knew (some) folk over on that forum would be very interested in your site, so I posted up a message (that included a link to the site) about the page. Quite a few SSers checked it out & a few even posted replies saying how fantastic the page is. ....... KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

There's an obit for Damon Harris in todays 'I' newspaper (UK). It states he joined the Tempts when they were 'in flux' and the only founder members left were Mervin Franklin, Otis Williams & DENNIS EDWARDS !!!! It also states that Otis was against Damon joining the group, though that is contradicted elsewhere. 'Damon' was born OTIS Harris and changed his stagename to Damon so as not to cause confusion within the group with OTIS Williams. MAYBE this fact might partially explain the false reports over the weekend of OTIS Williams' passing. The 'I' might have got things wrong but they do seem to have more correct info up on the Independent newspapers web page ................ https://www.independe...ns-8508643.html

No doubt Chuck's version was cut around 1970 and was viewed by the Motown studio team as 'just another throwaway track' they had him record. Chuck was 'badly served' at Motown especially as Smokey had pestered him for some time to leave Wand and sign with BG's company (mainly coz CJ & SR were great friends & Chuck always sold out his numerous shows at the 20 Grand). So to give him 2nd class material & 'old songs ' was nothing less than an insult. I'm sure Chuck could have ''killed' this song given the right condition,s as very few other singers had his vocal prowess & power.

Yes, I was right ......... I posted a Wayne Cochran gig ad up on the 'Old Miami Soul Shows' thread. ........... it's post # 125 on the thread (Page 3 of the thread's many pages)

To find the (US) ebay page .............. just select the Entertainment memorabilia section & then type in ..... Motown Northern Soul Legends: Signed Print ....... & the page will come up. It has been posted on ebay by .......... drewkj ......... so I suppose you could also use his ID as a search prompt.

There's a thread on the Soulful Detroit Forum about Funk Brother Eddie Willis needing help getting the airfare for him to go to LA for an upcoming Funk Bros 'Hollywood star' award ceremony. The thread has a link that takes you to an ebay page where a CD & signed poster are being auctioned to raise the sum necessary. I'd post the link to the SDF thread & the ebay page up but unfortunately I'm on a 'hotels'computer that doesn't allow me to copy & paste stuff like that. I'm sure some other SSourcer can post up the required links.

Yes, he was famous in the US, though mainly on the R&B circuit. He was based 'darn south' and played lots of shows in Miami (an ad for his shows is on the Óld Miami Shows' thread I think). .... but .... he also played gigs all across the US including at the Apollo in New York.

I thought Sew City was run by Matt Parsons (who had been associated with Scepter / Wand, Vee Jay, Capitol, Golden World, Motown, Atlantic & Laurie). Matt went on to have top jobs with King, Capitol & Polydor through the 70's. Mind you, Carl Proctor was also with Scepter / Wand at the same time, so perhaps they set up Sew City together. Proctor was with Farem Productions by 1970; the outfit that ran the Right-On label.

How come "Behind Locked Doors" came out on both Sew City & on Miami based BRA ???

Been mentioned before recently (on another thread).

Would think that the B&S's have some value + some of your early NME's. The others I wouldn't know but maybe to a pop fan.