Robbk

Yes. And I didn't say that she wasn't a talented singer. I just implied that if non-Soul singer, Margaret Whiting (a la Paul Anka) can have a NS hit, then, I suppose, Helen Shapiro could conceivably, have one too. I was referring to the time of the "stompers", when anyone singing over a fast instrumental of a given "proper" beat, could have a NS hit.

It was a Jobete Music song, originally recorded by The Velvelettes in late 1963, or possibly very early 1964, called "Mama Please". At least that was the title on The Velvelettes' master tape, and on their reference acetate, and also on the Jobete Music publishing rights reference acetate. To me, it's one of The Velvelettes best recordings. I have no idea why it wasn't released as the "A" side of a Velvelettes' 45, even before "Needle In a Haystack". We had that slated for the 2nd "From The Vaults" album.

No,- probably the Frenchman (photo above) who works part-time in L.A.

I've seen a red pressing with the same label design as the green store stocker. I believe that it was a legit original issue (pressed at Columbia Midwest), with a stamp in the groove trail (but it was many, many years ago, so I can't remember, for sure, if I got a look at the groove trail.

I think Simon had a storage space somewhere in LA (perhaps Hollywood?).

There are 4 Shlomo Soussans and 2 Simon Soussans on that service. Soussan MUST be a Sephardic Jewish family name. So, it's a decent bet that Simon was born a French or Moroccan Sephardic Jew. It's interesting to me that he is rumoured to have turned ultra religious, and yet is socialising and networking on Facebook. He should be hanging around his local synagogue, reading The Torah, The Mishna, and sitting around discussing with the other elders, the sayings of the great rabbis.

Numbers running was one of the major sources of income which could be laundered through record labels and recording studios and record distributorships owned by MANY of the African American entrepeneurs. Otherwise, we'd have seen a LOT fewer decent-sized Black-owned labels. Ed Wingate (Golden World), Wilbur Golden (Correc-Tone). etc. Some, like Diamond Jim Riley, had nightclubs as well, but also probably also had numbers feeding into their "empires".

Nice thread. I know a lot about Detroit's and Chicago's music scene. But I never knew all that much about Cleveland's. I knew that The Moonglows were located there, recording with Alan Freed's Champagne label in 1952 (after moving from Louisville). I didn't know that The Futurtones came from Cleveland. I had thought they were an East Coast group, as Tress was a New Jersey label. I have almost no '50s music on Cleveland labels, I have some '60s a few records by The Vondells on Holiday, lots of records on Way Out, and a few on other labels, several O'Jays records on Saru and some other Saru Records, several Johnny Brantly productions on various labels, Ann Bogan and The Challengers, etc. I assume that Cleveland's music scene in the '50s was just as strong as in The '60s, but the difference was that the Cleveland artists during the R&B period had their releases on the major national labels, as well as the major national R& B labels. There weren't a lot of small R&B labels in Cleveland (they were spread around Ohio. There was a lot going on in Toledo. But it was all oriented towards Detroit. Most Toledo artists recorded in Detroit. Lots of Ohio artist recorded in Cincinnati, as King Records and their recording studio was located there. And, of course, The Hesitations (who I forgot to mention above). There was also Sonny Turner.

Yes! He has some resemblance. Perhaps a distant relative? How many different Soussan families could there be? They probably are all at least distantly related. I had the feeling that this second fellow looked too young to be "Our" Simon. He looked too healthy and content, and too "at ease". The Simon we knew should still be skinny and should, by now, be much older-looking. He'd have a much narrower face, and probably still have a decent amount of hair on the top of his head.

That looks like it could be him. IF SO, apparently, changing his morals and living a highly-moral, pious life agreed with him. He looks much calmer. more content, less harried. and no longer weary and haggard, as he looked in the photos above (incredibly, at a much younger age).

So, YOU'RE the guy who kept ME from ending up with "our" copy of "Do I Love You", eh? Ha! Ha! Well, it was probably originally,"lifted" from Motown, anyway. Tom said that he found it among several other 45s and "assorted junk" in a cardboard box that someone at Motown was throwing away. He asked if he could keep the records, and the person told him yes, as they were going to toss all of it, anyway. I wonder how many people believe that story? But then, I believe Ron Murphy's story that he found store stock test pressings of, The Andantes on VIP and several other 1964-67 Motown pulled records among hits in a box that was going to be thrown away at a Detroit pressing plant. They had been the reference press run demos kept by the plant for future runs. The current workers in the plant in 1972 didn't know that some of them had been "pulled" and were very valuable. They had to clear shelf space, and couldn't waste space with "ancient jobs". So, one never knows what weird circumstances can occur in this zany World.

Yes. It's a nicely written song and a nice arrangement. I'd rather have a more soulful vocal, however.

No problem. I'll upload some drawings and comic pages on a thread in the "Freebasing" section.

To me, The Prophets, Ray Pollard, J.D. Bryant, Shirley Edwards and epsilons are the top 5.

Sounds like maybe early 1970s (1972-74)? Maybe a local, Toronto production? It's hard to peg. The songwriting/structure sounds '60s, but some of the instrumentation sounds early '70s.

Hi Ian, We owed a LOT of money, so our largest creditor had first rights to it. We declared bankruptcy, so I didn't really look into who ended up with it (I wasn't going to be affected). I don't know if Terry Brown ended up giving up the master tapes (I assume that he did).

Wow! I've never seen that before. It must be fairly rare.

Now YOU'RE joking, right??? Actually, I wasn't. I write, (and draw) Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge stories for Dutch, Danish, and German Walt Disney publications. Some of my stories (5 to be exact) appeared in British Donald Duck Magazine during the early 1990s. Maybe that's why the Disney Comics experiment there failed?

Ha! HA! And would you believe that I make my living as a COMEDY writer? A man with absolutely NO sense of humour!

Ha! Ha! I was very frustrated at Airwave, trying to get Tom to make '60s Soul productions, and watching them turn into "Post Disco" and late '70s style Soul mid-tempos and ballads. The nearest we got to what i like was a few excellent cuts by Don Level and Angela Carol Brown, that sound like they could have come from any era. But those never got pressed on vinyl. They only reached the demo tape stage. If I'd have known anything about "modern Soul"and had any kind of feeling for it, maybe we'd have made more money. I see now what you mean....Through my contacts in the music industry in L.A. (especially as Airwave was involved in the Disco/Dance Club scene) I should have known what Soussan was doing. That was true through mid 1984, until Airwave shut down, due to Tom's cancer incapacitating him. At that time, I knew that Sossan was still in L.A. producing Disco and 'Modern soul". But, after Airwave went down, I had absolutely nothing, whatsoever, to do with current music, living mostly in Holland, and working for Dutch Disney Publications. After Tom died in 1984, I had no contact with any L.A. music industry people. So, I had no idea whether or not Soussan stayed there and continued producing music. My only contact with music-related dealings was a once-a year visit to Rod Shard and Dave Withers, and stopping off at Soul Bowl on the way, and sometimes visiting John Manship. I got into the music industry too late for anything but nostalgic oldies projects, like "From The Vaults" at Motown, and providing occasional advisory input on Motown, Detroit and Chicago CD projects.

You're forgetting that Andre Williams was one of the major producers, songwriters and even performing artists with Sport/Boss/Sir Rah Records. His "Pearl Time" sold more than any of The Dramatics records, and probably took second place to sales of ALL of their releases only to "You Don't have To Say You love Me" by The Four Sonics.

Ha! Ha! You're kidding, of course! Reggie's singing is SLIGHTLY reminiscent of MOR's Andy Williams. But, this singer was Detroit's Reggie Alexander. I've seen his name on several other Detroit records. A. Williams is clearly Andre Williams, who worked on many Sport/Boss/Sir Rah productions. He had his OWN release on Sport, "Pearl Time". How could anyone think the "A. Williams" on this record is ANOTHER, different A. Williams? The odds are way too slim.

That rings a bell. But too many years have gone by for me to be sure.

Yes, he was still married when in L.A. (at least as late as 1982, when i last saw him. But, I don't remember her name. But how many Soussans would be living in Beverly Hills? It would probably be easy enough to track her down.

That tells me that he was still living in Beverly Hills in 2000. I wonder if he was still producing music? Not being into "modern" music, I wouldn't have a clue.