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Cajun Hart IS The Pink Panther


Pete S

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Nice pass on Pete 

The original Voices of East Anglia article has a few pics etc

https://www.voicesofeastanglia.com/2013/12/doug-goodwin-pink-panther-northern-soul.html

Have to add that the Voices Of  East Anglia is a site  that is well worth the regular visit for stuff like this and beyond

https://www.voicesofeastanglia.com/

the below also slipped me by at the time but @Russell Gilbert posted the below back a bit and has a bit of related info

 

Edited by mike
east
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8 hours ago, gogs said:

Pete, my pal, I think that you will find that Geoffrey Meteliko "Got to find a way" was the original version (i.e. before cajun hart) But it was by Doug Goodwin.

https://www.raresoulman.co.uk/59248-got-to-find-a-way-si-iofa.html

Wow...It says in the description section of the link that this version was arranged by none other than Gene Page.

I really need to hear this one !

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Guest Spain pete

Are you sure ?

3 hours ago, Soulsides said:

Wow...It says in the description section of the link that this version was arranged by none other than Gene Page.

I really need to hear this one !

 

23 minutes ago, martyn pitt said:

Here you go ... 

 

 

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  • 1 year later...
On 10/12/2017 at 19:58, Pete S said:

I don't know if Doug was the singer but I saw his name on two different Cajun Hart records so I sort of put two and two together, it seems Cajun Hart was actually a band

Pete this has been annoying my little brain for years and your info was fantastic and look where it lead me, could this be it after all the people playing it and wanting to know :)

Randy "Cajun" Hart,  manager was Lee Majid who produced it (Brunswick connection)

Manship quoted his voice of being likened to Jerry Butler, he has a familiar voice don't you think ?

All theses IMHO connected

 

Edited by Blackpoolsoul
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The Discogs page for Randy Hart states:

Quote

Randy was managed in Chicago by Lee Magid and was known as Randy "Cajun" Hart 
He was best know for his iconic Warner Brothers release as Cajun Hart which was a huge success on the "Northern Soul" scene

No idea who provided that information or whether they they know it as fact rather than speculation.

Source: https://www.discogs.com/artist/3466168-Randy-Hart-2

Of the three tracks from YouTube, it's only in "When the party's over" that I think there's any possible indication that the singer just might have supplied the vocals to "Got to find a way..."

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32 minutes ago, Amsterdam Russ said:

The Discogs page for Randy Hart states:

No idea who provided that information or whether they they know it as fact rather than speculation.

Source: https://www.discogs.com/artist/3466168-Randy-Hart-2

Of the three tracks from YouTube, it's only in "When the party's over" that I think there's any possible indication that the singer just might have supplied the vocals to "Got to find a way..."

HART, “CAJUN” RANDY (Brunswick); PM. Lee Magid.

the above shows via google books search , collage attractions - no actual preview of the text but seems info is in the text 👍

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59 minutes ago, Amsterdam Russ said:

The Discogs page for Randy Hart states:

No idea who provided that information or whether they they know it as fact rather than speculation.

Source: https://www.discogs.com/artist/3466168-Randy-Hart-2

Of the three tracks from YouTube, it's only in "When the party's over" that I think there's any possible indication that the singer just might have supplied the vocals to "Got to find a way..."

I have listened to the B-side of "Got to find a Way" have you (and compared to the vocal on Brunswick) ? well done Mike for spotting

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lSkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=lee+majid+cajun+heart+warner&source=bl&ots=7Q79w9eRdV&sig=ACfU3U2TYkZADrQZccdQPJupwJR2PlbcFQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjWgsKrqvjjAhUpUxUIHWH8BaIQ6AEwD3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=lee majid cajun heart warner&f=false

Edited by Blackpoolsoul
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42 minutes ago, Mike said:

HART, “CAJUN” RANDY (Brunswick); PM. Lee Magid.

the above shows via google books search , collage attractions - no actual preview of the text but seems info is in the text 👍

Interesting, but I wonder if this is a different person. Biographical info on Randy Hart seems hard to come by, but it appears he came from Louisiana (hence the "Cajun" nickname) and played in a group called the Bayou Blues Boys. Article below from Record World 02/09/1966.

RecordWorld-19660924.thumb.png.485cd09ff4901515679ce67b6832080e.png

However, in a Billboard magazine article dated 13/09/1975, Lee Magid states that Cajun Hart comes from Atlanta.

Billboard-19750913.thumb.png.7e6eac452e0c863282359c894c3b63f2.png

Confused? I still am!

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20 minutes ago, Amsterdam Russ said:

Interesting, but I wonder if this is a different person. Biographical info on Randy Hart seems hard to come by, but it appears he came from Louisiana (hence the "Cajun" nickname) and played in a group called the Bayou Blues Boys. Article below from Record World 02/09/1966.

RecordWorld-19660924.thumb.png.485cd09ff4901515679ce67b6832080e.png

However, in a Billboard magazine article dated 13/09/1975, Lee Magid states that Cajun Hart comes from Atlanta.

Billboard-19750913.thumb.png.7e6eac452e0c863282359c894c3b63f2.png

Confused? I still am!

 This is great stuff indeed but is clearly after the other records dated 1975 and maybe you have just found out where he was from (which is brilliant),  did the band from Louisiana feature our man from Atlanta

Edited by Blackpoolsoul
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1 hour ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

...did the band from Louisiana feature our man from Atlanta

Having spent some time digging for information, I've come to the conclusion that the Bayou Blues Band never actually recorded together. Possibly it was just an idea that came to nothing.

Cathy Chemi (mentioned as featuring with Randy Hart in the group) is a jazz vocals with a long history and a very respected reputation. However, I can find no reference to her and the group at all.

In fact, there seems to be no mention of the group beyond the mention in the Record World article (groups have existed with the name Bayou Blues Band, but these don't appear to contemporary with Magid's announcement.

I did find an archived text listing of an ad that appeared in Cash Box magazine 03/07/1971. That clearly associated Hart with his Cajun nickname.

RandyCajunHart-CashBox-19710703.thumb.png.f6bbf7486d560b2447c9df529119fbcd.png

I tried to see if I could find out any more info by checking out people Hart had collaborated with. The only thing of interest that I found was a snippet in a publication produced by The American Federation of Musicians and called Report of Officers to the Annual Convention (Volume 70, parts 1967-1972).

RayRachaels.png.33c1e505d3bb1034410b750e04ecf523.png

Ray Rachaels was a member of the group The M-3's, which comprised Rachaels, Hart and Bob Bryant.

Just to confuse matters further, entries for Randy Hart in the Catalogue of Copyright (3rd edition) state that Randy Hart is a pseudonym for Gerald Randolph Hard (Hard is a typo as other entries show the name as Hart). 

RandyHart-CatofCopyrightEntries3rd.thumb.png.8514a625429575730f63928907d61329.png

But is this the same Randy Hart with the Cajun nickname or a different one?

Searching for Gerald Randolph Hart brings up records of a person, aged 80, living in Florida. Could it be the same songwriter? On the other hand, the court case snippet shows that Lee Magid's Randy Hart was a member of the musicians union in Columbia, South Carolina - a completely different part of the country.

Mind you, people do move...

Anyone got anything else?

 

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8 hours ago, Garethx said:

No doubt in my mind that Randy Hart on Brunswick is the same vocalist as on the Cajun Hart 45s.

I know I was the person who suggested it, would you be kind enough though (like me) why you think it is, as we have others doubting it or questioning it :)

Edited by Blackpoolsoul
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I think the evidence of the voice is there for everyone to hear. I'd listened with hopeful interest to a lot of the Cajun Hart material as I'm not averse to the odd quality pop or MOR record but it has to be said everything else he cut apart from Got To Find A Way is pretty awful. Even "No East Way Down" (one of Goffin and King's best late songs which should in theory be pretty hard to ruin) is terrible. The Brunswick 45 is horrible but is surely by Lee Magid's Randy 'Cajun' Hart. There are telltale phrasing similarities, particularly on the more uptempo side of the Brunswick release.

LIke Pete I'd always assumed that this act was a band rather than an individual so it's good to get some more definitive information. On the other side of the coin I'd always thought Marion Sodd was an individual until Bob A correctly informed us it was a nine-piece band.  

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  • 9 months later...
33 minutes ago, Simon T said:

looks like a bullhip

bullwhip.jpg

Do you think you were being a bit harsh on 4th Funiest on this site ?, don't you think it was worth researching the singer after what 40 years of the tune being played, I first heard it at Cleethorpes and no one knew who he was, or even bothered until now

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15 hours ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

Do you think you were being a bit harsh on 4th Funiest on this site ?, don't you think it was worth researching the singer after what 40 years of the tune being played, I first heard it at Cleethorpes and no one knew who he was, or even bothered until now

 

Edited by Simon T
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Having established who Cajun Heart is ... that he is from the south (USA) and appears to have worked primarily in the southern states, with no real soul or RnB pedigree, it's perhaps a little surprising that somewhere along the line he managed to get a record released in 1970 on Brunswick with credits to Carl Davis, Willie Henderson, Eugene Record on what is essentially a Chicago soul record. Perhaps his manager Lee Magid had the right connections and engineered that one off release with Brunswick. Although it is known that Carl Davis on occasion worked with white pop artists like Dana Valery.

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