Robbk

Yes. Fred was actually the main artistic driving force of that trio.

Yes, Fred Bridges, of Bridges, Knight & Eaton, also wrote and sang "Baby Don't You Weep" (co-written with his friend, Harrison Smith) which was recorded at Wilbur Golden's Correc-Tone Studios in spring 1962, by Robert Bateman, and leased to New York's Versatile Records. Bateman later recorded Wilson Pickett singing it in 1963, and leased it to Lloyd Price and Harold Logan's Double-L Records in New York. But, probably due to Price's suggestion, the song was retitled "I'm Coming Home". As assistant A&R man at Lou Beatty's and James Hendrix's La Beat Records, Bridges wrote Edward Hamilton's "Baby Don't You Weep"(co-written with Richard Knight) in late 1966, giving it the title, "I'm Coming Home". However, it was NOT a case of the songwriter forgetting that he had written another song with that title only 4 years before. Beatty, changed the title of the song title from "I'm Coming Home" to "Baby Don't You Weep" (unaware that Fred Bridges had previously written a different song, which had that same title. In any case, Bridges now has a situation, in which he has written 2 different versions of "Baby Don't You Weep". There are several instances of other songwriters (usually with long careers) writing 2 different songs using the same title. "Action Speaks Louder Than Words" written by Berry Gordy for Mable John in 1960, released on Tamla Records, and then a different song with that same title, written by Berry, together with his writing partner, Roquel (Billy) Davis in 1960 or early 1961, released on Davis' Check-Mate Records in late 1961, comes to mind. Again, this might be a case of a person other than the writer of the first song to use that title, changing the title of the second song, without having known that that same writer wrote a song with the same title used by the second song's changed title. In the case of the Berry Gordy song, Gordy was no longer involved, when Billy Davis released the David Ruffin song on his Check-Mate Records. The song had been co-written while Davis and Berry Gordy were both working with Davis' and Berry's sisters' Anna Records.

So Harry Gates sang as "Lee Gates" on Enterprise Records. He was lead singer in The Caravelles and first Dramatics group. He was a regular songwriter on the Detroit Soul scene. I bet he sang in other groups as well. I think he may have been lead singer of The Equadors on Miracle, and I suspect that he sang in other Detroit groups between 1961 and 1967. I'd be curious to know in what other groups he was a member, and for which other labels he performed, and anything else about him.

I'm wondering now whether Harry or Lee Gates is the lead singer on Motown's (Miracle 7) by The Equadors "Someone To Call My Own"/"You're My Desire". The lead's voice is very similar. We've been wondering for years about that mystery group. The lead from "Toy Soldier" sounds very like The Equadors' lead, and also like Lee Gates, and also a bit like The Caravelles' lead. Nobody at Motown we asked remembered or knew ANYTHING about The Equadors, including who Rex Robertson was. Take a listen to all those songs and let me know what you think.

The Santells (Black female Soul group) had a record out on Courier, and, I believe, I also have a third Courier Soul record (male solo act).

But weren't Johnny Brantly's Vidalia productions on that label (Ohio Players) recorded in Cleveland?

Hi Andy, Great article. It helps fill in a little more of the formerly unknown history of Detroit Soul music in the mid '60s. Regarding your notes below the biography......... Your comment on Gene Brooks and the Genebro release being a division of A-Go-Go Records: You commented that both releases were "Bandwagon Productions", and that you hadn't seen that production company on any other records. I find that interesting, considering your knowledge of NS and general Soul records from the period, given that both Jimmy "Soul" Clark releases on Popcorn's Soulhawk Records were Bandwagon Productions. And, if I remember correctly, aone or two other Soulhawk, Pamline or other Wylie label releases were, as well, and, in addition, I seem to remember that that was Wylie's main production company name for his independent productions in 1966 and 1967.

Northern New Jersey is ca subset of The New York Metro Area, while Southern New Jersey is a suburban portion of The Philadelphia Metro Area. All of it was a Dutch colony before it was taken over by you English.

Yes, there was also Saru and Courier. Was Compass from Cleveland, or somewhere nearby? I know it was located in Ohio.

Thanks, Dave. It was the logical conclusion. But one never knows until things are verified, as new finds of shelved records from the '60s keep coming in over the years.

So, THIS B&W "DJ" pressing is a bootleg, eh? I only saw the promotional 45 given with the LP back in the late '60s and early '70s. Why did I never see the B&W DJ? It MUST be because it was pressed up in the late '70s to meet NS demand.

Hi BillyWhizz, I see that your adding an extra "S" to words may be typos caused by the way you place your fingers on the keyboard. Unless, of course, you think I suffer from "Multiple Personality Syndrome"!

That Cameo-Parkway label was titled "Goodway", not "Goodways".

I saw his obituary the day he died. I think he was born in 1940. If not 1940, then 1941. I can't find it now, nor any biography with his birth date. But, both he and Little Joe Harris were professionals in their mid to late teens in 1957-58, with Joe singing with Little Joe and The Moroccos for Robert West, and Ronnie Abner was with The Vibratones. If they were each 16 or 17 then, that would have had them being born in 1940 or 1941. That would make them about 5 years older than I, which seems about right from my memory. I remember seeing a poster of The Peps in 1964, and they looked to be in their early 20s. Ronnie looked about 23-24.

Thanks. Nice to learn more about her.

I would also like to know what the other cut was that used that background, and to hear it. I assume that Maria Tynes was an L.A. artist, and that that was an L.A. production (although it sounds like Maria and the producers were sort of copying Johnnie Mae Matthews' sound). I remember seeing Stan Silver's name on several records but don't remember if they were all L.A. productions. His name doesn't stand out with me as being associated with anything that I like a lot. I also wonder who the session players were. That's a pretty tight and solid Soul track (more of a full sound than many of the small-label L.A. productions). I know that a lot of the Capitol Records productions used The Wrecking Crew, and that Uptown, like Tower, was a Capitol Records subsidiary. But, I suspect that this was an independent production, leased to Uptown/Capitol.

Yes, Seattle is by far the largest US city that had the least Soul record production per population. Minneapolis and Boston were also relatively weak in Soul music production. Toronto was the biggest Soul production area in Canada, and would probably come in ahead of Minneapolis and Seattle. Toledo is basically in the Detroit Metro area. Akron, Dayton, and Youngstown I would lump in together with Cleveland. Louisville, The Virginia Beach and North Carolina also should have been mentioned, as well as San Diego, and of course Muscle Shoals, Alabama (which was mainly Fame Studios-which was aligned with many Southern and Northern record labels releasing their production).

I forgot to list Jewel Records (Shreveport, Louisiana). I consider them in a lump in with New Orleans.

I would say that The San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area is next with Fantasy/Galaxy, Music City, Autumn and Sam Geddins' many labels. Then, perhaps, Memphis or Nashville. Memphis with Stax/Volt/Enterprise, Hi, Sun/Phillips, Nashville, with Bob Holmes, Excello/Nashboro labels, Monument/ Sound Stage 7, John Richbourg's labels, Then, the following cities: Washington DC/Baltimore (Shrine, Jet Set, North Bay) Cleveland(Way Out), Cincinnati (King/Federal/DeLuxe/Bethlehem, Fraternity), Pittsburgh (World Artists/American Arts, St. Louis (Ike Turner labels, Bobbin, Teek), New Orleans. Atlanta, Miami, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Seattle, Denver, Houston,

Yes, the bio above is for an L.A. DJ from the 1970s-90s, who, apparently, took his stage name from "Big Daddy", only because his family name was Rucker and there was a famous Rucker in music before him. It was the same situation with Ice Hockey's recent forward, Keith Tkachuck, whose nickname was "Walt", because of a famous forward, who preceded him by 25 years, Walt Tkaczuk. The same thing was going on in the late 1800's, when baseball player, John Brodie picked up the nickname "Steve" because of the famous Steve Brodie, who jumped off The Brooklyn Bridge. I remember Big Boy Groves and when he called himself Big Daddy Rucker, and I bought all his Mambo, Vita, Money, Cash, and Spark releases, and also have many of his Duplex, GME and Musette records. He was a band leader in San Diego and L.A. in the 1950s and '60s, and was "house band" leader for several small indie labels. He played a lot of the clubs in those 2 cities, and worked a lot of recording sessions.

I remember mistitled copies having only "little togetherness". Having Delta starting at 64000 and being styrene makes it clear that it's an original. The label looks like the proper "age" to be a 1967 record. A beat up and water-stained record made after 1980 or so, would look different from one from the mid '60s. I think yours is an original. It looks exactly like those originals of that variation looked. I was in Los Angeles in 1967, and I saw that variation there.

Here's a link to a short bio on him: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/james-thunderbird-davis-mn0000133249 He died of a heart attack on stage in 1989. He was nicknamed "Thunderbird", not for his size or singing style, but after his favourite libation. I can't remember how many Duke singles i have by him, but, certainly over 10. He was with them for more than 10 years. He had Guitar Slim for his guitar man early in his career. He was a Blues singer early in his career, before switching to R&B (just like Bobby Bland).

I never saw him appear in The Chicago or L.A. Areas, but he was a Bluesy R&B singer, who had several records released on Duke Records during the late '50s and throughout most of the 1960s. I would guess that he was based in East Texas or Memphis. He was a good singer in my book.

Sorry to hear this. I was a big fan of The Peps. He still has a lot of fans.

I THOUGHT Wheelsville 101 and 102 were MUCH earlier than 1967. Soulful Detroit's webisode on Mike Hanks has Wheelsville USA 10001 (Freddy Butler), and 10002 (Rudy Robinson) as being released in February and March of 1965, and says that 101 and 102 (leased from Don Davis) (Jimmy Gilford and Steve Mancha) being released a couple months later. Steve Mancha's record charted in July, 1965. So, Mancha's and The Professionals' releases were only a handful of months apart, at most. My Groove City records were all pressed in Michigan plants (one being Archer. They started in mid 1966, so I KNOW that Groove City's 100 series started AT LEAST a year after The Professionals' release. And, Groove City thus started almost 2 years before Groovesville ended. I assume that Don Davis "resurrected" Groove City, when his partnership with Lebaron Taylor in Solid Hitbound ended, and Groovesville and Revilot stopped.