Robbk

So Tom Hester became "Tommy Stone", and then, "Tom Storm", who first sang "Alone", which must be the first recording to which Storm referred in his interview. And it seems it was soon re-written as "This Love I Have For You", and paired with "I Love You, Baby", and released on Thelma's subsidiary label, Ge Ge Records. So, the original recording of "Alone" may no longer exist. Davis may have taped over it, as they were no longer going to use it at all.

Great interview. Thanks! Nice to learn more about The Magictones.

At least we know that Harry Gates sang lead. The voices on Toy Soldier, its flip, The Caravelles' 2 sides and The Lee Gates 2 sides match. I think it's possible that he was lead singer on "Someone To Call My Own" by The Equadors, as well. But the voice on that one doesn't seem to be as close as the others, so it is still in doubt.

That doesn't sound to me like Harry/Lee Gates' voice. Is it listed on the Pied Piper CD as being sung by Harry or Lee Gates?

Emanuel Lasky, too!!! Great news!!! It's such a shame that we had so many posts by people from The Detroit Music business back in the 60s on Soulful Detroit Forum, telling us about the main characters, and their own stories; but most of them got lost in the transfer from platform to platform. There were also links to interviews that we lost, as well. It's also a shame that I didn't tape conversations I had with people back in the day. But, I didn't want to bother them with such formalities, and I might have heard a lot less. I didn't want to come across as a "fanboy", or a reporter, or invade people's privacy. There are fewer of those elderly music makers of the 60s left. We should hear what they've got to say before it's too late.

It's great to get different people's takes on Berry Gordy, Robert West, Sax Kari, Ed Wingate, Wilbur Golden, Don Davis, Dave Hamilton, Hazel & Robert Coleman, Diamond Jim Riley, Joe Battle, Johnnie Mae Matthews, Carmen Murphy, Rev. James Hendrix, Harry Balk, Devora & Jack Brown, Armen Boladian, Lou Beatty, Sam Motley, Joe Hunter, Fred Brown, Popcorn Wylie, etc. It would be nice if we could have a repository of Detroit music industry personality interviews as extensive as Bob A. had for Chicago.

The Melvin Davis interview is fantastic to hear! Thank goodness people are saving these!

Yes! My senile old memory DIDN'T fail me THIS time! Walter and his new Admerations stated on their Sitting In The Park interview with Bob Abrahamian that the first Admirations group, with One-derful Records, kicked Walter out of their group. Ted Daniel, their manager wanted to continue managing Walter, who wanted to form a new Admirations group. Daniel told him that if he insisted upon calling his new group, "The Admirations", he'd have to change its spelling, for legal reasons. So, they changed it to "AdmErations". It was ironic, because The old Admirations broke up only a few months after La Cindy's "Man Oh Man" came out. So a second La Cindy release could use the Walter and The "Admirations" spelling. The first (One-derful) Admirations were from Walter's Cabrini-Green housing project on The Near North Side (from where Curtis Mayfield, Jerry & Billy Butler, Major Lance, Otis Leavill, and VJ's (Chicago's) Falcons came. Whereas, Walter's 2nd Admirations/Admerations group came from The South Side, between 56th and 61st Streets, and they attended Tilden High School. Everyone but Walter lived within about 5-6 blocks of my father's store. What a small World! I probably walked past them several times! They were called The Four Gents before they were joined by Walter. In addition to Walter Smith, they consisted of Cliff Frazier, Brad, Keith, and David Donaldson.

Thanks. I seem to recall that one of the group members mentioned that they changed it in their interview with Bob A. I'll have to go back and listen to it again.

I'm pretty sure I read that one of the group members said that in an interview. Maybe it was just a false rumour?

Why is The Martineques on ME-O listed on a Chicago collection? That was Detroit's Martiniques recorded by Romeo Taylor either totally in Detroit, or partly in Detroit and finished in L.A. One of the group members' sons claims it was recorded totally in Detroit. But it was released on an L.A. label. I never heard of any Chicago connection, even a slight or tenuous one. And Walter and The Admirations is spelt incorrectly. It should read: "Admerations". And, as I recall, that was NOT a typo. They named the group that way to be "different".

Very nice interview, and great to see all the rare 45s. I had never seen that M&M 331, that didn't even have the artist name (Freddy Butler) in Big letters, so it could be seen, and had Gwen Gordy's and Harvey Fuqua's Birdsong Music (Harvey/Tri-Phi's in-House publishing Co.) as publisher for "One Night". Thanks. I look forward to more interviews. Sam Motley produced a LOT of rare 45s in Detroit during the mid 1960s.

Thanks. Upon further listening, I hear several of Gino's mannerisms. His voice was a little rough in a few spots. But THIS recording is much clearer than the one I downloaded and to which I first listened. It clearly sounds like Gino, and his style of singing, and music of his band. Do we know when it was recorded? It sounds like somewhere between 1968 and 1971.

This sounds more like GIno Washington (Detroit), rather than The Ramjam Band's Geno. And it also sounds more like Gino's 1970s music. But, really, the voice doesn't sound like either of them to me after several back-to-back plays.

It turns out that I had Invictus 1000, "I Stand Accused"/"Boogaloo News" all along. I bought it in 1967 or so in Chicago. Yes, the producer was Larry Levy. And I remember having found and played Champion's XMas song at that same shop, but not liking it enough to pay the $1.00 for it, and so passing it up. I don't remember seeing "Don't Panic Baby". So, I don't have to feel like I missed out on a really valuable record I could have traded today for a slew of rare Detroit records!

Good catch! I'd forgotten there were Abneys listed among The Earthquakes' credits.

Yes. That was DaCo's office address. 3942 John R. Street is printed as their address on the Joe Weaver single. It was a major thoroughfare there, with only businesses, not individual, free-standing houses. The Colemans lived at 8040 Dexter. So, DaCo had an office and rehearsing studio there, on John R, but they did all their final recording at United Sound and Specialty, as far as I remember. They moved to a bigger place, in a nicer building, on 6519 Grand River, in early 1964, after they had enough sales coming in to amass some cash over and above their operating costs.

Are you referring to The Superlatives here? Or another Dynamics Records group?

I agree Chalky! If they were really naming the group after Cody, they'd have been named "The Codys" or "Codies". They KNEW that the public would interpret C.O.D.s as Cash on Delivery (ies). Cody was their choreographer, who was important to them, but they weren't known mostly for their dance moves (like The Contours and Vibrations). But as their founder, producer and inspiration was Ace Leon Singleton, it would have been a little insulting to name the group after Cody. Maybe they tested "Singleton" and it wasn't very inspiring towards a name. But "The Three Aces" would have been okay. THEN, they tried "Cody", and the COD in the name led them to "The C.O.D.s". But, in any case, The C.O.D.s implies that, when it comes to singing, this group delivers the goods (cash)! Thus, they found their group name.

Sorry, I'm not a Detroiter, nor a Windsorite, so I didn't know that R&B and Soul Acts sang in Jackson Park on Emancipation Day. I DO know about Windsor being connected to The Greater Detroit Metro Area, and connected to their radio and TV markets (CKLW and all) and music industry because I'm a Canadian. But, I didn't hear Tom mentioning Jackson Park in the MP3. A lot of it sounded muddy. My speakers on my computer in L.A. are not very good, and my hearing isn't all that good, as I am in my mid 70s. Thanks for answering my question. Also, I had never heard that Tom won a talent show in Windsor, nor that Ronnie Abner won one as well.

What does the information about Emancipation Day being celebrated in a park in Windsor have to do with the stated subject of this thread? Did Tom Storm debut "Alone" in an Emancipation Day concert there in 1959?

The Colemans operated a regular recording studio (open to public customers) before they opened the Thelma/GeGe Records office? Or, did he mean that that was DaCo Records/DaCo Productions' office, that also contained a small in-house recording studio (like Fortune's)?

I'm never averse to learning more about The World. But what has this got to do with the price of tea in China???

I put my ear to my speaker, and can hear Norman now. And it's hard for me to believe that Berry Gordy offered Tom Storm a 13-year contract in 1959. Tom states - after explaining that his mother turned Berry's offer down, that "That's when Norman wrote my first record for me, and it said Tom Storm on it." I stick to my guns that that was more likely to have been late 1960 or 1961, and it was likely to have been a studio demo that was never released, rather than a commercially released record. Even if it had been pressed up in a tiny batch of 25 or 50, to use as DJ promotional copies, we would likely have seen one of those by now, with many such records found in boxes of those that were left in pressing plants, or amongst the belongings of the original producers. If it had been pressed up for commercial sale, someone would have learned about it in an interview with Norman. I've read 3 biographies of Norman that state that 18 years old (would have been 1958), he played Tambourine with Popcorn Wylie's Mohawks with Thelma Records. But, Thelma started in 1962. So, as I had surmised, he must have recorded Tom Storm while he was working with Thelma Records' predecessor label, DaCo Records, in late 1960 or 1961, or while he was with Popcorn and The Mohawks when they recorded for Johnnie Mae Matthews' Northern Records in 1960, when he also played the tambourine for The Distants on "Come On". So, Tom Storm must have met The members of The Distants through Norman, or met Norman through The Distants. And he met Eddie Kendricks after he and Paul Williams joined them to form The Temptations. So, I imagine that Whitfield produced Storms solo recordings for the hoped for 45 while he worked for Johnnie May Matthews in early 1960, or for Don Davis and The Colemans while with DaCo in late 1960 or 1961. In either case, I really doubt that a commercial record was pressed up. Maybe Storm was inspired to name his group "The FABULOUS Peps" because of his label-mates, The Fabulous Playboys, at DaCo Records in 1960 and 1961?

It sounded to me like he said "that's when MANNY wrote 'Alone' for me." - that doesn't sound like he was referring to Norman Whitfield. He started off with "Eddie taught me all I know." - could that refer to Eddie Holland? I'd like to hear the part when Tom refers to Norman Whitfield. If Norm wasn't referred to by Tom, then his saying I recorded my first song near the end of The 1950s makes more sense, and allows "Alone" to have actually been recorded in the late 1950s, with a producer other than Whitfield, and on a label other than Thelma or DaCo, and make it more likely that it was actually pressed up. I think we need to hear more of the interview.