Benny's Song or is it ?

Gripped by the Flu over Christmas and new year I needed something to keep the brain engaged and fill the endless hours, and it seemed the right time to delve into something that had been at the back of my mind for a while. So, it was time to scratch the itch, venture into the abyss of the internet and get going. With Paracetamol and Cold and Flu remedy at my side the journey began.  

Throughout the years there have always been strange situations and circumstances surrounding the music business. Artists have recorded under pseudonyms; bands have moonlighted as backing for other artists, and writers and producers have been credited with recordings where they were not involved. All very strange in the world of independent music in the sixties. So, it’s against this background that something struck me recently whilst browsing through some of the record boxes.

I pulled out a copy of The Cool Sounds 'Who can I turn to' on Warner Bros and a question occurred to me. How does an obscure sixties San Antonio band recording pop up on a nationally distributed label in the seventies recorded by a different artist? It’s the kind of triviality that captivates a collector but having said that I really should get out more. Research led me from Texas to Ohio via LA and back, and the story below is as best as I can figure out at this time. It’s by no means comprehensive and there are gaps – and probable inaccuracies - so additions and corrections are always welcome.

The starting point was The Primes as this was, I believe, the first recording from around '68. The label 'Lota Soul' gives little information except a producer and writer. The writer was one Benny Cherry, so the search started for Benny. To confuse matters immediately there were several groups around at the time called The Primes, which included the early incarnation of the Temptations from Detroit and more interestingly for me The Primes from Ohio. However, the Ohio band turned out to be a short-lived act for around one year and of no significance to the story. At the same time, I was playing the Cool Sounds version on YouTube there was a comment stating the Cool Sounds were in fact the Imperial Wonders from Ohio, the same band who recorded the classic 'Just a dream' on Daywood and others familiar to us. They were named, according to a weblog, after well-known recording artists of the time, Little Anthony & Imperials and Stevie Wonder.

The Primes 45

The Cool Sounds release is from around '72 and gives writing credit to both Bobby Sanders and Benny Cherry along with Soultown Productions and was issued as 'Who CAN I turn to (where can I go)' as opposed to the Primes ' Who DO I turn to'. Bobby Sanders is well known on the soul scene and was a prolific writer, producer and a share owner in the Mattel financed ‘Soul Town Records’ from L.A. which issued many a fine tune. He was also one of the original Younghearts band members who formed whilst at Dorsey high School in LA around '61 as 'The Extreems'. A decade later circa 1970 Sanders had taken up more of a management role of the band and had been replaced by Harvey Ganic in the lineup. For a brief period around that time, the Imperial Wonders had gone southwest to LA to try and make a breakthrough there. Sanders had asked them to relocate and become the New Younghearts, supposedly to replace the defunct Younghearts, only to find out that the Younghearts were still around and performing. The 'Imperial Wonders' were renowned for their Temptations like sound and harmonies, which they had cultivated to become more popular, but unfortunately indecision and disagreements between band members about writers and producers meant there was little if any success in LA, so they headed back to Ohio.

So, were the Cool Sounds the Imperial Wonders? Not exactly, as only one member of the Imperial Wonders was tempted to join the Sanders 'Cool Sounds' project in LA and that was Leo Green. Green, originally a street corner singer, had joined the Imperial Wonders at the request of Kennedy Holman who was effectively in charge of the group in the late sixties and Green took the lead on several songs in their set. Their line up changed regularly over the years with members leaving and others being recruited, so the loss of Green was not too disruptive. Indeed, Holman himself was to leave the group without notice by enlisting for the army just before a gig. Green left assuming the Cool Sounds would become successful before the Imperial Wonders and was lead singer on the Cools Sounds outing 'Boy Wonder'. He now sings with one of the two groups calling themselves 'Sly, Slick and Wicked', this one being led by John Wilson. The other Sly, Slick and Wicked group is owned through trademark and run by Sonny Daye. Other Cools Sounds members included Gene Shaw aka Gene Hudson and Bobby Warren who left to join The Drifters. Sadly, Warren was later killed in a robbery in Florida.

The Cool Sounds – Boy Wonder

Back to Cherry and where he fits in. Cherry seems to be around San Antonio at a time where the local music scene was dominated by Abe Epstein. A local real estate agent turned music entrepreneur and noted as the producer of the 'West side sound', Epstein owned at least nine labels, which operated and recorded out of his General McMullen Drive studios. His roster spread across all sections of the community including white, hispanic, and black groups recording on labels such as JOX, Cobra and most importantly to our soul scene Dynamic.

Abe Epstein

In '66 Epstein was attending a city talent contest at the Central Library Auditorium when a local band by the name of The Justifiers took to the stage and sang 'No time for you'. The group was formed in 1962 at St. Phillips College and made up of Archie Satterfield, Melvin Porter, Roger Blackwell and one Bennie Cherry (sic) who was also the songwriter. Although the Justifiers didn't win, Epstein loved their song and decided he wanted it for his own band The Commands.

The Commands were Epstein’s real talent on the Dynamic label, the jewel in the crown as it were. The group originally formed when they all were US Airmen based at Randolph AFB near San Antonio. Co-founders Sam Peoples of Billings Montana and Emanuel Grace of Philadelphia both had a strong background in the church singing with their choirs and commercially with local groups. At Randolph AFB they joined an outfit called The Originals which included Robert Ben and Autry Raybon. Whilst rehearsing they were overheard by Hispanic New Yorker Isaac ‘Jack’ Martinez who noticed Raybon was totally off-key, and Martinez would subsequently replace Raybon.

The quartet’s aim was to be a high-quality vocal group and gain entrance to the Air Force’s performance ensemble called ‘Top’s in Blue’. This would spare them active service in the jungles of Vietnam and the horror’s that entailed. Calling themselves The Commands as a nod to their military credentials, they entered talent contests for inclusion in Tops in Blue. On the same circuit was an oddball duo called The Newton Singers with their gospel influenced folk sound. Dan Henderson from Pittsburgh was the alto lead in the duet, having previously sung with The Stereos before enrolling in Chicago’s Roosevelt University in ’61. After the tour ended for both groups Henderson asked for a transfer to Randolph AFB and after sitting in on rehearsals for six months eventually replaced Robert Ben in the bands line up.

The Commands had no exposure in the civilian world as their gigs revolved around air force bases. Somehow Epstein gained access one evening to Randolph’s ‘Hunt and Saddle’ club on the base where he saw the Commands live on stage. Conversations were had and an agreement made to put the band in the studio. In their first session the backing came from a local Hispanic band The Dell-Tones who were already on Epstein’s JOX label. From this came the flawless rendition of Cherry’s ‘No time for you’.

The Dynamic 45 (#104) was issued with the Dan Henderson written 'Hey its love' on the flip and Henderson and fellow Commands member Sam Peoples were credited with 'No time for you' leaving Cherry seemingly out in the cold with not even a nod to his writing. I’m not sure why this happened, it could be that a deal was struck between Epstein and Cherry and for some reason Cherry was not credited. Maybe it was the age-old practice of the artists or their management taking credit for the writing, the “change a word get a third” model to get a greater share of the royalties, but the actual events are long gone and lost in time. The single was a hit locally with 'No time' getting the airplay and topping the charts at various local radio stations. The record eventually spread throughout Texas and even as far north as Chicago and west to San Francisco.

Epstein, eager to capitalize, tried to strike deals for the rights with various major labels pushing it across the US and it was eventually picked up by Cleveland’s O'Jays who cut it for Imperial. It wasn’t a commercial success for them, but then Don Robey of Back Beat made Epstein an offer to reissue the Commands 45 (BB # 570) and it was playlisted by radio stations in Miami and LA where it received a great audience response. Apparently, Robey shipped 5000 copies in one week and tens of thousands over its period of success. Just when The Commands thought all was going well, disputes between Epstein and Robey, initially over a missed opportunity to support Buddy Ace, turned into a full-blown legal dispute over unpaid royalties and everything faded from there. However, even on Imperial and Back Beat the writing credits went to Henderson and Peoples and once again Cherry missed out. His own band 'The Justifiers' did release one single to my knowledge which was 'My love has gone / Lonely Boy' on KIM 101 another local San Antonio label, again with Cherry as the writer. This 45 is very rare and in demand amongst the soul harmony group collectors.

The Justifiers on KIM

Having received no credit for the Commands release, it was strange that Cherry would have further involvement with Epstein and the Dynamic label set up, which leads me again to believe there must have been some deal struck between the two. However, he appears again, but this time credited, on Dynamic issue #123 with 'Too late to cry' by The Commands again. The record was used twice with 'I got love for my baby/ A way to love me' and 'Too late to cry /A way to love me'. Here we start to see some potential connections forming with 'I got love for my baby' written by Sanders and his Younghearts, and both recordings released in '68 according to Discogs information.

Commands on Dynamic

After the Cools Sounds the trail goes a little cold, but Cherry next surfaces, as far as I can see anyway, along with his Justifiers band member Archie Satterfield when they join the Hall of Fame Doo wop group 'The Flamingos' in 1984. My initial thought was that perhaps Satterfield may be Artus Satterfield who recorded ‘Don’t Lie’ for Big Ben and London House, who also recorded as Art Taurus for Exuma and Bobby Black for Axis. However, this performer seems to be based firmly in New Jersey, so it’s perhaps unlikely to be the same Satterfield associated with Cherry in San Antonio, but who knows, stranger things have happened, and other artists have popped up all over the US given the opportunity to record.

Since its inception in the early fifties the Flamingos line up had changed numerous times with members leaving to form other bands and even rejoining after several years. One of the early members being UK resident Tommy Hunt who was there in the beginning and often returned from the UK, where he had lived from 1970 to perform with the band. Cherry stayed with the band until 1988, when it looks like he decided to return to his own project called 'A Touch of Silk'. Formed in 1980 in San Antonio it was presumably disbanded when Cherry left to join The Flamingos, but I may be wrong on that as I suppose both could have run in parallel with Cherry splitting his time. They were a seven-piece band who were an accomplished outfit performing covers and many of their own pieces. Cherry was one of the three vocalists along with Deborah Luv from San Antonio and Lawrence Jones from Cleveland. A Touch of Silk continued to perform until 2010 predominantly around Las Vegas and Nevada where the trail goes cold again. Despite several attempts to contact them no replies were received.

A Touch of Silk

Back to the original question about the song 'Who can I turn to'. It seems that Bobby Sanders is the key in all this. As a label owner, writer, performer, manager, and producer he would no doubt be on the look-out for talented artists and we can see that despite being LA based he had contacts as far north as Ohio. So, it’s only a small leap of faith to assume he had similar contacts across the south, indeed I can find Sanders involved in recordings in and around Texas and other southern based labels. Similarly, Epstein would be looking for talent and deals that expanded his empire. We know that 'I got love' was recorded by The Commands for Dynamic and The Younghearts for Minit, who were Sander's group and wrote the track. This suggests some further connection between the San Antonio music scene and Sanders.

My theory - and it is only a theory - is that Cherry and Sanders probably crossed paths during this time with Abe Epstein and his recording empire being the catalyst bringing them together. Like Sanders, I’m sure Epstein would have been searching for talented music people to help develop and expand his myriad of artists and labels, and perhaps there was some active collaboration with Sanders in this endeavor. The fact that Sanders was given a writing credit on the Cool Sounds WB release suggests something closer than just a mere 'connection' between him and Cherry, there may have been legal agreements and relationships in place, or maybe Sanders just wanted more of the royalties and put himself on the writing credits. Remember the slight title change and ‘change a word get a third’? Sanders died in 2007, and with no response from Cherry it’s all merely conjecture and supposition. But I'd like to think that via Epstein, Cherry and Sanders met with Cherry pushing 'Who Can I turn to' to Sanders. A few years later Sanders forms the Cool Sounds and remembers the great track from Cherry and a licensing deal is agreed and it subsequently surfaces on Warner Brothers. As with many great tracks it got no recognition and disappeared, only to emerge again decades later as the avid soul fans of the UK and beyond dig ever deeper.  

The two versions are obviously different in terms of the mix but there is no mistaking the song on either. The slow mournful introduction leads everyone astray and the dancers out there are lulled into leaving the dancefloor, only for the backing track to burst into thunderous life. The vocals on both are superb, but the Primes version edges it for me with its raw power, emotion, and naivety as the track storms along like the Thames-Clyde Express, with the lead vocalist interchanging seamlessly with the backing harmonies. The Cool Sounds outing is basically the same, but is a much more polished production affair, as you would expect for a later recording on a major label. They certainly pulled out the all the stops with Bobby Sanders and Art Freeman at the controls. Either way, both would be welcome additions to any collection in my humble opinion, but I’ll let you decide which is for you.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4ZzCQZlYI8

This was put together from various sources on the internet, record label publicity material and a special mention to Al Boyd of the Imperial Wonders who filled in some blanks to the best of his recollection. Corrections and additions always welcome to my rambling nonsense.

Andy MacIntyre

Jan 22