What does the T.S.U in T.S.U Toronadoes stand for?

 

I should probably know this but I don’t or I’ve been told but forgotten, I’ve got numerous records by them so perhaps I should at least know their full name

 

all the best, Andy

Texas state uni . I seem to recall 

42 minutes ago, AndyKempster said:

What does the T.S.U in T.S.U Toronadoes stand for?

 

I should probably know this but I don’t or I’ve been told but forgotten, I’ve got numerous records by them so perhaps I should at least know their full name

 

all the best, Andy

The band (named after the school where they were students, and their favorite car, the Oldmosbile Toronado)

This is a great article

https://www.houstonpress.com/news/the-tsu-toronadoes-6540593

Edited May 22, 20195 yr by Blackpoolsoul

Great story...

So Archie Bell and Billy Butler got all the royalties for tighten up...even though the tornadoes created the tune.

No wonder dog eat dog was an appropriate a side to the original release.

Ed

offtopic posts dropped - lets keep the soul forums  informative and enjoyable please

 

couple of great TSU Tornadoes pics here 

 

 

Texas State University.

I think it’s actually Texas Southern University. One of their Ovide releases features a live version of “Nothing can stop me” and you hear the MC announce them as “Tor o na does”. I wondered why he pronounced it that way, checked the label and realised I’d misread their name for decades 

30 minutes ago, nickinstoke said:

I think it’s actually Texas Southern University. One of their Ovide releases features a live version of “Nothing can stop me” and you hear the MC announce them as “Tor o na does”. I wondered why he pronounced it that way, checked the label and realised I’d misread their name for decades 

You are right it is Texas Southern University. What good am I is an amazing cross over tune with a brass section to die for. Chris. 

Loads of great info here, thanks everyone, glad I asked now

👍

 

all the best, Andy

btw, I tried to buy the autobiography mentioned in the Houston Press article but was unable to have it shipped to the UK, however, I did find this as an alternative so bought that considering it's probably still a pretty decent read

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1466943483/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

There were the house band for Ovide and also backed Archie Bell and the Drells in the studio. Cal Thomas was the driving force behind them but as discussed their lost out big time on the Tighten up credits and none of them got any recognition at all. Heres the Ovide discography it is an immense label https://www.45cat.com/label/ovide  

Many of the above are now very saught after.I could of picked up loads of their stuff on my first visit to Texas in 2004 but now even the the so called easier cuts are becoming difficult. Quality always rises but sometimes it takes an eon. 

Any truth in the story that the Houston Outlaws was a successor group? Sounds like them.

For completeness, my chapter excerpt from Rhythm Message:

https://a-nickel-and-a-nail.myshopify.com/blogs/news/the-tsu-toronadoes-e-mark-windle

13 hours ago, Tomangoes said:

Great story...

So Archie Bell and Billy Butler got all the royalties for tighten up...even though the tornadoes created the tune.

No wonder dog eat dog was an appropriate a side to the original release.

Ed

Well, they got their own records released on Atlantic as a result of that, I assume, and a couple of them must have done well going by how common they used to be. Also, they are actually credited on a subsequent Archie Bell b-side (Think it's ' You're such a beautiful child'. Nice tune).

....Yeah this one. (Just realised drum intro sounds a bit like its going be, 'What happened to yesterday')

 

11 minutes ago, JoeSoap said:

Well, they got their own records released on Atlantic as a result of that, I assume, and a couple of them must have done well going by how common they used to be. Also, they are actually credited on a subsequent Archie Bell b-side (Think it's ' You're such a beautiful child'. Nice tune).

Oh yeah, and '1000 Wonders' was on the Archie Bell 'Tighten Up' LP on Atlantic so you would think / hope Cal Thomas who wrote it must have got some royalties off that.

There's the instrumental to 1000 wonders on the one flight to many album that came out in 1999 superb album lots of unissued stuff on it 

21 minutes ago, speedlimit said:

There's the instrumental to 1000 wonders on the one flight to many album that came out in 1999 superb album lots of unissued stuff on it 

yep agree, a great lp and version 👍 still fairly cheap and/or also available via online services

 

Skipper founded some great acts

I wonder who the ladies are

On 22/05/2019 at 19:34, AndyKempster said:

btw, I tried to buy the autobiography mentioned in the Houston Press article but was unable to have it shipped to the UK, however, I did find this as an alternative so bought that considering it's probably still a pretty decent read

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1466943483/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

took delivery of Skips autobiography and while I was a little disappointed with the amount of background on the Toronadoes and Drells (really not much at all)  it still made for a very interesting read, the guy lead a very full and productive life, well worth a read

 

On 22/05/2019 at 22:37, JoeSoap said:

Oh yeah, and '1000 Wonders' was on the Archie Bell 'Tighten Up' LP on Atlantic so you would think / hope Cal Thomas who wrote it must have got some royalties off that.

I hope so because this is magnificent..

Ed

 

On 22/05/2019 at 22:19, Windlesoul said:

For completeness, my chapter excerpt from Rhythm Message:

https://a-nickel-and-a-nail.myshopify.com/blogs/news/the-tsu-toronadoes-e-mark-windle

I stumbled across an Obituary (2004) 😥 which may add to the story being that Lee Andrew Kirk, Jr. was a member of the TSU Toronados, and later The Techniques IV.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/statesman/name/lee-kirk-obituary?id=27701618

On 23/05/2019 at 10:39, Blackpoolsoul said:

Skipper founded some great acts

I wonder who the ladies are

I make mention of Skipper Lee in the article ... 1964 – The Year Billboard Abandoned R&B. ...

In both the para on Houston R&B radio and in the later para about 45's that took time to take off ("Tighten Up"). BTW, who the ladies were in the pic above is explained here ... 

I recently picked up a copy of “Getting the corners/What good am I” on German Atlantic - labels and pic sleeve all spell their name as “Tornadoes”, so not just me getting it wrong.