Roburt

A couple of bits about the proposed stage show ... https://www.broadway.com/buzz/194354/robert-townsends-the-five-heartbeats-in-development-as-a-broadway-musical/ https://thesource.com/2018/12/13/five-heartbeats-broadway/

Other bits about the documentary ... https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/making-five-heartbeats-1165413 https://www.makingthefiveheartbeats.com/

Anybody here get to see the documentary about the making of the Five Heartbeats movie ?? The documentary got limited showings in US movie theatres last summer but I haven't seen anything about any UK screenings or about any TV company planning to show it. There are bits on the net about it and even the odd Youtube clip. It's topical at the moment as it was recently announced that there's a project in development to turn the film into a musical Broadway stage show (with a new original song being added to the piece). No doubt if the Broadway show takes off & does well, it could even make it to the West End in time.

While he wasn't the featured artist on any records, ex Cleveland Brown star player Jim Brown played a major part in the record / music biz. He helped fund Way Out Records (Cleveland) for a period and so was awarded his own label, BIG JIM. From there he went on into artist management. He 'discovered' (this story was most likely made up by RCA's Promotion Dept) the Friends of Distinction and got them signed to a record deal ... he's also played a part in the early life of Earth, Wind & Fire (BTW Jessica Cleaves featured in both groups). After the early version of the group had moved from Chicago to LA, Maurice White met with Brown & signed the group to his B B & C Management Company. The group auditioned for reps of Warners & RCA at Brown's house & Warners signed them to a deal. Brown himself had gotten into movies in 1966 and from there (having relocated to LA) did some TV work and more movies before becoming a major lead actor in Blaxplotation films in the early 70's. He doesn't seem to have got involved in the soul soundtrack side of his Blaxplotation films though (or not to my knowledge at least).

Martin S, while I agree that the Howeefeel UK 45 track is a great cut, I can't agree that everything Davis Import released is trash & not of interest to soul collectors ... I love these 3 of their outings .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXrz_8Ik6zU&t=142s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvlqcjqex44

This was booted to meet demand from the London 2-Step scene ...

The uda side of that Swedish 45 .... taken at 100mph pace (but then just about every act in the 60's took the studio cut version & then sped it up to do it live). This (speeding up the original) of course went down well with 60's UK mod club audiences who liked their speed soul ...

There are a few goodies that were cut in Sweden in the 60's (mostly by US folk visiting or who had relocated there) ... King George & Harlem Kiddies -- Boo-ga Loo 7" (Don Gardner song) Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford -- 2 LP's + rare 45 on Sonet "Last Dance" + this Motown cover with Don Gardner's band on backing .... think they went on to name a record label after this lady ...

A single released by a group of 1965 LA Rams players -- Rosie Grier was in the team then & was supposed to be a member of the quartet though he didn't appear as one of the 4 guys in their record publicity pic ... Rosie's later Amy 45 with the group lists all 4 of their names too (Olsen, Brown, Jones, Lundy). However, it appears that Charlie Cowan was the original 4th man.

Seems I did them a disservice ... they did place some country artists with majors -- Decca & the like ...

Thanks for that (copy of ad attached) .... guess they were morphing from Miami based Twin Record Productions into Great World of Sound in 1972 and this was their national pitch for material. Didn't realise they'd had an office on the Florida gulf coast too back then, though the ad does confirm their connection to Miami, Ohio & Nashville. I guess the Atlanta side of their operation came later ... Talking of the Atlanta end of things; Calvin Arnold (out of Atlanta) also got involved with GWS via the Pendulum Swingers & Case Band 45 "Never Should Have Loved You Baby" which initially escaped on the Atlanta night club's Pendulum label (where I guess the Case Band were the resident musicians). That link would most likely just have been via a licensing deal though. Seems they were making claims that their actual skills didn't ever achieve; no gold discs, not even any hits and no cuts placed with major labels (that I am aware of) either. Their claim to provide the US's best indie promotion & distribution service also rings hollow as just about all the 45's on the label seem to be in short supply (even the rubbish stuff).

Is much known about this record company & it's modus operandi ........ it operated out of two bases and seemed to license in some of it's releases, while other stuff appeared to be in-house production efforts. Linked to Bill Staith and Opus VII out of Ohio ... so it spread it's influence across a fair bit of the US .... The soul & funk it put out (which is of most interest to us) seemed to be a small part of it's remit; loads of pop, rock & country too (so may have also had contacts in Nashville).

Top soul artist Lenny Gamble is live on TV (Channel 4's CHRISTMAS BRUNCH) right now talking about his big NS hit & his live appearance at Wigan Casino (if you tune in to Channel 4 +1 in about 45 minutes you'll catch it again) .... NOT TO BE MISSED .... the whole story with added northern dancing thrown in ...

Lee Maye .... he was kept quite busy in the recording studio between 1963 & 1969 ...

Great article here on the Rosemont label & the guy that owned / ran it (& the recording studio that was the main side of the business) .... seems just about everything associated with the studio / label was lost when Katrina decimated New Orleans ... https://www.offbeat.com/articles/the-rosemont-records-story/

The Morecambe Weekender with Sammy Ward, Lou Ragland & Francis Nero on live was held in May 1990 (if my memory is holding up). I ran Lou's UK tour that year and it was one of about 8 live shows he did here that visit (he also did the Yarmouth Soul Weekender on that visit) .... the promoter of the Morecambe event wanted the acts to sing over backing tapes to help keep the overall cost down. I believe the 2 Motown acts were sourced via Levine (& his Motor City label). Sammy Ward dancing @ Morecambe ....

Felice certainly was keeping busy back in the mid 60's ...... Early in 65 she was still in the Sweets (with her 2 sisters ?) and they had a 45 out on Valiant in March 65. Then she must have gone solo quite soon afterwards as her Groove / Cadet 45's escaped in summer / September 66 (credited to Florian Taylor). But in December 66 she had her first Mustang / Barry White produced outing released "It May Be Winter Outside", so that must have been cut around November time (this 45 was released by President in the UK in Jan 67). Her 2nd outing under Barry White's direction escaped in March 67 (US / April 67 (UK) before her big international hit "I Feel Love Coming On" (which didn't even get a US release) hit the UK record shops in Sept 67. Her initial 2 singles on President were both radio / club hits here but the 3rd outing on President made the UK pop charts in November 67 and prompted a number of UK trips / tours over the next 12 months or so. Have the Sweets who had the Soultown 45 out around Oct 67 got anything to do with Felice's group ?

Yes, I added that in, it wasn't there originally. I just wanted to show just about the most important gig she landed on that UK trip. Her Top 10 was printed in NME on 25th Nov 67 and the ad for her gig was in the same edition. She was in good company playing the Saville Theatre in London back then. The place was leased / run by Brian Epstein & the Beatles members would attend on a regular basis. I was there on the night in May 67 when Garnet Mimms was the main support act to top of the bill Jimi Hendrix. Others that topped the bill around then at the venue were the 4 Tops and Jnr Walker.

Seems that around the time that the Florian Taylor 45 was picked up by Chess Records (from Groovy), Felice made a trip over to Chicago to see the guys at the company. In the attached (see below), she states that she was at Chess at the time Fontella Bass was recording "Recovery". Now "Recovery" was released in December 65 and was probably cut a few weeks ahead of that date, say November 65. BUT the Florian Taylor 45 didn't escape on Chess till September 66, so Felice being over in Chicago as early as November 65 seems very unlikely to me. Anyone have any info on these events ?? . . . BTW the quote comes from around a year after her Cadet 45 came out, so the details must still have been fairly fresh in her mind. P.S. can't say I agree with her choice of fave 10 tracks ...

She had 3 7" EP's released in the UK, some others in Europe plus quite a few '7" 'Little LP' jukebox albums in the States. Any of these would look great framed up & hung on a 'record room' wall .... nancy wilson unchain my heart

Her producers seemed (many times) to aim her tracks at the MOR market, but she could still put in a very soulful performance ..... personally, she liked to think to refer to herself as a 'song stylist' ...

She was mainly considered much more of a jazz singer ... but did make a lot of fine soul recordings too ....

It has been announced that Nancy Wilson has passed away at the age of 81 . . . . . R I P .... https://www.showbiz411.com/2018/12/14/rip-great-jazz-and-rb-singer-nancy-wilson-81-winner-of-three-grammy-awards

Then there's Roosevelt Grier, Ed 'Too Tall' Jones (Searling used to spin one of his tracks in the 80's), Alexander O'Neil, Ernie Terrell and others from the US.

Always been a sucker for stuff on different UK labels ... I got this as it was the first that took my fancy on the Warner * Spector label.