Dave Thorley

William was a member of the Huntington, West Virginia, group The Parliaments, that had a number of releases on the local Cabel label, named after the county their city resides in. Along with himself and his song writing brother Issac and Archie Hyman aka Little Archie they first formed the group in the early 60's. They gigged around their local area un-aware of the existence of a group with the same name from New Jersey, that was recording up in Detroit. The conflict with the name eventually came to a head and a judge found in their favour and the other group changed it's name to Funkadelic. Even though they kept the name, they never saw the same success as their namesakes fronted by George Clinton. The group recorded two 45's on the Cabel label including the uptempo classic 'This is my rainy day', one on the Symbol label, produced by Juggy Murry and one on their own Unpredictable label. After trying hard to get a hit with little success the group broke up. Archie went on to record in his own right as Little Archie on Dial records. Most of the band stayed around the Huntington area. In their short time together they created some classic soul sides and where much admired as a on stage group. William passed last week aged 74. Thanks to Steve Foehner for letting me know. http://youtu.be/T6g14AAK7ag

Hi All Last year Al asked me if I would write a forward to a book he was writing about his life in the music business and beyond. I said I would be honored to do that, but asked if he could send me a draft. As is often the case with these books there is some trepidation as to the quality of the writing, but when it arrived I was more than happy to add my support. Al has produced a great read covering his time with The T.S.U. Toronadoes through South Funk Boulevard and his solo career as Alison of 'Who's No1, Who's No2' fame and on to his final few groups. The book starts with his early years, his fathers involvement with Civil Rights and his musical evolution into the TSU's. It gives you a very real feel of what it was to grow up in segregated Texas in the 60's. The book finally comes right up to date and his work as a Pastor and founding member of the Restoration United Methodist Church Mission in Birmingham, Al. Through out the book there are previous untold stories of his career, the bands and artists he worked with, including Archie Bell, Skipper Lee (Owner of Ovide), Etta James to name a few. I can thoroughly recommend this book as a great and informative read. It comes in two formats through the Amazon self publish program. There is a black & white edition at $13.39 or a coloured one at $32.39. Follow the link here to order and for the coloured version, see comments below. http://www.amazon.com/The-Hidden-Man-Story-Unfulfilled/dp/1505582180 " To purchase our FEATURED , FULL-COLOR EDITION of this book, click on the tab above that reads: "See all 2 formats and editions," click the small arrow to the left of the word "Paperback," then click on "Paperback, December 21, 2014."