George G

The Four Wonders were from South Bend, Indiana. No connection to the Imperial Wonders. I'm not sure they ever set foot in Ohio.

Two members of the Cleveland group were killed on Jan 7 1970, Joseph Moore and Thomas Perkins 'the same day their record ('I Can't Find Her' on DeBrossard) arrived in local stores', according to the newspaper story. The group had 4-5 members and were together from 1969-72 or so. I have more info but not handy at the moment. The killed members were replaced. Here's a pic of the original group.

(some of this) is actually accurate. One of the bands may have been By Popular Demand, they are also listed on the Buckeye Beat website. Rick Auerbach had been in the Cellmates with Tampa Lann. They were best known for being high school classmates with Eric Carmen (Raspberries/solo hits), who mentioned them in his autobiography. Gari was the singer for the Other Ones/Players IV "The Two Of Us". That record was one of his productions, recorded with studio musicians.

The Originals http://buckeyebeat.com/originalscle.html

Only took me 9 years...but James Wayne and the Soul Soothers were from Dayton, Ohio. They were connected to R&B/blues singer Piney Brown. I don't know what happened to them. A similarly named act was playing in Texas in 1972.

He played many live shows in the greater Philadelphia area during 1969-71. Here are a few newspaper clippings

I bought this some years ago. The listing is on gripsweat. Seems to be rare but that's not something I'm really following. Gripsweat - NaJma - One Girl/ It's Got Soul - J. YOUNG& B. HILL - NJ-604 promo copy

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In case this is still relevant...... As I continue my deep dig into Ohio music history, I can settle the Terri Bryant issue...she was from Youngstown, Ohio, but made her career in Cleveland. She was a featured singer for Sammy Bryant's (no relation) band, along with Sonny 'the Vibration" Harris, in 1964-5. I don't know how she recorded the 45s. In May 1968, while playing the Highlander Restaurant and Lounge in Cleveland, she was paired with Dick Morgan. The pair became the New Direction and after developing their act in Cleveland clubs, took the show on the national nightclub circuit which led to the LP on Neptune.

I talked with Leonard about the group. I'm interested in the stories on any Ohio artists so I was very glad to get the first person account on a group that was not well documented. Leonard had a lot of cool stories to share. All the members were from Toledo, they started as high school aged students, they were 5 as the Proto Jays (including the 3 mentioned above), and that, according to Leonard, was the group that recorded the 45. The Rivieras came after, but not that long after. They performed a lot in Detroit but also played Toledo and northern Ohio, including the Ken Hawkins World Of Soul TV show from Cleveland (there is no surviving footage from this show). In terms of dates, the Proto Jays 45 seems to date from late 1967 or early 1968, a couple months before Diamond Jim's store on Dexter was bombed (May 1968). Diamond Jim was killed in May 1971, I assume this is well known to Detroit music historians. My goal was to post the story on my website, with pics, once I've talked more, so I hope to make that happen. I wasn't really planning to post anything until I had all the info but at least I could share something, for sure to confirm the group was from Toledo.

Hey there, I would love to talk with your father. Please send me a PM or email buckeyebeat@hotmail.com

For what it's worth: Paulette and the Cupids were from Chicago. There are white label promo copies and black label (with the prism design, which was the idea of the original label owner, Lenny Davis). Pepi was from Dayton, Ohio. www.buckeyebeat.com/pepi.html The Chapter (also known as the Fifth Chapter) were from Eaton and West Alexandria, Ohio. They recorded in Chicago (as did the Royal Chessmen). Both records turn up in Ohio, they were distributed there. My first post on this forum was about Prism records, Bradley, and Talty, something like 12 years ago. Here it is, again, rephrased. In 1964 Prism was owned by Floyd Whited (from Dayton, OH) and Andy Apperson (from Ashland, OH, relocated to Dayton). Andy knew Don Talty. Andy also ran a huge booking/management operation, American Talent, based out of Ashland. Andy and Talty worked together producing records on Prism, and they worked out some deals for the publishing. In 1965 Apperson sold his part of Prism records. Paulette and the Cupids was one of the last records he was connected with. Prism went on to release another 15 or so 45s. Apperson was busy with American Talent (and getting the Music Explosion and Ohio Express to national success). In 1967 he decided to get back in the record label business and partnered with Talty again. You can see on the Night Owl records Janjo (Talty) and Spangle (Apperson) publishing. Before this, Talty worked with James Kirchstein of Cuca/Night Owl on an earler record. Talty decided to use the Night Owl name (and logo) with no involvement from Kirchstein, on the records pictured. There are 4 45s from this partnership: Royal Chessmen (from Dover, OH), Chapter, Jordan Parker Revue (from Beavercreek, OH), and Mark III (from Mansfield, OH). All these bands were booked/managed by American Talent. The Royal Chessmen, Chapter, and Jordan Parker 45s were recorded in Chicago. The Kenwood/Jan and Chuck records are all Talty, no Apperson. I guess Talty wanted a piece of the teen rock action, and despite living in America's second or third largest metro area, figured Apperson's massive Ohio network was the easiest way to get there.

Gordon was more of a rock producer. He sent tapes to Dale Warren for overdubs, at least he did on this record. Even though what I say contradicts what I wrote on the Buckeye Beat website link above, I don't think Herman had much to do with Prime records, after further investigation. But I'm glad to have anyone provide more info since these guys are all deceased.

Stone Blue was run by Herman and Gordon Neal, both lived in Cincinnati. The attached article from October 14 1968 has the details. Note that Andrea Henry and Dianne (Diane) Lewis were supposed to record with them. The Elders, a Dayton rock band, did record an LP there. When I called Gordon around 1991, he answered the phone 'Stone Blue Music'! Sadly, he has also passed away.

FYI, you have the wrong Sonny Harris. The Sonny Harris who recorded 'The Vibration' was from Cleveland and did not make the "Friendship 7" record. The attached article has the correct Sonny Harris.