John Rhys known for his work in Detroit throughout the 60s passed away this morning, Sunday 27th August 2023.

John was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, that had spread to other parts of body earlier this month. Our mutual friend Matt Lucas has kept me informed and it is a deep gratitude and sadness he called me this afternoon to tell me the sad news.

I'll add to this as and when I hear anything. I will forward any messages to the family.  Should anyone wish to send donations to Lori (John's wife) here is John's email address ( jreddins@gmail.com ) where you can send paypal etc.

Sincerely

Mark Hanson 

Edited August 27, 20231 yr by Raresoulsearcher

RIP John. 

 

 

Good choice of record !

 

I first heard this in the summer of 1973 played at the Octopus on a Saturday lunch-time by Pep. I was not immediately enamoured and thought it compared most unfavourably  with the other Impact record being played around that time: the anthemic Crying Over You'.

I have since revised my initial assessment of Nothing But Love and now consider it one of the great instrumentals of the era.

John Rhys, RIP.

Very Sad news.....R.I.P Sir.....

Am so sad to hear that John has passed.

Since meeting him at a Skegness Soul Weekender and getting to know him at Detroit-A-Go-Go John had become a friend.

He told me about 3 weeks ago he did not have long to live. The doctors had informed him he would not last longer than August 28. John was determined to prove them wrong but sadly that was not to be. 

Over the last year we kept talking vaguely about me completing interviews with John.

He pointed out I had better get on the case urgently without an iota of self pity. Doing  so was at the same time  saddening but at the same time in a strange way a happy experience as John’s amazing stories and the  humorous self deprecating way he told them kept making me smile.

 

 

Even when John was terribly ill  he kept asking on behalf of Lori and himself how Marie was after her procedure for nose cancer.

 

Time will not pass you by John. You will be missed and remembered.

 

Love,

 

Neil and Marie

Edited August 27, 20231 yr by Neil Rushton
Missed word

RIP. That man lived a life, a true gent.

A man who tried to make sure Time didn't pass him by.

Paul

Another very sad loss to our music.

John, of course, co-wrote "Time Will Pass You By". Just one of the many musical things we have to thank him for. Has it ever been documented how this song came to be written by John & Dino Fekaris & Nick Zesses ?

Edited August 28, 20231 yr by Roburt

16 minutes ago, Roburt said:

Another very sad loss to our music.

John, of course, co-wrote "Time Will Pass You By". Just one of the many musical things we have to thank him for.

Has it ever been documented (I guess so), how this song ended up being recorded by Tobi Lark while she was on a tour (with King Curtis ?) of the US east coast.

 

 

 

 

Luckily, there she continued to perform live at clubs such as Rockheads around 1966 (see related ad). She then performed @ Expo67 & got into the musical HAIR. Having moved to Toronto she was (by then) famous enough to get picked to go on big tours back on the US east coast. She signed up for one that took her over to the Boston / Hartford / New York areas. A radio DJ (JOEY Reynolds of WKBW/WDRC) in that area MAY have got involved with Tobi & he MAY have set up a recording session at Trod Nossel Studios in Wallingford (which had till 1966 been SYNCRON Sound Studios). Anyway the Tobi Legend 45 label states ... IMAGINEERED BY JOEY (Reynolds ?) at SYCRON 68 and it escaped on Mala in February 68 ... so that recording session would have taken place around the winter period 67/68. But Tobi's son died and that put her off performing, so it seems she lost interest in singing live / recording not long after the Tobi Legend 45's escaped (Feb / April 68).

How a Detroit penned song ended up being recorded in the New England / New York area (unless Tobi had taken it with her & was performing it live in her shows in 67/68), I guess we'll never truly understand.

Tobi, established her career in Canada at this club ...       

John, may be better if we take the follow on Tobi legend talk to a different topic, maybe this one

thanks

 

14 hours ago, Raresoulsearcher said:

John Rhys known for his work in Detroit throughout the 60s passed away this morning, Sunday 27th August 2023.

John was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, that had spread to other parts of body earlier this month. Our mutual friend Matt Lucas has kept me informed and it is a deep gratitude and sadness he called me this afternoon to tell me the sad news.

I'll add to this as and when I hear anything. I will forward any messages to the family.  Should anyone wish to send donations to Lori (John's wife) here is John's email address ( jreddins@gmail.com ) where you can send paypal etc.

Sincerely

Mark Hanson 

sad news Mark

thanks for passing it on

 

Posted up by Motown supremo Ralph Terrana ... ... An odd thing happened. For some reason John was on my mind last Friday. We have been out of touch for a few years. I sent him an email to see how he was doing. Today while, scrolling Facebook, I came across a piece saying John died the other day of lung cancer. Such a shocking coincidence to learn the demise of an old friend.

I first met John when he became the producer of The Sunliners, when we first signed contracts with Golden World Records. He would produce, in my opinion, the best song ever recorded by the group. "Heart Of The City" written by John and Edwin Starr. And the song never got released. Label owner Ed Wingate was reluctant to release the record due to a recent hit by some group that had the word "city" in the title.

Jumping ahead a few years, I would get to know john very well when he was producing for Harry Balk's Impact record label. He was responsible for the hit "Oh How Happy" by the Shades of Blue. His biggest record for Impact.

John was an interesting guy possessing an abundance of talent. In later years he created the popular website Blue Power, which is how I tracked him down the other day.

Rest well John, You made the world a better place. I will always think fondly of our good friendship.

...... RE:  "Heart Of The City" have the tapes turned up for this song ? ... it isn't even registered with BMI as a John Rhys or Edwin Starr (Charles Hatcher) penned song.

Edited August 29, 20231 yr by Roburt

On 27/08/2023 at 14:33, Raresoulsearcher said:

John Rhys known for his work in Detroit throughout the 60s passed away this morning, Sunday 27th August 2023.

John was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, that had spread to other parts of body earlier this month. Our mutual friend Matt Lucas has kept me informed and it is a deep gratitude and sadness he called me this afternoon to tell me the sad news.

I'll add to this as and when I hear anything. I will forward any messages to the family.  Should anyone wish to send donations to Lori (John's wife) here is John's email address ( jreddins@gmail.com ) where you can send paypal etc.

Sincerely

Mark Hanson 

 

1 minute ago, BioBrewer said:

 

Welcome to Soul Source

You may need to post again as no text has come through

cheers

mike

In his later years John and Lori frequented our little pub in Anderson, SC to listen and play at the open mic. I had the privilege of playing bass on his 2022 I’ve Got A Pony rerelease. This is a video of John and his magical storytelling through words and music. His last performance, June 19th, 2023 at Carolina Bauernhaus Brewery & Winery weekly  Open Mic, where he thoroughly enjoyed a Coney Island style hot dog before taking our breath away. 
 

-David

10 hours ago, Roburt said:

Another very sad loss to our music.

John, of course, co-wrote "Time Will Pass You By". Just one of the many musical things we have to thank him for. Has it ever been documented how this song came to be written by John & Dino Fekaris & Nick Zesses ?

John explained to me that he wrote the first verse and the chorus but then got  writer's block with the song. When he met Dino and Nick 12 months later they were keen to see any finished material he had. John Rhys produced a few things which didn't grab their attention,so when they were still insistent for material he reluctantly offered the unfinished TWPYB. They saw the potential merit and set about finishing it off, we all benefited from that meeting.

Paul

Edited August 28, 20231 yr by Our Kid

13 hours ago, Our Kid said:

John explained to me that he wrote the first verse and the chorus but then got  writer's block with the song. When he met Dino and Nick 12 months later they were keen to see any finished material he had. John Rhys produced a few things which didn't grab their attention,so when they were still insistent for material he reluctantly offered the unfinished TWPYB. They saw the potential merit and set about finishing it off, we all benefited from that meeting.

Paul

That's the sort of info that makes visiting this site so great.

From the info in the attached video, TWPYB as a song was started in 1965 and completed 12 months later when John Rhys got help from Dino & Nick. John & Edwin Starr were writing together for the Sunliners in 65 & that group's Golden World 45 came out in Oct 65, after Edwin's 1st Ric Tic 45 had hit US shops in June 65 (Agent 00-Soul entering the US R&B charts at the end of July). So John Rhys was writing songs for Golden World acts in summer 65. Golden World set up the Volkano label as an outlet for John's work and that label's 1st release was in Nov 65. Again that points me to think that John would have been working on TWPYB in the 2nd half of 1965.    

So that means the song TWPYB would have been finished & ready to record by sometime in 1966 (late summer to the end of 66 I'd guess). It seems to have been recorded by Tobi Lark late in 1967 or very early in 1968 over on the US east coast (the 45 gaining release in Feb 68). Tobi had moved to Montreal in 1966 & made a name for herself performing in local clubs there before starring at the Expo 67 exhibition (which opened in April 67). From there she went to Toronto, before being hired to do some tours of the US east coast late in 67 and in 68.

So the song must have sat there for around 12 months with no takers to record it. With Tobi having left Detroit and relocated to Montreal before or around the same time the song was completed. So how come she was the person who ended up with the song and the only one who got to record it.

 

 

Edited August 29, 20231 yr by Roburt

Others may well disagree, but I think that this is a really great version of Time Will Pass You By:

I wonder what John would have thought about his song being performed in such grand surroundings. It's probably the biggest audience the song has ever had.

Put up link a few years ago off the bluepower website which is now down but is now on Youtube

Soulful Detroit

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=U7DA1YUUTWQ

Edited September 5, 20231 yr by Craig W

Thanks Craig. Thought this was lost on the WWW.

David