Roburt

............ MORE INFO on Jasper 'Syng' McGowan ......... Born around 1925/26, Jasper was first jailed in 1948/49. Eventually, Jasper joined a singing 'convict' group in jail & they were dubbed the 'Wayward Sons'. This quartet started to perform, in & out of prison and became known nationally. McGowan, in conjunction with cellmate (& fellow group member) Russell Quarles also started to write songs (by the mid 60's, they had penned 450 together). Jasper must have gotten out of jail after serving much of the full term on his 1st conviction .... but was found guilty of an armed robbery offence & sent back 'inside' in 1958. Jasper's case was taken up in 1962 by Mrs Betty Feldman. Betty Feldman was a big business woman (real estate) in Baltimore & she worked for 2 charitable Foundations that helped prisoners (B'Nai Brith & Robert Linder Foundation). She was unwell in Dec 62 and this news made it into the local papers. Seeing this, Jasper sent her a get well card and the two started to correspond. At the time, Jasper was working in the prison's woodwork shop as a cabinet maker (whilst also schooling the group and dveloping their harmony singing). Betty took up Jasper's case & eventually managed to win him a re-trail (on the 2nd offence) in 1964. In November 64, the group (Jasper -- 39 years old & serving 15 + 5 + 5 yrs for armed robbery; Russell Quarles -- 35 years old & serving 20 years for robbery; John Madison -- 23 yrs old & serving 30 yrs for murder/ robbery; Archie Shaw -- 35 yrs old & serving 20 yrs for larceny. The 4 were accompanied on guitar by James Richardson -- serving life) performed at a big concert staged at Maryland Penitentiary. The group had already cut 2 songs with the help of Louis Mills of Record Manufacturers Inc. When his re-trail came up, Jasper was described as a model prisoner who was leader of the singing quartet, the Wayward Sons. He won that appeal but was not released from Maryland Penitentiary as he still had some time to serve on his first offence (also a robbery for which he had received a 10 year sentence) -- he had obviously been let out of jail on parole on the 1st offence). A re-trail on the 1st robbery conviction was asked for, also granted & when the Maryland State Attorney decided not to press on with the case, Jasper was released on 21st September 1965. He patched things up with his wife, though info on her is scant (apart from her being named as Mrs. McGowan when she later attended court at his trials). The group (2 other members -- Archie Shaw, John Madison -- were out on parole) started to perform shows around the Baltimore area, including one at the Winchester St Armory on November 20th (65). He went into the studio, together with the other guys in the Wayward Sons, and had cut at least 6 tracks for Hope Records by June 1966. The initial two songs recorded by the group were "How Will I Know" & "Not Sympathy". A 45 under his name (Syng McGowan) had escaped on Hope ("How Will I Know" & "Not Sympathy") and a 3rd 45 (again on Hope but credited just to Syng McGowan) ("Just In The Nick of Time") was released on May 5th, 1967. To celebrate the release of this record, Jasper 'borrowed' a case of beer worth $5 and so ended up in court again soon afterwards. Sent down for a further 13 months, he again emerged from jail in June 68. He still couldn't stay on the 'straight & narrow' and in November 68 took part in the armed robbery of a bar in Owings Mills, a suburb to the north-west of Baltimore city. He was sentenced to a further term of 8 years and thus ended his recording career.

(That) DRIVING BEAT DRIVING WHEEL SOUL INSPIRATION SOUL & INSPIRATION SOUL BONES SOUL HEAVEN SOUL MARCH SOUL POWER SOUL PRIDE SOUL PROVIDER SOUL SHADOWS SOUL(ful) STRUT .... all song titles ..... OR ....... SOUL RACING SOUL PERFORMANCE SOUL SEDAN SOUL TORQUE DRIVING SOUL

More ............. a 1965 show in Baltimore ........

It seems that it wasn't Phil Flowers ..........

Alphonso co-wrote (with Mickey Stevenson) the song "WHAT GOOD AM I WITHOUT YOU" published by STONE AGATE MUSIC ......... it was recorded by Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston ..... ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPWjZkNNqi0 Most likely Aphonso wrote the song & Mickey 'added bits' when MG&KW cut it in the studio; so Mickey claimed part composer rights.

Phil Flowers was DC based (... & his son -- who also sings -- now lives & performs in Vegas). Numbers was a big thing in clubs / bars on Pennsylvannia Ave. in Baltimore in the 1960 / 70's. It seems that 4 other people were convicted (& went to prison) with Higdon in October 1966 ... HOWEVER ... there were problems with the police evidence and at least one of them (Higdon himself I think) was released on appeal in February 67. In the 70's, I seem to recall that the guy who ran Burman Records went down for a similar offence.

MsPorsh, if you can get us the facts on his singing career & post them on here, that would be great. Due to his group's name, there is much confusion about which recordings actually feature him and which were made by the other versions of the Four Bars. Also, when & why he went solo (1965 ?). Where was he based (New York after Baltimore / DC). How he was signed to Stroud Productions / Ninandy Records (connected to Nina Simone) .... and ... when he gave up on his singing career. ......... MANY THANKS

Martha Reeves played a free show in Rochdale last weekend ..... & she's doing the same this Saturday night in Hull (down on the Pier) ........ see here .... https://www.freedomfestival.co.uk/ https://www.freedomfestival.co.uk/freedom-music/pier-stage/martha-reeves-the-vandellas/

No doubt some of the tracks tipped by these radio station guys went on to become regional breakouts in summer 1968 ....

Another Linda Jones related Loma Records ad ......... .... and her 45 was being played on WMBM in Miami in the summer of 68 ..... Another mention for Linda ...........

From a US TV show recorded in 1971 ....... 'Mr. Excitement' sings "Higher & Higher" ..... ..... jump foward on the video to 13 minutes 50 seconds in ... .. as was usual in the mid to late 60's & early 70's; he performs it much faster here than his actual recording of the song ...... He then does "Lonely Teardrops" ......... he's on for over 4 minutes in all ..... ENJOY .........

In Dukes later years, Don Robey was casting his net far & wide to get people to work for him. By 1970, Gene Dozier had returned to Philly (after time in Detroit & LA) and was working with Gamble & Huff on Atlantic & Neptune stuff. Gene started some new collaborations while there (producing "Silly, Silly Fool" cut by Dusty Springfield with Roland Chambers), but he mainly worked with Bunny Sigler and Phil Hurtt. They wrote, performed and produced together, either as a pair or a trio. Gene and Bunny produced "Wild Child" on Carl Carlton which was released in April 1971 (Backbeat 619) and at the same time Duke Records licensed "Keep My Baby Cool" credited to Hot Chocolate for release (Duke 467). Hot Chocolate were in fact Dozier / Sigler / Hurtt and the track was the result of some studio experimentation. They had cut an uptempo backing track which was then played back at a slower speed and vocals (by Sigler / Hurtt) were added to it (this grouping wrote other songs together -- "Picture Us" which was later recorded by Bunny himself being one of them). (Eu)gene told me that Robey had been trying to sell Duke since 1971 & Gene used his LA contacts to get word to the management at ABC that the Duke set-up could be theirs. Just how big a role Gene actually played in setting the deal up I have no real idea, but he did 'big up' his role in getting the ball rolling on the deal.

Well, I quite enjoyed it. It had shortcomings but 99% of movies do.

Dionne's original version ........

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/19451047 ......... "I Say A Little Prayer" ........ Reffa ....

Yet another gem ........... .. the plaintive "Don't Make Me Over" ...

Another one of their great songs ......... ... this time handled by Chuck Jackson ........ ... "The Breakin Point" ....

Hal David, who in conjunction with Burt Bacharach, wrote some of the best 60's songs has passed away. R. I. P. "Reach Out For Me" ..........

Yes, he also owned the Zennette label (named after his daughter).

Shout certainly had faith in Jerry O's 'Boogaloo' track ........ .. & this paid off as his 45 was on the national US soul chart from September 67 till the end of the year.

I can't recall any of the Cleveland (soul) radio DJ's owning a local label (though they might have been involved with a tiny label that only managed 1 or 2 45 releases). The only Baltimore radio DJ I know that had his own labels was Bill 'Sparky' Evans. I think one of the St Louis DJ's might have been involved in the ownership of a label. BUT the main guy there, Bernie Hayes, though involved with the likes of Stax & Oliver Sain's labels (Vanessa, etc) wasn't ever a part owner as such. The likes of Ernie Fields (WOOK in DC) might have had a label, I'd have to check through my stuff to be sure. I'm sure some New Oleans radio DJ's must have been label owners but can't name specific names. A couple of Miami radio DJ's made 45 tracks themselves (Nicki Lee, King Coleman) but I don't think they actually ran their own labels. In SanFran, the Hit label (Jesse James 45's) was owned by Jesse Mason, but he was a record shop owner, not a DJ. Don't know too much about the radio / label scene in the other cities you named.

Paul Kelly (& the Original Cousins) at the Continental in 1965 ..........

Not an ad this time but a review of a show held at the Apollo Theater in late May 1970. Seeing the songs that each artist performed live brings home to you just how some artists (without a recent hit 45 track) struggled when it came to live shows. If you were a Motown artist without a hit, you could always do a Motown section in your show, giving name checks to the 'original artists' & telling a tale of something that happened when you were in their presence. Likewise if you came from Chicago (or NY), you could perform a section dedicated to hits of your home town artists. But, for lots of acts, this was their showcase to get more attention from their record company, to land a new recording contract or just an exercise to show how versatile you were. Guess in the cases of Carolyn Franklin & the O'Jays (who at the time were signed to Neptune which wasn't really getting much of a push from Chess), they were trying to show how versatile they were ....

Owning their own label came 2nd nature to Philly radio DJ's .... but I don't think it was as common in other cities down the east coast.

I'll be watching tonight (& I'll have an 'open mind').