Sean Hampsey

It is a nice thought Mike.

Although Joe Robinson was a bit of a player, I've no reason to doubt what he said back in '73, so I've been curious about this for a long time.

"Linda was a girl who was very close to me. She's the only artist that I have a picture of in my office, of all the artists we have. And that picture was up there before she died. Linda was a great artist; I think she was one of the greatest. And she would have been tremendously big, big. She died of sugar diabetes.

She was brought to me by George Kerr, who was her producer. She was doing nothing up in Rochester, up-state New York, and I sent one of my promotion men up there to get her. He brought her back here and I put her on staff here. That was we could make sure she could eat right and try to get her health back together. We put her in the hospital here, too. When she came out, we had her in the office every day to keep an eye on her. In fact, that's the reason why we have so much stuff cut on her because she was here every day.

We've got maybe three or three and a half albums on her yet."

Both Joe & Sylvia long gone. So where are those tapes now? Did they survive the fire? Are they sitting in a vault somewhere?

I guess Sanctuary Records / Castle now have the All Platinum rights. They put out the previously unreleased Heartstoppers, but would they have the tapes for Linda?

Sean

The chaps who said Samanthas are dead right. Was certainly an 'evergreen' favourite in South Yorkshire area (Rotherham, Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster) right through the very early 70's - pre-Sammies and beyond.

Everyone had it, everyone loved it.

Don't think I heard it played at all in the 80's, except at the odd 'Oldies' nights in the region, alongside Little Anthony, Chuck Wood, Spellbinders etc.

Sean

The real culprit on this track was Antwans on Snatwa.

Label 'writer uncredited' - And they even changed the song title!

Must say I've always loved this great song!

Check out this recent 'funky take!

And also look out for the UK EMI copy by Willian Devaughan. Great double sider!

Sean

My take has always been it was a 'mistake' mate.

They just didn't do their homework.

Sean

It's on Cellarful of Motown Vol 4.

Great little track.

One here!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cellarful-Of-Motown-Vol/dp/B003XDV3HA

Cheers,

Sean

think mine is same as the second one shown Roger.

I'll check!

Sean

Anyone remember what year I started playing these at the 100 Club? It was mid to late 90s.

You writing your memoirs Ady?

Sean

Worth noting; Joe Robinson, of All Platinum Records (the husband of Sylvia) who owned all the Turbo, Stang, Vibration, Stang material, said that, as Linda had worked for a while in the firms office in Englewood, she was in the studio, recording, all the time and that he had around 3.5 albums worth of unreleased material in the can on her.

Neither Joe or Sylvia are around any more - and the studio burnt down in 2002.

In the mid 90's Rhino were reported to have bought the back catalogue and unreleased Master recordings from the estate.

I've often wondered what happened to those tapes... and will they ever see the light of day!

Sean

He also did Don Covay's "It's Better To Have". A magnificent career. He seems like a real safe pair of hands which is probably how he managed to evolve over 3 decades or so.

Controversially I think the best arrangement he ever did was on a Gay Disco record - Denis Parker's "Like An Eagle". I actually think the production is a masterpiece and it's subsequently been ripped off on a couple of 90's dance hits. It's not really appropriate for Soul Source but here is a clip of the song anyway...

Dennis Parker "Like An Eagle"

https://youtu.be/ujbSkWKTuHo

A million miles from "Key To My Happiness" but that's what you call a diverse career. He's a major unsung hero in my book.

Ian D

Wasn't gonna mention the 'Gay Disco' tracks Ian.

Hadn't included Village People 'YMCA' which Horace also arranged, amongst others in the late 70's.

Appreciate you 'filling in the gaps' for us.

Sean

Agree Bob.

Arrangers don't get the props that label owners get, yet they are the true 'creatives' behind the records we all love.

His pedigree is probably up there with the likes of Van McCoy, Bert De Coteaux, Mike Terry, Johnny Pate, Jack Ashford etc.

He needs to know how much his work is loved, appreciated and respected amongst Soul fans, particularly here in the UK

Sean

I apologise Sean, I thought you were talking about "Go Now"

Gotcha mate, I know you've got a downer on that one LOL

Sean

You have got to be joking.

As a Deep Soul record, no Pete. I'm not joking.

"Try To Leave Me If You Can" is the real deal. Incredible lyrics, superbly sung. a genuine, heart tugging, solid, genuine DEEP SOUL record.

"Stay With Me" is an over dramatised ballad opus, the result of a cancelled session for Frank Sinatra. Highly sophisticated orchestration, but lacking in all sincerity as a true DEEP SOUL record.

Sean

He had a hand in writing songs eg one listed by Sean Hampsey above - Chris Hamilton's I've Got To Have Your Love. Great tune co-written by Mr Ott.

That's true, Horace wrote (as well as arranged) many songs.

It's how the Pierre Hunt version of the Chris Hamilton appeared, some years later. It was his record.

Along with others, Horace wrote the following;

Jackie Wilson - I'm Coming Back To You

Jackie wilson - Years From Now

Rocky Fellers - Like The Big Guys Do

Dee Clark - Crossfire Time (along with Don Covay)

Solomon Burke - You're Good For Me (along with Don Covay)

Dee Dee Warwick - We're Doing Fine

Jimmy Randolph — You Have To Lose Love

Arthur Prysock - The Love I Need

And (although he is not credited as such) he actually came up with the original lyric for the classic "Don't Let Me Be Understood" (Nina Simone, Animals etc.).

Quite a talent!

Sean

Agree Dave wasn't infallible, but it would be a huge mistake to think that he wasn't aware that Ragavoy was behind both "Piece Of My Heart" and "Stay With Me".

The 'facts' would have no bearing on Dave's opinion of the end product. He always went with his tastebuds, regardless.

Remember playing him another release by Jean Plum (after he had raved over her "Look At The Boy") - he simply said "a shame that lightening hasn't struck twice!"

He would never have gone along with undeserved praise for the sake of diplomacy - and would have been hugely aggrieved at the suggestion that the Five Star rating for the Bessie Banks release (which is far superior in every department to the Ellison 45) had anything to do with his relationship with B&S / Contempo.

Sean

Always been an important name to me, and one to look out for, since I first picked up a copy of Billy Harner "What About The Music"... crikey, nearly 40 years ago.

His arrangements are usually fabulous.

Pulled together a few which might be of interest to 'Northern Soul' fans where Horace was involved (see below).

Pretty sure there will be others that I've missed.

Would love to be a fly on the wall in that interview :0)

What an INCREDIBLE career.

Best,



Sean

Northern Related Tunes From Horace Ott

Charades — Key To My Happiness — MGM
Bobby Adams — That's The Kind Of Man I Am — Big Bee
Billy Harner — What About The Music — Kama Sutra
Billy Harner — A Message To My Babe — V-Tone
Billy Harner — Everything's Hunky Dory — V-Tone
Helena Ferguson — My Terms — Compass
Helena Ferguson — The Loneliness Is Coming Again — Compass
Celestrials — Keep Your Hands Off My Baby — RCA
Celestrials — Chain Reaction — RCA
Four Bars — Waiting on The Right Guy - Falew
Jackie & The Umpires — Three Kinds Of Love — Sew City
Sylvia St Clair — It Hurts To See You Happy — Brunswick
Chris Hamilton — I've Got To Have Your Love — Bell
Pierre Hunt — I've Got To Have Your love — Golden Wheels
Jimmy Richards — My New Found Joy — A&M
Milt Grayson — Your Old Standby - Derby
Sharon Redd — Half As Much - Veep
Jimmy Randolph — You Have To Lose Love — Honey Bee
Gwen Kousar — The Hardway — Stork
Chuck Jackson — Any Other Way — Wand
Bobby Hebb — I Was A Man — Cadet
Marie Knight — I Don't wanna Walk Alone & I Was Born Again — Diamond
Marie Knight — Walk Away — Diamond
Carolyn Franklin — Reality — RCA
John Lucien — What A Difference Love Makes — Columbia
Luv Co — Things Are Not The Same - Spring
Bessie Banks — I Can't Make It Without You — Verve
Perfections — And Then The Sun Went Down — Jubilee
Skyliners — We've Got Love On Our Side — Tortoise
Swordsmen — Grow On Love — RCA
Jive Five — Happy Man - UA
Mavis Staples — It Makes You Wanna Cry & What Happened To The Real Me — Volt
Billy Adams — You And Me — Amy
MVP's — Turning My Heartbeat Up — Buddah
Don Covay — Mercy, Mercy - Rosemart
Chantels — Indian Giver — Verve
Geminis — Can't Let You Go — RCA
Bobbettes — Happy Go Lucky Me - RCA
Don Gardner — Prove It — Sack
Mary Wheeler — Prove It - Calla
Ike Lovely — Fools Hall Of Fame — Wand
Brooks O'Dell — You Better Make Up Your Mind - Bell
Magnificent Men — All Your Lovin's Gone To My Head — Capitol
Lea Roberts — Don't Let Me Fall In Love Alone — UA
Donald Height — Bow N'Arrow — Roulette
Relations — Back To The Beach — Davy Jones
Ronnie Wilson — Boy In A Crowd - Karate
Dee Dee Warwick — We're Doing Fine — Mercury
Dee Dee Warwick — Gotta Get A Hold Of Myself — Mercury
Mary Wells — It Must Be — Jubilee
Mary Wells — Dig The Way I Feel — Jubilee
Le Vons — Everytime - Columbia
Sylvia Robbins — Our Love — Sue
11th Commandment — Why Are You So Hard To Forget — Chess
Ray Garvetta — I Can't Take It — La Vette
Buddy Skipper — Restless Breed - Deesu
Brenda Jo Harris — Play With Fire — Roulette
Dee Clark — Don't walk Away From Me — VJ
Ben E King — So Much Love - Atlantic
Sam Waymon — You Can Count On Me — Ninandy
Ben Monroe — Broken Home - Dakar
Lady Luck & The Lullabies — Young Stranger & Dance - Phillips
Arlene Bailey — Conversation In The Street — Conlo
Mighty Shaine — Call Me Sweet Things - Sue
Junior Lewis — Where Do I Go From Here — Scepter
Ray Fleming — Another Like You & For Better Or Worse - Purdy
Little Anthony & Imperials — It'll Never Be The Same Again — UA
Little Anthony & Imperials — The Change — UA
Cortez & The Entertainers — Life — Your Town
Richard Barbary — LP — A&M
Jean Wells - Try Me And See - Calla

Bits & Pieces - You Should Have Told Me - Paramount
Ollie & The Nightingales - You're Leaving Me - Stax

Still got my copy of this particular B&S (and many others).

Nobody could write quite like Dave, could they.

A wonderful human being.

So sad it all ended so tragically.

Sean

Sean, Chicago doesn't have a group of people that call themselves "the souleros", it's mainly a california phenomenon with two distinct soulero groups.

US collectors have always collected soul 45s and for different reasons. For example, lots of doowop collectors branched out into soul. Or locally in Chicago there are "steppers" collectors and people who want "dusties" that they remember. Chicago originated the term "dusties" (which some other places use now) while california originated the term "oldies".

Hi Bob, I realise that, better grammer would have been "other 'fans' had proliferated; in much the same way as the Soulero's in LA and those in Chicago and other parts of the USA"

When I mentioned Chicago, I was actually thinking about You! :0)

Hadn't realised the term 'dusties' came from Chicago, but I guess that figures, with the 'Dusty Groove Store' etc.

All very interesting stuff, which I guess belies the myth that the North of England has (or even had?) the monopoly on (rare) Soul music.

Sean

Sean

If it's worked there should be scans of a CD "The Kinkerstraat Sides" attached but they may not be too legible. Anyway it gives a little info on the Amsterdam and Rotterdam soul scene.

I used to deal with some of the shops and DJs in the 70s whilst working at Global Records and later but didn't really ask too much about their clubs .At the time they were about 15 to 20 years older than I was so would be in their 70s and 80s now, so its not likely that much goes on now. The scanned CD was from 1999 and states that some of the clubs were still going then.

The music was mainly Southern slow soul from the 60s and 70s. A few titles that I remember are "His Kiss" by Betty Harris, "That's How I Feel" by Soul Clan, "Walking With My New Love" by Gloria Walker and the other side of "I've Got Something Good" Sam And Kitty. They didn't collect labels or focus on particular artists although some artists had a few big records. At Global we got 3 Barbara Lynn tracks pressed by Jamie and 2 Mitty Collier tracks pressed on UK Peachtree.These were at least 1000 copies of each so there must have been a decent demand.

The records were played at clubs and parties and I believe the DJs would have duels where each played a track after the other and the winner was the one who had the most crowd reaction at the end of the night. I sold to one of the DJs and whilst he had a wants list he was really keen to find new records to play, just like the UK Northern scene. I've got a 1977 letter from him and he was after tracks by Clarence Reid, Phil Flowers,Donald Height,Baby Ray,Joe Tex and "Baby Baby I Need You"(the other side of Girl Why You Wanna Make Me Blue) by the Temptations. This last one was usual as Motown stuff was hardly ever played. Definitely no Groovin down to the Go Go to Jerk the Monkey. They danced to the records but not to dance records.

I went to Amsterdam this year so had a walk down Kinkerstraat (Kinker Street) but couldn't find any sign of Clubs or record shops. It is the multicultural part of Amsterdam and looks like it would have been jumping in the 70s. I'm sure if someone had the time to track some of the people down more info could be found. I can't see the younger Surinam people listening to the same records, they may have considered it music for the old folks and prefered hip hop , rap etc.

If any one has any further info on this scene I'd sure it would be of interest . Maybe other people,( Ian D, Tony R,Ady?),sold to the DJs or maybe someone attended one of the clubs.

Rick

Hi Rick,

Thanks so much for that very thorough reply. That's exactly what i was looking for.

I was aware, back in the 70's when I had my record stall and first started selling a few pieces Mail Order that a lot of unforeseen and unexpected demand was coming from Holland, Belgium and Japan.

Certainly they were into lots of records that wouldn't shift for love nor money in the UK. One Dutch guy in particular, got very excited after seeing the stuff I was listing and wanted to come to the UK and spend a few days going through my boxes 'because only then would he be able to see if I had what he was after'.

I declined, fearing that I might be letting go of rare and 'indemand Dutch Soul' 45's for peanuts, and behaving much like our American cousins do with us lot these days! lol

Remember also, mid 70's, a Japanese collector sending me a Wants List with so many tracks that nowadays would be worth a fortune. One in particular that stands out 'Eddie Billups - A Soldiers Prayer on Peachtree. And that was the side he wanted the 45 for :0)

I can appreciate the 'Northern Soul Phenomena' exporting across the globe, as ex-pat brit communities have taken root beyond the UK over the decades and because of the internet, playlists, online radio etc. and generally a much more 'mobile' generation of people, than back in 'the day' - but what I was most interested in was parallels, where 'beyond and unconnected' to the Northern soul scene,, other scenes had proliferated; in much the same way as the Soulero's in LA, Chicago and other parts of the USA - nothing to do with Northern, but boy, they love their rare soul collecting thing.

Thanks Rick.

That's great info.

Cheers,

Sean

PS: I'll take 2 x Mitty Collier on UK Peachtree please!

Must have finished at least 3 Just Soul's off with Gregg Jackson Kev. As Ted says, incredible tune!

Some nice LP's listed lads. Nice to see Soul lovers active on this thread with a bunch of solidly soulful suggestions.

Sean

Nice set Sean

That's the kind of playlist that makes people wanna travel to hear

Dunno about the "hotbox " statement though ,not neccassary and a bit contradicting lol

Yep.

Lol.

I thought you were Derbyshire Sean?

Yorkshire born and bred Mike.

Exiled in Debyshire, this past 10 years, for Tax reasons.

Sean

Heres another only ever played at Cleethorpes JERRY BUTLER 'IM GOIN LEFT' album track only

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4VzkUh8AA

I used to play two tracks of the 'Love's On The Menu' LP at time of release; "I'm Going Left" and the excellent "I Don't want Nobody To Know".... long forgotten.

Sean

I know we all have our regular soul nights which we visit but looking at the event guide for this month promoters need to take a long look. i live in Doncaster easy to access Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley etc in S. Yorks. Once upon a time we were lucky to have one night per weekend. Take the 1st w/e of this month Friday 3rd, 2 events in sheffield 1 in Barnsley 1 in Rotherham. Saturday 4th 3 events in Sheffield 1 in Rotherham 1 in Wath. The trend stays the same for the rest of the month come on now guys what do others think- waggy

Hi Waggy,

Long time no see mate.

That's a bit like saying there are too many shops, parks, supermarkets, solicitors, football teams etc.

There's a bit more 'choice' around that in previous years.

As the poster above inferred, anyone can put on a Soul Night these days (even if it is only to play to their mates). We're not little boys anymore! So a lot of folk who would never have ventured into the deep waters of promoting (or DeeJaying) are now having a go... good luck to 'em, they'll rise or fall on their ability to please and entertain.

So where do you get to these days?

Sean

Some info on another US city

https://blogs.citypag...y_interview.php

Nice article.

Thanks.

Sean