Roburt

Back in the day, guys in groups who had local / national hits even kept their day jobs coz they had families (like Eula who's husband has been fighting cancer for some time). If you had a family, the odd tour + local gigs were too haphazard to fund their normal lifestyle. Guys have even quit hit groups coz the group had accepted a big tour gig & one guy couldn't get time off & also couldn't afford to loose their job. When the Masqueraders played Prestatyn, their lead singer stayed in the US to keep his 'truck driving' job. For the guys (who still play regular gigs in Memphis clubs) this was their biggest / best gig in 30 years so for Lee Jones to 'give it up' can't have been an easy decision ... ... but in the real world, keeping everyday finances in order is the main thing. In the UK, we have quite friendly welfare / medical rules. They do not in the US. There if you fall on hard times, the rich there will just say.... serves you right, pull yourself out of the problem, get a job, I'm not helping, you're a waster.

Joe Tex also had a dynamic stage show from an early stage .... he also claimed that JB pinched some of his 'trademark' stage moves. I'll ask Kenny Hamber about Jackie Wilson & Little Willie John's stage acts. He was inspired to join show biz as a singer after seeing live shows by the 2 guys at the Royal Theater in Baltimore in late 50's / early 60's. He did tell me that Jackie Wilson was 'super impressive' on stage but I didn't go into detail on why he thought that and also didn't aslk him about LWJ's stage act.

.... MORE ..... Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Willy Waller, and Kell Osborne, as the Cavaliers, sang in local talent shows with other up-and-coming Birmingham, AL, artists including Frederick Knight, Barbara Lomax (B.T. Express), and Richard Fisher (Jive Five). Kendricks and Williams moved to Cleveland, OH, in the late '50s and also performed around that area. The pair then hooked up with Cleveland natives Paul Hayes and Fred Fluellen but the ensemble never recorded. With nothing happening in Cleveland, manager Milton Jenkins took over the reins and persuaded Williams and Kendricks to move to Detroit. Kell Osborne joined them in Detroit; it's unclear whether Waller also moved up from Birmingham to join them in the motor city, but Detroiters don't recall him being on the scene. Jenkins next renamed the trio, the Primes. Kendricks & Williams both worked (back of house) at a hotel in Cleveland. In quiet times at the hotel, they would practise their singing. After getting the couple of locals to join them, they honed their harmony singing and even got to perform shows at the hotel where they worked in the city. Somewhere (!?!) I have the name of the hotel they worked in & may even have a photo of them taken there.

The (RCA) Cavaliers / Fellas cutting for Gemini Star Records would certainly seem right, time scale wise .... ... though unless those recordings were put out under another group name, they didn't seem to escape from the tape vaults ... ......... anything much known about the Constellations ??

The Cavaliers / Fellas after David Ruffin signed a solo deal back with Motown .... .... guess the label name should have read Gemini Star ...

David Ruffin & the Cavaliers .............

The Ko-Ko Lounge in DC ............

A photo of the Cavaliers .....

The DC based Cavaliers outside a Washington club ....

The RCA Cavaliers teamed up with David Ruffin after he was booted out of the Temptations. They became his 'Fellas' & even played live gigs with David until Motown got him to return as a solo artist ....

The RCA (Detroit) set of Cavaliers & a 1967 45 release .....

Another outfit that used the name in the 60's .... .... this lot had some hits (but weren't soul related at all) ....

Another scan that shows info on the 62 Cavaliers 45 .....

1962 >> the Cavaliers (with Lloyd Nash) on Gum .... (sorry its a poor quality scan but you can just about make stuff out on it) ...

A bit on the 61 Cavaliers .... Anyone know anything more about them ?

The 1961 Cavaliers ................

So the 1958 group recorded in New York .... .... & were the group that included a white guy ...

Down the years there have been a number of outfits that have used the name .... the Cavaliers ..... as soul fans we are mainly interested in the 1960's outfits that used the name but the others do make the facts surrounding the various groups harder to pin down. There were singing groups using the neme as far back as the 40's, more in the 50's & yet more in the 60's ..... .... this is an attempt at sorting them all out ............. As there were many sets of 'Cavaliers', here's info on a few of them ..... A photo of the DC based Cavaliers (taken outside a DC club where they had performed) will follow shortly. If I recall correctly, the Detroit related (RCA) Cavaliers included the brother of a Temptation (Paul Williams?) and were the group that became the Fellas that supported David Ruffin after he was kicked out of the Temptations. Not got the info with me at present but will sort it out & paste it here if no one else has it. Neither the Detroit connected or DC outfits had a white guy in their line-up, the photo of the group showing a white guy in the line-up is yet another version using the name (see later ad). ALSO ... the guys who helped form the Temptations, when they were still down in Birmingham, call themselves the Cavaliers for at least a couple of years (but didn't record under the name). A full run-down of the various groups who called themselves the Cavaliers should be drawn up & this is my attempt at making a start. The 1958 group .................

I really want to see a Japanese 45 label scan for "The Jerks" by Larks !!!!! The list also contains "Boogaloo Down Broadway" by Paul Revere & the Raiders .... so I guess it contains a few other errors.

BTW, I'm only interested in the soul 45's on the list ...............

Here's a list of all the non-Japanese recorded 45's that were hits in Japan ..... .... so I guess all of them should be quite easy to find copies of !!! So have our 'Japanese issued 45' collectors got a copy of them all ??

The Detroit related Cavaliers, who had backed up David Ruffin as his 'Fellas' were predicted to be the 'next big thing' ..... ..... but it never happened as they were dropped by their 'handlers' and no recordings were released.

Well I posted that 'outside the DC club' photo on SDF about 2/3 years ago ..... maybe you copied it from there. I seem to recall someone related to a member of that group posting on the SDF thread (but the memory is shot, so I may be wrong). Ady also has info on the Cavaliers but I think his 'record keeping system' is even more chaotic than mine.

...Have you ever had or heard of any tape recordings from actual 'original' TW nights, Brasennose Street or Whitworth Street? NO, portable cassettes weren't really around till the end of the 60's & then they were a bit 'cutting edge' and no doubt no one thought of taking them along to a niter with them.

There were more than one set of 'Cavaliers'. I have a photo (on an old computer) of the DC based Cavaliers (taken outside a DC club where they had performed). If I recall correctly, the other Cavaliers included the brother of a Temptation (Paul Williams?) and were the group that became the Fellas that supported David Ruffin after he was kicked out of the Temptations. Not got the info with me at present but will sort it out & paste it here if no one else has it. The Cavaliers story is complicated coz of the fact there was more than one group that used the name. I don't recall either the Detroit connected or DC outfits having a white guy in their line-up, so the photo of the group shown above may be yet another version. ALSO ... didn't the guys who helped form the Temptations, when they were still down in Birmingham, call themselves the Cavaliers for at least a couple of years. A full run-down of the various groups who called themselves the Cavaliers could do with being drawn up. Also more than one set of Millionaires & Poets (didn't the Main Ingredient or similar group start out as a set of 'Poets'). Didn't the Mayfield Singers include Donny Hathaway & LeRoy Hutson in their line-up. I think the Nabay story is known (wasn't he of arab descent or sumat similar).