Roburt

Helena seemed to split from her Dakar Productions / Compass Recs mastermind (Lincoln Kilpatrick) after her 2nd Compass 45 release. She moved on to a deal with Congress Records, where she worked with Freddie Scott / Lou Toby (69). Compass itself ceased business in summer 68. Lincoln also severed ties with Compass & leased a 45 by the Da-Kars (no doubt his in-house backing band) to Josie early in 68.

I guess they are the same person, with a 3 year gap between the releases ... but even though you'd think confirmation would be found on the net, I can't find any interview info on Helena ... her 45 was a Top 30 soul hit & top 100 pop hit in late 67 (it was a sleeper as it had been released that August). The Ohio Players are supposed to be the musicians on her hit track (they had a Compass 45 release not long after her 45 was issued). Looking at her Compass promo pic, she does seem old enough to have cut other stuff 3 years earlier. Her Compass stuff was bought in by the label but they eventually got behind it (& her) ... they organised a US tour for her (to promote her follow-up 45) in early 68. Sir Shambling likes her stuff but he didn't make any connection with the 20th Century Fox lady ... https://www.sirshambling.com/artists_2012/F/helena_ferguson/index.php

UPDATE on the film screenings ... message from John A ... All the gang really enjoyed 'This is Love's' premiere in London and Rudy's show at the 100 Club. . . . . . I am pleased that after a great time in Hamburg and the US Premiere at the Tallgrass Film Festival (which sold out Wichita's 1,200 seat Orpheum theater to a full standing ovation!), the film is continuing to gain traction. I meant to remind you about this earlier, as I know you have Florida connections, but This is Love will be in St. Petersburg Florida two weeks from tomorrow, on November 12. The poster for the St Pete's showing + a pic of Rudy Love & the Love Family performing @ the 100 Club ...

Singer & songwriter TJW has passed ... yet another loss. I liked him more as a songwriter .... He also wrote this ... Creative Source "I Never Thought It Would Come To This" ... a soft soul ballad (not what the group were known for at all) ... the song kicks in about 8 mins into this video ..

INFO lifted from his web site ... Let’s take it back to Detroit Michigan, 1968, Wah Wah Watson a/k/a Melvin Ragin is the musical director for Bobby Taylor and the Vancouver’s who did a tour of 75 one-nighters, opening for the Temptations. When he wasn’t on tour with Bobby Taylor, Melvin was sitting in at The Twenty Grand Club on 14th Street and Warren Avenue in Detroit, as the guitar player with the house band headed up by Hamilton Bohannon. The house band was comprised of musicians who also became music icons to be reckoned with from Bohannon and Michael Henderson to James Jamerson. The horn players that went on to became jazz greats included; Eli Fontane, Marcus Belgraves, Tim Conway, Hooks, Maurice White, Beans Bowes and Danny. Knowing talent when he saw it, Bohannon spotted a then 15 year-old guitar player, Ray Parker Jr. playing in another band at the historic Latin Quarter (on East Grand Blvd. between Woodward Ave. and John R.) and asked him to join his house band at The Twenty Grand club. Both Wah Wah and Ray agree that back in the day, Hamilton Bohannon played his part in giving both of them their start in the music business. Bohannon’s band was backing up all the Motown acts performing at the club. The Spinners with GC Cameron, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Marvin Gaye, Philippé Wynne and many other R&B grets. Even though Bohannon invited Ray Parker Jr. into the band, it was no walk in the park. Ray recalled, “I was youngest, I was the Johnny come lately, so every wrong note that was played I got hit with a giant drumstick, if Gladys Knight sang the wrong note or a horn player played the wrong part it was my fault and everyone looked at me, and I got hit with a drumstick, that’s why I play perfectly now, that’s why I don’t make mistakes!” Motown producer and songwriter Norman Whitfield would see Ray onstage at The Twenty Grand and say “what-chall got this young boy up in here?”, no matter how hard Ray would try to blend in with the carpet. Whitfield simply felt Ray was just too young to be in the band. Norman Whitfield and Ray Parker Jr. wound up becoming good buddies and as Ray also says “I love Norman Whitfield!” After playing at The Twenty Grand they would hit Esquires delicatessen on the corner of Fullerton and Dexter in Detroit. Even though they were not part of the original funk brothers, the company they kept was certainly A-list far as musicians went in Detroit. The young musical genius was no novice before joining Bohannon’s band. The first professional band Ray toured with were The Spinners with GC Cameron. As Ray remembers “the band would come over to my house because they had to ask my mom for permission to go on tour, and Rays mom would reply, ” ‘as long as he’s at school Monday morning!” Then the Detroit recording sessions commenced. Wah Wah did most of the Motown sessions because he was working with Norman Whitfield (Holland Dozier Holland, Marvin Gaye, etc) and of course Norman still thought Ray was too young. Although Ray missed recording on Papa Was a Rolling Stone and Cloud Nine because he was too young, he expresses that “Wah Wah was my hero” and in fact, Ray later had the opportunity to do some Motown sessions with Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and Holland Dozier Holland.

Another goodie he made ...

Brenda Joyce Evans (of the Undisputed Truth) has stated that Wah Wah (Melvin Ragin) has passed away. Wah Wah made his name playing on Motown sessions & then went on to be one of the top & most sought after session guitarists on LA recording sessions in the 70's. He also made a few recordings in his own right (including some tracks in the mid 90's as part of Spirit Traveler) ... another sad loss for soul music. His web site .... https://wahwahwatson.com/

It was an October 1955 release ... in general, the red Atlantic labels appeared in 1956 ... BUT ... as later Drifters 45's became hits, no doubt the label re-pressed this single a couple of times in the 'red era' to cash in on additional demand.

Guess Cirino Colacrai didn't make much (if any) writer's royalties off the Nashville Teens version ... as they credited it to a COLATRID not to COLACRAI.

But that wasn't the end of the story, with American pop & country acts also having a go before Jose Feliciano gave it his distinctive treatment in the 70's ... Some of the earlier versions give you the impression that it would have been a great song for the likes of Elvis or Ike & Tina to tackle but sadly that didn't seem to happen.

Another UK group also had a go with it ... BEFORE another soul act dusted the song off in October 64 ...

It next crossed the Atlantic, with EMI artist Cliff Bennett having a go in 62 ...

The song reappeared in summer 61, courtesy of LaVern Baker.

They must have taken their song to Clyde Otis as it was taken up by him and cut on Brook Benton (for Mercury) ... along the way, two extra names got added to the list of composers, those being Clyde Otis & Brook Benton of course.

Lots of songs (back in the day), were knocked out in a few minutes by teams working on salary at places like the Brill Building (New York). Many writers worked as part of a team, one doing the music, the other the words. Many folk in the music biz were quite perceptive & realised that getting their name registered as a co-writer on a song was well worth the effort & so it has proved (with people still raking in royalties on the more popular ditties 60 years down the line). I once asked Sidney Barnes how he & J J Jackson went about the task when they were a writing team. They seemed to follow along the well worn same path as established by the Brill Building teams -- they'd hire a room equipped with a piano, Sidney would bring along a bottle & they'd stick to the job for a 5/ 6 hour stint. This thread ain't about a Barnes / Jackson song though. I thought I'd do a thread on a different old song. This never hit the really big time (sales wise) in any of it's many incarnations but it does help illustrate the long & winding road many songs have taken. I've chosen HURTIN' INSIDE to illustrate this piece. The song came into existence in 1959 as a joint effort from Teddy Randazzo and Cirino Colacrai. This pairing wrote quite a few songs together back at that time, after Cirino had given up trying to make it as a singer himself. Both he & Teddy did get a bit of fame as singers though, with both of them appearing in the 1956 movie 'ROCK, ROCK, ROCK'.

Christine, you must have some stories to tell then ...

Mark B ... why do you think I put that emoji after my comment ... coz I was being sarcastic about it being a suitable venue.

A pic from an earlier event @ the venue (unfortunately, of a pop group on the bill) .... nothing wrong with the place (as a niter venue) as far as I can see ...

The NS scene played soul but also loads of crap pop songs that you could dance to. The MS scene played mainly class items, many having a much higher soul content than lots of NS (even if the backing on some was a tad on the disco side of things). The Disco scene played class tracks like Philly soul but mixed them in with pure shite from the likes of the Village People, Ritchie Family, Garys Gang, Boney M, Gibson Bros, Pet Shop Boys, Madonna.

How the building looks these days + another soul act that played the club back in the day.

A few of the regular UK venues for visiting soul acts back in the late 60's (Up The Junction being one of them) ..... Poor old Percy Sledge had been booked to play two gigs on a December night in 69 ... bet the roads weren't too good (snow, ice, fog or rain) ... AND THE TWO VENUES WERE MILES APART ... Wellington in Shropshire & Retford in Nottinghamshire. No doubt that was a dash across the Pennines to remember.

Also in November 67 ... over in DC ...

The record company people who organised CBS's 1972 convention in London must have been a bit parochial ... seems they initially shipped in (from back in the US) just about all the sound & visual equipment for the event .... but obviously didn't seem to know that US equipment voltages / TV equipment were totally different here so their stuff couldn't be used. I bet there was a whole lot of scrambling about to get the right gear needed before the event kicked off at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane. The Great Room at the hotel (where the convention was staged) has also been used (down the years) for many of the top UK award ceremonies ... it must have seemed a bit different for the black musicians who got to perform in the room back then.

The Internationals toured the UK in the late 60's but had to perform as 'the International Showstoppers' as they were a 'stand-in' version of the real Showstoppers.

Thought about posting this in the LATE 70's JAZZ FUNK SCENE thread but it also has ties with info in some of posts in Kegsy's ROYALTIES ON 2ND PRESSES thread ... so I decided to start a new thread. Maxine had a strange recording career ... born in Oklahoma, she moved to California where she finished her education. But it was performing that most interested her, so she headed off to Hawaii, the Philippines, Hong Kong (1963), Korea & Japan. Moving back to San Fran, she got some high profile club gigs there & then in LA. She also performed quite a few concerts with her sisters, some of these being quite political events. She hit the ground running with her recording career in 1970, cutting 2 decent albums for Mainstream Records (with members of the Crusaders backing her up instrumentally). Columbia Records liked what they were hearing & so signed her to a contract & started to showcase her to the music press. At the same time, they started cutting her on tracks but nothing emerged on record. She was kept busy on the live front by the label, doing club gigs & industry showcase shows. In fact, they had so much faith in her, that she was brought over to London to perform at CBS's big annual Convention in summer 72. They had her work with Jimmy Bowen (more famous for his stuff with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Nancy Sinatra, Kenny Rogers, Glen Campbell, etc). Eventually, a 45 escaped by her on CBS ("Maggie's Farm / Looking For The Answer" Feb 73) but the company only seemed to make promo copies available. Anyway, the 45 didn't take off (but with the A side being a Dylan cover, can't say I'm surprised the cut didn't get much R&B radio airtime). Seems CBS then lost interest in her (after having her on their books for over a year). She next turned up on Monument Records (who signed her in 73), with a 45 escaping in January 74 (her 2nd Monument 45 again featured "Looking For The Answer", her CBS 45 cut) and these were followed by a further 45 ("I Want Sunday Back Again") & 2 albums (released in 74 & 75) ... ... then everything went quiet (on the recording front) before she turned up on a Japanese Atlantic 45 release in 82 doing a vocal to a track which had featured on Jap TV in a Toyota car advert. That was pretty much it, though some later stuff did escape. For me, she cut too many standards / pop song covers and didn't really mine the main soul or jazz funk veins but everyone to their own I guess. She was certainly badly served by CBS, especially having been shown off as a 'star of the future' at their big 72 Convention in London (where incidentally the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire, Ramsey Lewis & Azteca also performed -- would certainly have liked to have been there to witness those shows). ANYWAY, anyone here have a fave from Maxine ??