Roburt

Classy jazz tinged modern soul ...

Didn't see the original thread. Seems the film will be out & about in the coming months, so no doubt the topic will crop up again as it gets further publicity.

Seems a documentary about Whitney Houston is about to come out. In it, it's claimed that Whitney was so screwed up as a adult coz as a child Dee Dee Warwick molested her ... ... QUOTE ... In his latest documentary, Whitney, Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald takes us inside the world of the late Whitney Houston and exposes a disturbing revelation about a childhood trauma she suffered. The allegation is uncovered about three-quarters of the way through the documentary film, when friends of Houston reveal that both the singer and her half-brother, Gary, were allegedly molested as children by their cousin Dee Dee Warwick, sister of legendary singer Dionne Warwick. https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/whitney-houston-cannes-doc-1.4666815 I know that Dionne, Dee Dee & Cissy (their cousin) sang together in the New Hope Baptist Church Choir in Newark, New Jersey. The two families were always close & spent a lot of time together. The three women then formed the gospel trio the Gospelaires, who often performed with The Drinkard Singers, Houston being a member of both groups. At a performance by the Gospelaires with the Drinkard Singers at the Apollo Theater in 1959, the Warwick sisters were recruited by a record producer for studio session work. Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, along with Doris Troy, subsequently became a prolific New York City area session singing team. Dee Dee Warwick also began to dabble as a solo singer in 1963. Whitney's brother Gary was born in 57 & Whitney in 63, it seems that the timing of the alleged abuse was around 1970 to 72. Dee Dee was recording for Mercury from the mid to late 60's and then was signed to Atco early in 70. She spent the early part of the year in Miami cutting her 1st Atco album, the initial 45 lifted from it escaping in mid April 70. She next cut again in Muscle Shoals at the end of 70 / early 71. 3 x 45's resulted from that session, so it must have lasted a week or so. She turned up again on record in 73, back at Mercury. I know she toured in her 60's Mercury period & again when with Atco, so with that work + the recording sessions, she must have been away from NY / NJ a bit over the late 60's thru to 1973-ish period. As she's passed & Whitney has too, I guess only 'ex drug addict' brother Gary is around to actually spill the beans and confirm if these allegations are true or not. SORRY STATE OF AFFAIRS.

Done some more checking & it seems that Chubby Checker appeared on this show (Discs-A-Go-Go) late in September 65 ... his current UK 45 release at that time was "Everything's Wrong / Cum Ma La Be - Stay" ... it is a great pity that footage no longer seems to exist. Solomon Burke was on at the end of June 65 when his UK 45 outing was "Maggies Farm" (I never knew why UK Atlantic put this cover of a Bob Dylan song out here, though I do recall it getting quite a bit of radio airplay at the time). Ben E King was on at the start of Nov 65, so he'd have been plugging a 45 track from some weeks earlier, "Cry No More". Benny was touring the UK at the time (playing gigs at clubs such as the Twisted Wheel), so no doubt he was just handy & available to appear on the show.

Sean, if you look back at the initial post on this thread & read the Sept 70 press release I posted there, you'll see that DG was Bill Downs UK representative as early as summer 1970. A deal via Bill certainly brought Chris Bartley's Soul City tracks & the Ad-Libs Deep Soul tracks to Dave's labels and that was back in early 69. I had dealings with Bill Downs myself in the 80's when Move Records (Edinburgh) sourced their Chris Bartley tracks via Bill.

More from EMI Australia ....

YES, she was signed to Duke as a solo act after she cut for them (as lead singer) with the Mustangs / Mighty Mustangs. Her solo outing was in Feb 67 (Sure-Shot #5026). A couple of years then went by before she reappeared as lead with Hot Sauce.

Seems Chubby Checker appeared on the show in 65 ... in that case, he would have been promoting one of his new 45 releases at that time. That would have ment he performed "At The Discotheque" or "Everythings Wrong" ... I'd have loved to see that. Chubby got quite a bit of UK TV time back in the 60's. Rediffusion made a show (Trad Jazz + Twist content) he appeared on in 62. He also appeared on 'Thank Your Lucky Stars' that year and had his own show (The Chubby Checker Show) on ATV later in the year. Later in the 60's, the BBC got involved. They sent a camera crew to visit OTIS REDDING on his ranch in 1967. The footage shot was to be used in a documentary but it was never used / shown. Colour Me Pop (BBC) shot an episode starring the Chambers Brothers in 68 but it was not broadcast for some reason. The same year, Jack Good filmed footage of the Flirtations for Yorkshire TV but it wasn't screened. Taj Mahal was one of the acts on the Rock & Roll Show, filmed in late 68 for London Weekend, but again it didn't go out (though it later escaped on video). In 1970, the BBC agreed to make a special starring Stevie Wonder. But Stevie insisted on using his own US musicians to back him up. The Musicians Union objected and the project died. At least we did get loads of great acts on RSG and some of that footage has survived (+ lots of old BBC TotP / Old Grey Whistle Test footage).

DISCS A GO-GO ... I don't remember this TV music show from the 60's at all. It was made by TELEVISION WALES & WEST (TWW) initially in their Cardiff studio and then in their Bristol studio. It ran from late 1961 with the last show going out in 68 (no shows made in 66/67). I wasn't a networked prog but was screened by other ITV companies (Anglia, North, Tyne Tees & Borders). After it relocated to Bristol, one of the co-presenters was a local black lady. Guess it wasn't too hard to get acts to travel down to Bristol from London to appear and some decent singers / outfits appeared on the show -- Cliff Bennett (65), Millie Small (65), Mike Cotton (62), Spencer Davis Group(64 & 65), Kenny Lynch (63), Chants (64), Animals (65), Long John Baldry (65), Solomon Burke (65), Chubby Checker (65), Bo Diddley (65), Georgie Fame &B F's (65), Ben E King (65), Yardbirds (65). Decca even put out an EP of cuts performed on the show. Seems little (or none) of the footage of decent acts who appeared has survived, a great shame. Knowing how long it takes to shot a 30 minute show, I guess the acts would have been there for 2 - 3hrs minimum (even though it was shot in the TV studio, the set was made to look like a coffee bar & there was a live audience (dancing, etc.), so it must have been quite a logistical nightmare to shoot / edit. It was all in B&W of course but it would be great to see some of that old footage. I wonder if any of the US acts stayed overnight in Bristol or landed local gigs to tie in with their visit to Bristol. Anyone here remember watching any of these shows ??

Most of their releases would have been of no interest at all to soulies AND with them (most likely) never releasing 45's, no doubt they flew under the radar at the time. But some locals must have worked for them, long gone now though if they were 30+ years old back in the early to mid 60's.

Played on WBAB ...

Even US Top 40 stns featured a whole load of soul cuts from the mid 60's thru to the late 70's .... Long Island's WBAB for instance ... .......... AND ...... on many occasions, it wasn't all the most obvious tracks that got featured (for a pop stn that is ) ...

Going back exactly 50 years in time .........

Thanks Joey ... there was very little known about the operations of Oriole Records in Aston Clinton (Aylesbury) till recently ... BUT ... I asked around a few locals from the area and they came up with loads of info on the record companies activities in the village. Hope you can discover a bit on this Royton outfit from locals.

BACK TO THE MAIN TOPIC OF THIS THREAD NOW .... a few of the labels that the outfit who cut YOUR AUTUMN OF TOMORROW had records out on ...

Are there any Lankies on here who know anything about an Oldham (Royton) based discount record company from back in the 1960's. Seems this company, Egmont Records Ltd, had a few deals with US companies and via these the outfit released soul, jazz, blues tracks on 3 different labels back in the 60's -- Egmont, (Egmont) Viking & Mecca ... putting out release by the likes of Sonny Til & the Orioles, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Pearl Bailey and a couple of US jazz guys. No doubt, the Rosetta Tharpe release was inspired by her local Granda TV show appearance (filmed on Chorlton-cum-Hardy railway Stn in 64) .... no idea at all why they'd also license US jazz albums for release or the Sonny Til & the Orioles LP (guess they came from a common US source though). The record company's official address was Broadway, Royton but it seems they were actually based out of an old mill building that was actually down Holden Fold Lane (which runs off Broadway). The building had seen far better days by the 60's and was demolished soon after to make way for new housing. I have no idea if Egmont actually pressed up their own records but guess they would have done so. Again, I don't know if they printed up their labels & album sleeves themselves or used a local printing firm to take on this task. Someone local to the area must know something about this outfit ... for instance, did they ever press / release anything on 7" ?? Linked bits : - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-27256401

I believe this was written & produced by Charles Hatcher ... I do believe they took Edwin's demo version as their blueprint on this (certainly sounds that way to me) .. Another goodie off the CD ...

They also played this one ... by Baltimore's fave old doo wopper ...

A 1966 UK 45 .... was played at clubs like the Wheel right off from being a new release. As was "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" & a bit later, "Groovin With Mr. Bloe".

George's version was a biggie on the MS scene for quite a while back in time.

Happening on WOOK ... Wrong side of this 45 ... but still a goodie ..

The nation's capital ... DC time on the radio ... quite a few goodies on their Aug 69 chart ... none more so than their #19 ...

Hot Sauce (from 71) worked almost exclusively with Irene Productions ... the production house run by Irene & Al Perkins up in Detroit (the team behind Al Hudson & the Soul Partners, One Way, Roundtrip, Oliver, Alicia Myers, Oliver Cheatham, etc) ... so they would have been based in Detroit. The group's Rhonda Washington was Chuck Berry's neice & she was (most likely) originallty from St Louis). Rhonda (Washington) had cut a solo 45 for Sure-Shot in 67 (sister label to Duke). Jumping back in time from that, the St Louis group El Torros cut for Duke (on & off) between 57 & 62. She joined the group in 62 (after their latest Duke 45 had failed to sell) but they didn't do much till 64 when they changed their name to the Mustangs. Under this name, they had their own 45 out on Sure-Shot. The two songs they cut were written by Gladys Battle (Rhonda's mum). They had a 2nd Sure-Shot 45 out in 65 (as the Mighty Mustangs). Rhonda sang lead again (with her mother writing again). The majority of the group's members had been going for years & when this last 45 failed, they quit the biz & took day jobs. Rhonda must then have decided to go on as a solo act.

The physical CD ain't out for a month yet .. but UM already have the (digital) tracks up on their site ... Some great 60's Motown cuts now available for the 1st time anywhere ... LISTEN TO : - When It Starts To Rains It Pours; Your Sweet Love Is All I Need; Why Don't You Try It; I Can't Let You Go; Souly Ghost; Pay Them No Mind; Just A Little Part of Your Life; ETC. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DXHWZT4/ref=sr_1_1_rd?_encoding=UTF8&amp;child=B07DXJG36X&amp;qid=1530509798&amp;sr=1-1</a>

I love lots of dancers with a jazzy tinge ... but am never sure why some became big on the scene, whilst others never did ... Ones that took off included the Dynatones, Cal Tjader "Soul Sauce", Spooner's Crowd "2 In the Morning", Ramsey Lewis "Wade In The Water", "In Crowd" & others, Soulful Strings "Burning Spear", Markeys "Last Night", Phil Upchurch "You Can't Sit Down" & more. Then you've got tracks such as Paul Humphrey "Cochise", Commodores "Human Zoo", Brass Construction "Movin" and similar jazz funk styled items. There were also the very bluesy cuts that were big 60's plays at places like the Wheel; KoKo Taylor "Wang Dang Doodle", Little Milton "Ain't No Big Deal / Who's Cheatin Who", Jimmy McCracklin "the Walk" & the like.