Articles: The MVP'S Uncovered!

[Chalky 15,472]

News/Article/Feature Highlight:

"Turning My Heart Beat Up", one of the scenes iconic 45's. Here the mystery of who they were is finally revealed.

View full article

Edited July 2, 2016 by chalky

[Chalky 15,472]

The 45 became such a popular record on the UK northern soul scene it warranted a reissue.

The reissue apparently (crazily?) commanded a sum well into three figures on ebay.

The US issue is seriously rare in comparison to the demo.  If anyone can supply a scan of the flip it would be appreciated.

[Chalky 15,472]

 

 

[guyh 32]

Could Emory Cloud be the Emory from Emory and The Dynamics then? They are both Atlanta labels. It's a good bet... 

[Chalky 15,472]

8 minutes ago, guyh said:

Could Emory Cloud be the Emory from Emory and The Dynamics then? They are both Atlanta labels. It's a good bet... 

Here's Emory & the Dynamics from 1968, there is a similarity between Emory Cloud and the middle guy stood up. Hard to tell as both at a different angle.

 

[Juniorsoul 120]

On 02/07/2016 at 15:19, chalky said:

Here's Emory & the Dynamics from 1968, there is a similarity between Emory Cloud and the middle guy stood up. Hard to tell as both at a different angle.

Also The Four Dynamics?

[Louise 1,831]

23 minutes ago, guyh said:

Could Emory Cloud be the Emory from Emory and The Dynamics then? They are both Atlanta labels. It's a good bet... 

The same school of thought did cross my mind Guy and the question has been asked but currently all the living protagonists in this story don't seem to know, either way. So currently the jury remains out for now.

Dave

[Chalky 15,472]

22 minutes ago, Juniorsoul said:

Also The Four Dynamics?

The lead singer of Emory & the Dynamics (Emory) left and was replaced, hence the change off name to The Four Dynamics.

Edited July 2, 2016 by chalky

[Steve G 7,150]

Interesting read and the two Emory's certainly look similar in appearance.

 

[Seano 505]

Fascinating thanks Chalky (and David Welding).

[Chalky 15,472]

52 minutes ago, seano said:

Fascinating thanks Chalky (and David Welding).

Thank Sean.  Dave should take the credit as he did all the detective work on this.

[Ian Parker 796]

A great,story. Hats off for the research 

[DeltaSouth 146]

i've seen this release... i'll have to dig through the building, see if i can find it.

info on this band, from another forum, back in 2003

 

http://soulfuldetroit.com/archives/1157/5003.html?1062251566

Edited July 3, 2016 by VinylvilleLA

[Dave65 35]

Fascinating article, cheers for posting. 

[Juniorsoul 120]

23 hours ago, chalky said:

The lead singer of Emory & the Dynamics (Emory) left and was replaced, hence the change off name to The Four Dynamics.

Ok mate, every day's a school day I guess. 

Great article

[Stevecee 85]

Great stuff guys!

[Andy Rix 728]

I love stuff like this

Nice one Dave

Andy

[Guest]

Great article. Another piece of the Northern Soul puzzle falls into place!!

MVP'S arranged and conducted by the great Horace Ott, also deserves a mention!

 

[Guest Jimmy Scriv]

Great stuff. Love reading articles like this. Well done to all concerned.

Great stuff. Love reading articles like this. Well done to all concerned.

[Andy Rix 728]

On 09/07/2016 at 19:33, solidsoul said:

Great article. Another piece of the Northern Soul puzzle falls into place!!

MVP'S arranged and conducted by the great Horace Ott, also deserves a mention!

 

I did ask Horace about this session  ...... just another day at work for him ... reflects the Johnny Pate stories ... so he didn't know who they were but he did recall that it was a really good song

Andy  

On 09/07/2016 at 19:33, solidsoul said:

Great article. Another piece of the Northern Soul puzzle falls into place!!

MVP'S arranged and conducted by the great Horace Ott, also deserves a mention!

 

I did ask Horace about this session  ...... just another day at work for him ... reflects the Johnny Pate stories ... so he didn't know who they were but he did recall that it was a really good song

Andy  

[Mal C 2,838]

Just a snippet about Horace Ott, I was lucky enough to speak to Marva Josie some years back, she remembers Horace was really really late for the recording of 'Don't' I mean well over 2 hours or so late, maybe that added to the overall final cut!! 

anyhow back to "Turning my Heartbeat up"...

Edited July 11, 2016 by Mal C

[Soulstrutter 410]

Very good article Chalky which I have just found researching Emory & The Dynamics.

This snippet may be of interest.  Found a comment on a YT posting for 'Let's Take a Look At Your Life' from 2014 (here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDJs_79lSE8).  from someone 'claiming' (as you can never be sure?) to be the one of the members (William Harris) daughter.  There is also a photo of them scanned from the Grapevine William Bell - Atlanta Soul CD

"This is my father William Harris singing on the second verse, such a shame that the credit for the talent on this record is not given to him and the other only other living original group member Emory Harris , who is singing lead on this song. I have seen other get rich off their hard work and talent."

So from that I deduce that Emory (Harris) is probably not the Emory Cloud (unless of course at some point he changed his name?). I am also guessing that William & Emory were brothers and (in 2014 at least) they are both still around.

Have to say though there does seem to be a 'similarity' if Emory Harris is 2nd from left???

Also just found this photo (may have been the one Chalky previously posted above) but link is now dead.

Edited March 6, 2020 by Soulstrutter

[DukeBurgundy 259]

According to John Ridley, our greatest living writer on Soul Music, Emory & the Dynamics were from Albany, Georgia, worked at a club called The Royal Peacock and were managed by by civil rights campaigner Jess Williams. 

A little research via the internet has revealed Emory & The Dynamics to be led (as soulstrutter suggests) by Emory Harris. He was a member of the cultural significant The Freedom Singers who were chronicled by Alan Lomax in the early 60s on an LP called 'Freedom In The Air, Albany , Georgia' (on You Tube). There is a Wikipedia entry for them. They began as a movement at Albany State College. Emory Harris sings that rousing anthem 'We'll never turn back'.

Emory & The Dynamics were present and performed at the famous 1967 Southern Christian Leadership Conference where Bernice Reagon and Sydney Poiter addressed a large crowd . They are described as SCLC 'Freedom Singers', suggesting that they were a political   singing group. The members of the group are recorded on another site and the Harris family are prominent. One of the leaders of the Albany Civil Rights Movement is Rutha Harris, who is Emory's sister.

Emory Harris cut a few secular records with the Dynamics (two?) but returned to Civil Rights campaigning. Here he is with his sister Rutha in 2014 singing the moving anthem mentioned above.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 6, 2020 by Firecrest

[DukeBurgundy 259]

Emory Cloud was an older singer who had first recorded in 1957 with the Atlanta based The Debonaires. According to a doo-wop website. He co-wrote their reasonably successful 'Darling' on Herald.  Bill Lowery  produced the Debonaires, or Five Debonaires as they were called originally on "Whispering Blues / Darling" (Herald 509). The group included: Emory Cloud, Arthur Simon and Milton Boykin, while Wesley J. Jackson arranged and provided guitar backing.

Donn Clendenon,  the manager of the MVPs owned clubs in Atlanta but was at the height of a stellar career as Most Valuable Player for the New York Mets. Now I know what MVPs stood for!

 

 

Edited March 6, 2020 by Firecrest

[The Yank 2,062]

1969 Baseball card - 

 

Edited March 6, 2020 by The Yank