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Roburt 2 posts
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The day after John 'Stand By Me' Kennedy was starring on Carr's Beach, this guy topped the bill @ the venue. A few weeks later the same guy was topping the bill @ an adjacent black beach resort,
Back in the late 50's & early to mid 60's, only one venue was more important than the east coast chitlin-circuit theatres (Royal, Howard, Uptown, etc) and that was ... Carr's Beach, Annapolis.
Being a Beach resort, they only staged live shows (for blacks) between May & September, but during that period of each year they booked all the top black acts. Those acts were booked to play the venue by Balto label owner Rufus Mitchell (Ru-Jac). Rufus always had his hand on the pulse of what was happening in Baltimore soul circles.
In summer 61 (June / July), they had one guy jointly topping the bill twice in just a 2 week period ... a young singer who titled himself John F Kennedy ... (see attached ads).
On his first booking there, it states DIRECT FROM DETROIT, but he wasn't a Detroit based singer (perhaps he'd just returned from a booking there) ...
On his 2nd appearance on the beach he's called the YOUNG PRESIDENT OF R & B ... so he's a young guy and seems to be riding on the back of President JFK's popularity with the black community (so guess his real name wasn't JOHN F KENNEDY but something not too distant from that).
Now, in the mid 60's, two Baltimore groups came together to form Frankie & the Spindles, one of these being Frankie & the Spinners, led by Frankie Kennedy.
Frankie had been born in 1948 and his full name was Franklin C Kennedy / F Kennedy -- not too far removed from John F KENNEDY.
Anyone know if the guy performing solo on Carr's Beach in summer 61 was in fact, Frankie of the Spindles ?
BTW, in September 71, the Chi-lites record label had no intention to immediately put the group's LP track "Have You Seen Her" out on 45. Frankie & the Spindles quickly recorded a version of the song, Lucky 'A' released it as a single and it instantly started to get lots of radio plays (especially in Balto / DC / Norfolk / Philly areas). Seeing the reaction the 45 was getting, Brunswick relented & the Chi-Lites version was issued on Brunswick in mid October 71.