Roburt

Detroit's most dynamic stage act hit the scene (though not with a gangster lean) in 68 down in Miami. Billy Prince tells me that they didn't actually like the club at all (the Knight Beat @ NW 6th St & 3rd Ave -- it was too small he says) but as this gig was en-route to a big show in Jamaica with a host of top acts (Johnny Taylor, Joe Simon, Solomon Burke and others) they had to do it. He says he absolutely loved the Jamaican gig and that although the people were poor they were very nice ... ... ... he even enjoyed the 'Islands' experience after he had all his clothes stolen !!!

Bob, I think that the guitar work in "Pushin & Pullin" is too rocky but otherwise the tune is quite soulful (I like the keyboard work on the cut).... ..... It has an AWB / Olympic Runners vibe to me (in a 70's Brit Soul sort of way).

Anyone know much of anything about these ladies ......

Anyone able to put names to the faces in this pic of the Marvells / Fabulettes ..

I wouldn't have minded being in the audience for this Miami show ..... the line-up was even better than an old Prestatyn Weekender live bill. ....... and it included the Marvells once again .......

Not sure I fully understand the Marvel(l)s / Fabulettes story ....... I know the Mar-vels (their name seemed to get written / spelt a number of different ways) were around by 1963 and for 2/3 years they recorded under that name. Then they were renamed (on their records & by their new record label) as the Fabulettes ... BUT .. as they already had a 'high profile' on the Miami club scene, I believe they still did live gigs in their 'home town' as the Marvells. Anyway, after cutting as the Fabulettes for around 3 more years they were reduced in number (from 4 to 3) when Annette Snell quit & headed off to New York with Paul Kelly. So by 1969, the group were a trio and Annette Snell was a solo artist. If anyone can add more to their story (as I have laid it out above), please feel free to do so .... ..... anyway back to the ads ..... I'm not sure if Annette Snell was still a group member for this mid July 1968 gig but the picture of the group used in the ad shows 4 members ......

Their other EMI 45 is ..... "Love Burns" C/W "Turn It Over" .... EMI International Records 557 (1978) So the A side of that 45 is the middle track in the above post. The other 45 by (a) Grand Theft is on US Honey (wasn't that Harvey Fuqua's label) - "How Could U B So Cold" ...... so not sure its by the British group now. The full track listing for their EMI Int LP is ...... Pushing & Pulling; Two Separate Things; Love Burns; Paris To Peru; Body Talk; Seven Wonders; Keep On Smiling; Cold Man's Catastrophe.

Bob, . . . other Grand Theft tracks off the album ....

RIP Lou, another good one lost. I interviewed him at Prestatyn & asked what inspired "I'm Com'un Home In The Morn'un". He said it came about after a call home to his then girlfriend; she was missing him so he told her what she wanted to hear (the song title) .......... he got off the phone & wrote the lyrics out almost straight away. So I asked the obvious .... So did you head home in the morning ?? He broke down in fits of laughter and told us that he never went home to her at all.

LARS ..... Yes, I'm sure I have a few. I'll take a look.

Herb wasn't actually on too many of the recordings that the Platters made during their spell with Musicor. The group were touring across the States all the time back in the mid to late 60's ... ... so Sonny Turner would fly back alone to New York; team up with some studio session singers, cut 4/ 5 tracks in one session (overnight -- most of the time to pre-recorded backing tracks). Next morning he would be on another plane and flying back to join the other members of the group who by then had moved onto their next engagement & were set up ready for him to undertake lead vocal duties with the others.

RE: Grand Theft - Body Talk - EMI (UK) This was a strange group .... 6 white Brits who were produced by ex Episode Six (Pye -- mid to late 60's) and Deep Purple singer / bass player Roger Glover. Just about everything else Glover was involved with in the 70's was HEAVY ROCK (uuurrrgh) but this album features a number of very good laid back jazzy soul tracks. I think the LP (& the 3 x 45's lifted from it) was just about all we got from Grand Theft ... I guess the guys in the group had been active in the music biz before they recorded the album under this name (with Glover's involvement, they could maybe have included some ex members of Episode Six). Episode Six was formed in July 1964 by former members of The Lightnings; Sheila Carter-Dimmock, Graham Carter-Dimmock and Andy Ross, and former members of The Madisons; Roger Glover, Tony Lander and Harvey Shield. Andy Ross soon left & was replaced by Ian Gillan (also to be in Deep Purple from the end of the 60's).

To celebrate the fact that there will soon be a big box set CD of all the Arctic Records catalogue (issued & unissued stuff) released and out for 60's soul fans to purchase .... AND ...... coz the 'powers that be' are putting together an 'Arctic Revue' package to play a few special live shows ....... here's an old Miami club ad for a show undertaken by a very young Della Humphrey ... Della (who I believe lives in the Atlanta area these days) will be one of the stars who will be performing on the 'Arctic Revue' shows ...... CAN'T WAIT .......

Robb K knows just about everything (that's worth knowing) about the operations of the Motown LA teams writing & production work. If the Motown management didn't want to sign a West Coast act that the LA guys had cut .. OR ... didn't want to use a song they had written; then the LA crowd could release any of this product on their own pet labels.

Already posted an ad for the Xmas 1969 show at the Continental Club ... that featured (then) Stax artist William Bell .. soon to be singing for us in Cleggy .... The Continental had been called the King O' Hearts back in the early to mid 60's. The club had opened in mid April 1960 and it was where Sam & Dave 1st performed together in July 1960. They were resident at the club for about 4 years (until one of their Roulette releases took off& they started touring). .... WELL .... as Eddie Floyd is in London this week promoting his new CD project "Don't Forget About James" with his son Anthony Floyd, thought I would post up another ad for December 69 shows at the Continental. Stax was really in control of the club that month as this ad for 3 different acts (one of them being Eddie Floyd) illustrates ......

Nickie Lee doing some promotional work for his new radio stn not too long after he had joined WRIZ .........

Local DJ Nickie Lee had started out on WAME but when that stn went country ... he switched to WRIZ ... Like other radio DJ's, he made some records ... He's the "And Black Is Beautiful" guy (on Mala). Here he is with a cover of a Prince Buster song that had been No.1 on the Miami radio stn charts in Jan 67 ..

Ruby Andrews hit Miami over Xmas 69 ...

The Barn (see above) still exists, though now the building houses a 'Crab House' restaurant .... https://www.crabhouseseafood.com/locations.html https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g34438-d524065-Reviews-Crab_House-Miami_Florida.html

The Prolifics again -- this time along with some big stars ....

..... to perform .... in late August ..... https://www.beachlandballroom.com/calendar.asp?Page=11

Those nasty record company guys have taken the video of Stevie singing this down ... .... so we have to make do with this 'foreign' version (it beats the Lime IMO)... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKOiFh1QmqI When you think of music from the Motor City, Oslo probably isn't the first place that springs to mind. But fans of Norwegian singer Wenche Myhre must have been dancing in the streets when they first heard this little corker. Issued in 1967, the song proved a hit for the singer in her homeland. By that time, she had also become one of a host of Scandinavian dolls to be taken to the German bosom, scoring a string of hits from 1965 onwards. After relocating to Germany, she entered the 1965 Deutsche Schlager-Festpiele song contest in Baden-Baden as she would get to appear before millions of German tv viewers. Although she finished in 2nd place behind Peggy March, her performance was enough to launch her career.

.. and yet another duet ....

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