Northernjordan12

Following up on this, Marlin McNicohols managed to get in touch with Cholly Bassoline last night for Me. He said the same thing: he doesn’t remember who “Jimmy Mack” was. He only shared what we already know, explaining that the name "Jimmy Mack" was an alias stage name. The name was took from the popularity of the Martha Reeves track at the time and was chosen for marketing purposes in hope to help sales. It’s likely that the recording artist’s real name has no connection to a “Jimmy” or “James” to make things even more difficult. What did catch my interest, though, is that The Debonaires provided the backing vocals on "My World Is On Fire", which was recorded at United Sound Studio during the summer of 1967, when the Detroit riots were also happening. I followed up with Elsie Gray to see if she remembered anything about the session. She confirmed that she remembers the recording well, but unfortunately, she doesn’t know the real identity of “Jimmy Mack” either. Cholly worked with a man named James Cheers around that time - who also recorded with Bobby Franklin at Pioneer Recording Studio (Late 60s) - but Elsie confirmed it wasn’t him—James was somebody who she knew well. She also added that the other backing singers on that session were Joyce Vincent and Dorothy Garland, and she’s now planning to ask them if they can provide any additional information. Sadly, so much time has passed and the key people involved - Mike Valvano and Marty Coleman - are no longer with us. I did manage to locate Marty Coleman’s sister to ask her about it on the off chance she might remember, though I doubt she knows anything specific about the song. Marty had some personal struggles later in life. I also reached out to Ian Levine, thinking he might know something since he worked with Mike Valvano on the Motorcity Project. However, he said the topic never came up when he met and worked with Mike. Like September Jones, it's another mystery.

Hmmmm!

Is there a member of The Precisions still around who might remember the song from that era and share any details about it? Worth a shot...

I just spoke with Cholly's friend again. She's planning to give him a call about this thread to see if he can do any further asking around. Wasn't it previously suggested that it might possibly be 'Jimmy Soul Clark'?

A few years ago, while working with MD Records and conducting Pioneer Studio research, I made a serious effort to delve into "Jimmy Mack" and "In The Pocket Music." The "In The Pocket" team, comprising Mike Valvano, Marty Coleman, and Cholly Bassoline, who frequently used Pioneer Studio for their demos, and Mike Valvano would use their piano. Of this songwriting trio, only Cholly Bassoline is still alive. He later became the manager of Parliament-Funkadelic, though he maintains a low profile and is only occasionally active on Facebook. I managed to get in touch with a female friend of his who worked with him in 2021 at a furniture store in Phillipsburg, NJ. (Yes, he’s still working!) She kindly passed along some messages to Cholly, but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to shed any light on Jimmy Mack’s real identity. Cholly did share some insights about his late colleagues. He said how Marty Coleman tragically died after being hit by a car on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, and how Mike Valvano passed away from a heart attack. He also mentioned that the Palmer Label was owned by Arc-Jay Kay Record Distributors, which was run by John Kaplan. According to his friend, Cholly now lives "under the radar" and doesn’t have much more to share on the subject, nor does he remember the real identity of "Jimmy Mack"...

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Amazing!! so happy to see this all coming together for you Kitch.