Tommy Smiley - I Won't Cry

Posted September 28, 201014 yr

Tommy Smiley - I won't cry - Marquee

Picked this up recently from a US dealer, (very jammy price I think, the beauty of not being listed in Manship I suppose?!) but need confirmation on general value please?

Also my wife swears its Levi Stubbs in disguise - almost inclined to agree with her, well, certainly very similar, very 4 Topsy (in a good way) and of course is a detroit release. Anybody shine any light on Mr Smiley then? Googled but cant find that much 60s output wise...

Cheers folks,

Mark.

Edited September 28, 201014 yr by mark w.

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Ady Croasdell 2 posts
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September 28, 201014 yr

Great record - pretty rare and not that well known - decent double-sider too

100 quid maybe (would be more if it better known)?

A wise purchase sir - keep hold of it :hatsoff2:

Cheers

Richard

September 28, 201014 yr

Author

Other than the blurb on the back of (Ady's?) Cd still dont know much about him...

Agree flip not bad, similar Tops feel...

Edited September 28, 201014 yr by mark w.

September 28, 201014 yr

Didn't know it was on an Ace CD - probably better known than I thought then :hatsoff2:

Just googled it and found this comment on a YouTube clip:

Great Double sider and the vocalist on Al Kent - The way you've been acting lately!

Cheers

Richard

Edited September 28, 201014 yr by Premium Stuff

September 28, 201014 yr

Great record - pretty rare and not that well known - decent double-sider too

100 quid maybe (would be more if it better known)?

A wise purchase sir - keep hold of it

Cheers

Richard

yip not that well known had copy for sale £75 had to trade it in the end

2 months later...

December 18, 201014 yr

Other than the blurb on the back of (Ady's?) Cd still dont know much about him...

Anyone tell me what the blurb on the CD says please?

Cheers

Richard

December 18, 201014 yr

Which CD is it on?

December 18, 201014 yr

Northern Soul's Classiest Rarities - Vol 3 - Track 14 - CDKEND 295

https://www.acerecords.co.uk/content.php?page_id=59&release=7777

Cheers

Richard

December 20, 201014 yr

The main people involved with Marquee Records were originally Tom Shannon, Nick Ameno and Carl Cisco. That was when the original orange label was in use. A second later series with a purple label saw record distributor, label owner, publisher and eventual owner of Westbound Records, Armen Boladian, involved. It was he who owned the master tapes. Sadly, his memory isn't the best for the minutiae of the 60s recording world and the Tommy Smiley track seems to be a one-off record that they cut. Not surprisingly, it's very heavily influenced by the late 60s Motown groups the Four Tops and the Temptations. Co-written and arranged by Detroit musical virtuoso Dale Warren, it's a tough record to find - and collectors aren't selling.

Amazingly, since writing that last paragraph, a plea on Soulful Detroit Forum was responded to and it turns out that Tommy is living and recording in Estonia, of all places. A biography of him tells us that he's originally from Mississippi but moved up to Detroit to study singing, which is where he cut this disc. He then worked on club dates and recordings in Memphis with Hayes and Porter, and in 1977 RCA produced an album called "We've Got Love" on him, recorded in that city at Ardent studios with top Memphis session men. His next career move was as a Platter in the World Platters, one of the group's many incarnations. No doubt, it was while touring with them that he ended up in Europe, first in Germany and now Estonia. Tommy Smiley & Estonian Friends "You're The One For Me" is his latest CD.

Way more info than you'll ever need. I didn't know about the Al Kent one though, where did that info come from? I can use it when we put out the flip! On the CD the sound is from a very good master tape so snap that up too!

Ady

December 20, 201014 yr

Cheers Ady - great stuff

The Al Kent reference came from a YouTube comment I found:

Flip side side got plays in mid/late 80's, then both sides got spins by myself, Alan Coney, Andy Dyson in the early 2000's. Think Dean Anderson or Kitch played it. Sure I have a Keb tape with him playing the flip? Great Double sider and the vocalist on Al Kent - The way you've been acting lately!

Here's the YouTube Link where I found the comment (click on the little YouTube logo in the bottom right corner and it will take you to the full page):

Cheers

Richard

Edited December 20, 201014 yr by Premium Stuff

December 20, 201014 yr

Thanks, can anyone else throw any light on where this info came from?

Ady

December 20, 201014 yr

The main people involved with Marquee Records were originally Tom Shannon, Nick Ameno and Carl Cisco. That was when the original orange label was in use. A second later series with a purple label saw record distributor, label owner, publisher and eventual owner of Westbound Records, Armen Boladian, involved. It was he who owned the master tapes. Sadly, his memory isn't the best for the minutiae of the 60s recording world and the Tommy Smiley track seems to be a one-off record that they cut. Not surprisingly, it's very heavily influenced by the late 60s Motown groups the Four Tops and the Temptations. Co-written and arranged by Detroit musical virtuoso Dale Warren, it's a tough record to find - and collectors aren't selling.

Amazingly, since writing that last paragraph, a plea on Soulful Detroit Forum was responded to and it turns out that Tommy is living and recording in Estonia, of all places. A biography of him tells us that he's originally from Mississippi but moved up to Detroit to study singing, which is where he cut this disc. He then worked on club dates and recordings in Memphis with Hayes and Porter, and in 1977 RCA produced an album called "We've Got Love" on him, recorded in that city at Ardent studios with top Memphis session men. His next career move was as a Platter in the World Platters, one of the group's many incarnations. No doubt, it was while touring with them that he ended up in Europe, first in Germany and now Estonia. Tommy Smiley & Estonian Friends "You're The One For Me" is his latest CD.

Way more info than you'll ever need. I didn't know about the Al Kent one though, where did that info come from? I can use it when we put out the flip! On the CD the sound is from a very good master tape so snap that up too!

Ady

Was trying to find out about this artist years ago, but came up with nothing. Even asked Pat Lewis, but she'd never heard of him.

Also used to play this out occaisionally in the 90's at Albrighton. But alas died a death.

2 years later...

August 2, 201312 yr

Hi,

been talking about Tommy Smiley on Twitter,wondered if this was Tommy on vocals as well.

Cheers

Kev

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiUATKm9H28&feature=youtube_gdata_player

August 2, 201312 yr

Author

Picked up a Columbia Record Productions acetate of this great tune a few months ago, got an issue and the acetate now so could be persuaded to move one of them on if anyone is interested, as this is just greed...

Edited August 2, 201312 yr by Windlesoul

August 2, 201312 yr

Some pictures of Tommy are shown below.

Also in his set of 'Platters' is / was ex Velours / Fantastics member John Cheatdom.

Some info on John Cheatdom -- Born in Brooklyn, he started out singing in the Choir of his local Baptist Church through the encouragement of his mother (a concert pianist). In 1956 he co-founded the Velours, a group that instantly shot to fame with the single "Can I come over tonight". The Velours enjoyed some success right through to the end of the 1950's. But by 1961, the group were struggling to make headway. So Jerome Ramos, Donald Haywoode, and John Cheatdom dropped out to continue their interrupted education. When that was out of the way, they got back together again around 1966, adding tenor Richard Pitts (to make it an all-tenor quartet).In 1967, they got a chance to do an English tour. While it sounded like a great opportunity, they found (once they got there) that they hadn't gone as the Velours but as the 'Fabulous Temptations'. There was a second U.K. tour in early 1968, and this time they changed their nameto the Fantastics. A May 1968 release on M-G-M (in England) was "Baby Make Your Own Sweet Music" (this was re-released on Polydor in August of 1971). Other releases followed, from the late 60s to the mid-70s, on Deram, Bell, and Bus Stop. Some were issued in the U.S., but most of them were only released in the U.K. It's probably true to say that the Fantastics enjoyed more success in England than the Velours had in the U.S. In 1972, The Fantastics biggest UK hit was "Something Old, Something New" which made the Pop 45 Top 10 in 1971. Richard Pitts left the group, to be replaced by A.D. Beal. However, by the end of 1976, only Donald Haywoode was left. (Jerome Ramos had throat problems and was replaced by Jimmy Hamilton. That only lasted a few months, after which both Hamilton and John Cheatdom left). In 1976, John Cheatdom formed the Realistics. As he says, "We didn't have much success record wise, but worked around the world until 1983." And after that, "I left the Realistics in 1983 to team up with my old pals from Brooklyn, Ernest Wright and Kenny Seymour (from Little Anthony and the Imperials) who were working with Tony Williams' Platters. We formed the Magic Platters and, in 1986, recorded a CD 'The Comeback,' which sold 3 million in Europe. We also recorded the CD 'Full Circle' for release in South Africa, to coincide with the Yes Vote and our tour there. Ernest and Kenny went back to New York in 1992 to re-form Little Anthony and the Imperials and I teamed up with two members of the 'Paul Robi Platters' to form the Platters. In 1998 the original members of the Velours were inducted into the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2002, we recorded the CD, 'The Platters Sing Mariachi' in Mexico." This Platters group has toured all over South America and Spain. His voice, with his unique falsetto range, plays a major part in the sound of the Platters.