Roburt

He 'claimed' to be Johnny Taylor's brother BUT Johnny never accepted the claim by all accounts.

RIP Frankie .................

There's more info on Frankie Seay with this youtube video .......... In 1975/ 76 Frankie was playing regular gigs at the Wreck Bar in Castaways Hotel (Nth Miami Beach). His group was called Frankie Seay and the Contact High at that time. Unfortunately Frankie passed away late last month. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ico0mgNEiC4

Another Johnnie Marie 45 outing ............

More action for Tropical Records in August 70 ..... Johnnie Marie Jones was one of the backing singers on Betty Wrights 1974 LP 'Danger High Voltage'.

Eddie Holloway was also still going strong in the 80's ...........

Gem Records was also a Tropical subsiduary label ............. Eddie Holloway had a good 45 out on the label in August 1970 ..... The 45 must have been 'flipped' as the B side was being promoted by local radio jocks that month.

An earlier Rufus Beacham 45 (on Scepter) ...............

'Move Into Soul 6' that contains the mid 80's Frank Seay tracks ....

Another sought after Frank Seay Tropical 45 ......... some of his 60's tracks have ecaped on CD in the last 10 years ....

The Tropical Records that Bobby Williams & the Mar Kings had a 45 out on was a different label based in NE Florida ........ Guess he's the "Funky Super Fly" & "Steal Away" guy (from the 70's) as well.

Tropical Records sub label; Soul Time ............... Rufus Beacham arranged the track.

4' 2" tall Eddie Taylor had one of the early 45's to be released on Tropical. He played loads of club gigs around Miami throughout the 60's. After his Tropical 45, he signed with Peacock & had good releases with them as well. Swamp Dogg last ran in to him in East Elmhurst New York around 68/69. He was appearing at Arthur's club there as the vocalist for the Red Prysock Band (the club being owned by Arthur Prysock, Red's brother). Swamp recalls that Eddie could sing his ass off and the women were crazy about him (seems that despite his size, he was a true ladies man).

Tampa born Rufus Beacham was nearing the end of his recording career when he cut a 45 for Tropical. Rufus was born in December 1930 and had been around (on the recording scene) since the beginning of the 1950's, initially leading his Tampa Toppers band. Ray Charles cut some tracks fronting Rufus's band (orchestra) and Rufus himself had releases on Chart, Sittin' In With, King (mid 50's) & Scepter (early 60's).

With his group, the Soul Riders, Frank made appearances in Miami clubs ............. For a guy that was around on the scene down there for around 20 years & who had a UK release, little seems to be known about him ...

Though Frank Seay was active on the Miami club / recording scene for around 20 years, I know little about him. He did achieve a UK release in the mid 80's, when Move Records (Edinburgh) picked up a track he put out on his own Sawax label. But it's his late 60's funky soul tracks that are the most collectable .......

Has a full discography listing & label ownership / management / studio info / producer details been compiled for Miami based Tropical Records. Just about all the releases (that I know of) on the label are sought after .............. 3 x Frank Seay & the Soul Riders, (Little) Eddie Taylor, Rufus Beacham, Treetop & the Soul Branches, the Charles Vickers LP, etc. The company also had a subsibuary label; Soul Time. But I only know the Alberta Walker 45 on that inking. The company was owned by a Willard M. Bailey and the likes of Swamp Dogg (Jerry Willliams) & Clarence Reid worked with the artists involved. The label operated out of three addresses that I know of; 4900 & 4950 NW 7th Avenue plus 1099 NW 3rd Avenue. I believe they operated from the mid 60's through to 1985 (at least a record store using the name was still going strong) though the owner met an early death at the hands of local Miami gangsters (drugs & money being the cause of the dispute that resulted in him being mudered I believe).

Casino .. Billboard; 1975 .......... https://books.google.com.cy/books?id=MREEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA63&dq=%22Wigan+Casino%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pzGyUIbTLMXIswajxIDABg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Wigan%20Casino%22&f=false Casino ... Billboard; 1978 ......... Casino Classics really .... https://books.google.com.cy/books?id=hSQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT68&dq=%22Wigan+Casino%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HjKyUP6MPInxsgbY94CwAg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAQ

This one's pretty tricky to find (Charlie Brown) ....not many of these around Greg that wouldn't be by Charlie 'Cole Black' Brown who was lead singer of the Violinaires would it ?? I really like his 'limited release' Jewel 45 (the main pressing of which was organised by Garry Cape here in the UK) ..... ....... Garry said "I remember one time when I was in Shreveport in the late 80s, I visited with Stan and he showed me the masters listing - there were many many more Chicago recordings that he had the rights to. At that time I was a record-dealer and so didn't show too much interest in them (!!) - but I did get the Charlie 'Cole Black' Brown pressed - previously it had only been available on a Jewel demo - I had it released on a slightly lighter coloured Jewel label.... " Garry also commented "very very irritating thing is that they showed me the masters register, and it showed 4 tracks by Charlie Cole Black Brown - but in those days I was more interested in 45s than in masters and as they didn't have the audio readily to hand I never got to hear what the other 2 tracks were - but having been cut at the same session, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise if they were pretty good ........ In the years since, I've tried to track them down - but change of ownerships of the masters means it has been a frustrating failure....."

Steady on Bob , I'm an old Yorkshireman & not a pretty sight without full clothing.

Anybody know anything about Nancy that Billy Wells (& his group) worked with at Mercede ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KJwBGChLc0 I'm a bit restricted on what searches I can do myself at the moment as I'm in Cyprus lapping up the sun.

As Bob said, Billy Wells was very involved with Mercede Records (Florida) from late 71 for around 2/3 years. He wrote songs for them, recorded for them & worked with some of their other artists. The label was run by John & Dee Mercede from Ft Lauderdale. John & Dee were related (kids ?) of local property developer Frank Mercede.

Perhaps the label owner was this guy ........ WARREN, OHIO - Lawrence ''Larry'' Capito Sr., 83, died Friday, May 28, 2010, at Windsor Liberty Health Care Center. He was born Nov. 20, 1926, in Warren, the son of Paul and Matilda DeNittis Capito. He retired from the General Motors assembly plant as a dingman after 18 years. Before that, he worked as a cement finisher for Mathews Concrete Co. He was a member of St. Mary Church and enjoyed making wine. He was a Navy veteran of World War II, serving from Dec. 1, 1944, to Dec. 22, 1945. I know Warren is near to Cleveland and not Detroit, but maybe Donald McCants was related to the 'Ohio' McCants (Chicago Gangsters, Rumple-Stilts-Skin, Ivy, Heat Records, etc).

Jesse Boyce “The Musician” ............ Jesse Boyce is a phenomenal musician and North Carolina native, whose musical odyssey began with classical vocal training in his elementary and high school years, has studied classical piano, organ, electric bass, guitar, and drums at Sterling High in Greenville, South Carolina. …......... lifted from …..... https://www.nashville...file/JesseBoyce ........... He's also on Facebook Spartanburg, South Carolina is at the centre of the Tex(tile) town area of the Carolinas (being at the very north end of Sth Carolina State). It's the next town along from Greenville (where Jesse got his musical education). ... so I'd guess it's a fair bet that Jesse was in the early versions of the Tex Town Review (& maybe in the Dynamic Showmen as well).

Will this one do ?? It looks a bit weird but I guess that's more down to the graphic artist that Jerry Butler employed than anything else ........