Roburt

All four of the Raelettes in 1963 ....... .... Gwen Berry is on the left, then it's Margie, Pat & Darlene ...

Margie in the studio with Ray in 1963 ......

Back to Margie Hendix ....... she joined the Cookies in 1956 & after the group backed up Ray charles, he enticed two of the members away in 1958 to help form the Raelettes (Margie being one of these). The photos shown in posts 31 & 32 above were taken in 1960. The picture in post 33 was taken in 1966 when the group were down to three members (probably coz Margie was on 'maternity leave').

Ray Charles 'down on the beach' .....

A Turkish 45 .......

The 'Wicked ones' 1st international solo biggie .....

Another outfit that seemed to get mixed up with the TRC / Jimmy Holiday / Wally Roker team were the Turnarounds. I don't know anything much about the group other than that they seemed to be LA based and had 45's out on Minit & TRC, both of which I believe were 'outside productions' licensed in for release on Mimit (by Jimmy Holliday ?) & TRC (by Roker, Erwin & Co I guess). Anyone know much of anything about the Turnarounds ?

Jimmy Holiday & Margie Hendix fit in well on this thread as they both worked (at times) with / for Ray Charles. There was a team of industry veterans that worked in conjunction with Ray in LA. These included Jimmy Holiday, Wally Roker, (Big) Dee Erwin, Swamp Dogg (Jerry Williams) and the like. Members of this team produced tracks that were released on TRC and then went on to set up Canyon Records (& when that went bust, Roker, RRG & Earthquake). The team knew the legal side of the biz inside out & young rare songwriters & singers got ripped off on a regular basis. Jimmy Holiday would take part writers credit on a song or producers credits on a track for setting up a release deal on a song / track. One writer / singer who was ripped off by members of the team was Rudy Love (& Company Soul). He had "Sufferin Wrath" out on Canyon but other of his cuts went unreleased whilst the songs were cut & released on the likes of the Whispers (Soul Clock). Gene Dozier had cut a track (released under the title of "Hunk of Funk") that he & his musician friends had developed in club shows whilst they were all members of Ike Turner's band. Ike didn't want to loose the band members & so wouldn't help Gene get it released. Jimmy Holiday came along at that time & he was the main LA based A & R man for Minit Records. The song was fully developed & the track was cut but Jimmy H insisted that if Gene D wanted it releasing on Minit, Jimmy H had to be credited as the producer. The deal was done but Jimmy took the advance from Minit & kept it for himself plus the producers fees ... needless to say there were no more Gene Dozier releases on Minit as he wouldn't deal with Jimmy H again. So that's why a US Top 50 hit didn't ever have a follow up 45. James Gadson (drummer) was also on that recording, so he also steered clear of Jimmy H after that. No doubt, Jimmy Holiday had been ripped off in similar fashion when he had been young & raw to the music biz and he was just 'returning the compliment' but the yong guys he ripped off didn't see it that way.

Loads were sold on ebay last year (or around 18months+ ago) ... ... They had all come from a Baltimore booking agents files that had been forgotten about for around 40 years. They were all sold individually & totaled in the region of 750 artist photos (just about all soul acts). Don't know if the guys who bought em did it with the intention of making copies & selling them on ... ... but so far very few seem to have surfaced in that form. Do you have any acts in particular as I have digi copies of many old pub shots of soul acts (not too great quality but better than nowt) ?

The trailer for the movie ........ The movie is available on DVD in the US ... https://www.thevideobeat.com/rock-roll-movies/blues-for-lovers-1966.html

Ray Charles made a movie in the UK in 1964 & it was released in 1965. I was titled 'Ballad In Blue' here in Europe (but 'Blues For Lover in the US). Scenes were shot in a movie studio in Dublin in June / July 64 & during live shows staged in London & Paris. It has a somewhat corny plot centred around Ray befriending a blind white English kid (both are blind so don't understand their racial / colour differences) ... it was a low budget effort but features some great live concert footage (& Ray + the Raelettes singing loads of songs). Here's one of the posters for the movie & a 'still' taken during one of the shows .... .... come in No. 18, you are Margie Hendrix (the small one in the pic back then was Gwendolyn Berry) .. BTW, it's worth knowing that a UK TV company now owns the UK rights to this movie & it seems to get shown about once every 18 months on that channel (Ch4 ?) in the afternoons.

Ray was performing in a Miami Beach Hotel in April 1969 ... .. but he had done shows down there (in the 'white audience' hotel show rooms) for a number of years .... so Margie knew the area & the local 'bookers' knew her from the Raelettes. In May 1968 she had secured a good solo gig at the Castaways Motel (see 'Old Miami Show Ads' thread for more info on hotel & its nite club) ...... I am only guessing this BUT Margie most probably went solo as a result of Ray's attitude to her having his baby (he just moved on relationship wise & got himself a new girlfriend) ... his treatment of Margie may well have been a major factor in the other ladies in the group breaking from him shortly afterwards.

Ray Charles had a big gig down on Miami Beach in April 1969 ... .... the Raelettes were part of his review show as they had their own 45's out a few months earlier (in 1968). Ray had a big bust up with his then Raelettes in 1968 and all the ladies quit overnight. He had shows coming up in days & so had to set up a new version of the group. For a few weeks, the 'new' Raelettes were Rita Graham (of Rita & Tiaras), Susaye Greene (later a Supreme) & Beverly LeShure. When things settled down & Ray got the opportunity to appoint permanent members of the group, Susaye Greene was joined by Mable John, Vernita Moss & Estella Yarborough. I'm not sure what the exact line-up of the Raelettes was for this show but believe it was the four ladies I name immediately above. Margie took time off from show biz to have her baby (not too sure when the baby was born but assume it was around 1967), so she wasn't performing with the other three ladies in the group in 1968 (see next ad).

The Raelettes again ...... ... it needs confirming but I think Margie is the small one (but it may be Gwen Berry).

The Raelettes up on stage with Ray ....

No.1 Super Gal, here you go ........ Ray & Margie together before a gig !!

The guy may be right about the original story being in the Hull Times ...... that also still exists & has a web site ......... .... https://hulltimes.com/ BUT the Hull Times is a weekly paper that does more 'general interest' stories rather than daily 'hard news'. I would have said that a story about a death from a fall happening at a major city night club would have been covered in a lot more detail in the Hull Daily Mail -- a report on the actual event; follow-up concerning H & S issues at Baileys; a report on the coroners court proceedings & determination, etc. Would still guess that an approach (e-mail) to staff at Hull City Library would elicit a positive response especially if the approx date of the death can be specified.

So London Fogg were also an Ohio group .... seems to fit in well with the other stuff she did that was Ohio related. Info (off the net) on them .... ... London Fogg and the Continentals appears to be two groups - the band London Fogg and the vocal group the Contintentals. They were a 'Salt and Pepper' band (black singers, white band). In 1969 the band released their one and only 45 on a local label, Gold Stars. The A-side, "Easy Mover", was written by Dayton's Brenda Lee Jones (Jean of Dean and Jean, of course), and it's possible she sings it, but that is unconfirmed. The song was a local hit and picked up by Imperial for national release, with the band name shortened to London Fogg. ..... MORE INFO ..... .... London Fog (one "G", the band) and the Continentals (the singers). These groups came together during high school in Dayton (unusual in that they were a racially integrated band), and recorded their single in 1969. The Continentals were Quinn Moorman, Bozie Black, Loretta Reid (lead vocal on 'Easy Mover') and John Mortimer. The London Fog were Gary Kaiser (organ), Bud Kraft and Ed Toll (gtr), Vince DiSalvo (dr), Dan Connaughton (bass), Tony Giambrone and Gary Moon (tenor sax), Robert Pennington (trombone) and Mike Riley (alto sax).

Working nights long term ain't too great for the body ...... ... but being on a changing shift pattern (mornings, then afters & then nights) for years is much worse for you.

RE: Margie Hendrix/Hendricks for years..... hardly any info at all I've got quite a bit of info on her (including photos) .... ... she was one of the Raelettes for well over 3 years & so got mentioned in dispatches quite a lot during those years.

Has Herb Reed & Sweet River's "Hung Up Over You" got a mention yet ??

But is there any 'light at the end of the tunnel' yet ?? Hope the release date ain't still (to quote Art Freeman) Slippin Around (or Slippin away even).

We don't even know who the members are of some of the groups that cut our fave sounds ....... ... HELL, with some, we don't even know which city / state they came from even.

RE: if I end up shuffling about to mid-tempo rarities with a zimmer at Happy Valley Rest Home some day then great. Perhaps one of NS's more business inspired guys (Robbing Keverts) will start a 'Retirement Home for the NS Afflicted' up in Lancs (or even better Yorks / Notts) and we can all move in there. Porridge for breakie, then a 'beat ballads' session in the communal lounge. A Light lunch & then the afternoon 'zimma' dance session to croossover tracks before we have evening live entertainment from Tommy Hunt, Jimmy James or Linda Lewis (MD'ed & DJ'ed by Soulie'Sam & Tricky Dickie Searling). ....... heck, think I'm drifting away towards that 'bright light' in the sky already .... well I'm flying anyway with posts at least .... just made it to (Boeing) 737.

Bob, RE: london fogg record you have listed above also came out on a local label I'd be interested to know where the local label was based out of ... NY state, Ohio , ??...