Articles: Lester Tipton - The Story

[Funky 4 Corners]

Source News/Article/Feature Highlight:

Lester Fred Tipton was born 1st September 1948 in Detroit Mi. along with twin sister Leslie Viola to their parents, Mr & Mrs Willard Tipton.

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[Chalky]

Excellent reading

[Jamesh]

Really enjoyed reading that. Thanks very much

[Andy Rix]

Keith .. as ever a fully researched and informative piece .. 

thank you

Andy

 

scans of the acetate Dave Raistrick found

Edited October 8, 2023 by Andy Rix

[Ian Parker]

17 years old ,  quite remarkable 

[Jim Elliott]

That's a fantastic,  fascinating read. Thank you.

Jim.

[Funky 4 Corners]

Great images Andy, a good addition to the story! One thing I've often thought about is the origin of the La Beat name - very akin to L BEATty, I wonder if Lou's second name began with A?

[Dave Pinch]

great stuff

[Stanley]

very interesting and excellent read a tragic ending for lester ,and feel very privileged to own possibly the finest original la beat copy on the planet.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Stanley

[Davek]

Thanks for a great story, very interesting and tragic.

Regarding the scans of the acetate. I originally bought this off Dave Raistrick when he found it, around 1980/81. I think he put it up for auction and I won it at £25. I'm sure it was that figure as I also won the Eddie Parker "Love you baby" White Demo for £25. No one had seen a white demo before and I had to have it. People thought I was crazy paying that when the issue could be had for £1.50! The Lester Tipton acetate was a very good price I thought as the La Beat single was about £40 at the time. I've got the sales list somewhere that I put it on a couple of years later. I thought I sold it to George Sharp but it must of been you Andy. 

Cheers Dave K

[Soulsider]

Fantastic article. Thanks for pulling it all together. 

[Andy Rix]

1 hour ago, Davek said:

Thanks for a great story, very interesting and tragic.

Regarding the scans of the acetate. I originally bought this off Dave Raistrick when he found it, around 1980/81. I think he put it up for auction and I won it at £25. I'm sure it was that figure as I also won the Eddie Parker "Love you baby" White Demo for £25. No one had seen a white demo before and I had to have it. People thought I was crazy paying that when the issue could be had for £1.50! The Lester Tipton acetate was a very good price I thought as the La Beat single was about £40 at the time. I've got the sales list somewhere that I put it on a couple of years later. I thought I sold it to George Sharp but it must of been you Andy. 

Cheers Dave K

Hi ... I got it from Nigel Parker

Andy

[Munchkin]

brilliant, thanks for the insight..

[dave/colwyn bay]

GREAT READ MANY THANKS KIETH FOR POSTING 

[Hammie]

I posted that promo picture at the top of Lester that came from a good friend and legend of a record finder Steve Cooper ….a very knowledgeable and well traveled in the States record collector ….he met and acquired some other good info from folks like Miles Grayson, Hadley Murrell, Len Jewell……

[The Yank]

9 hours ago, Funky 4 Corners said:

Great images Andy, a good addition to the story! One thing I've often thought about is the origin of the La Beat name - very akin to L BEATty, I wonder if Lou's second name began with A?

 According to the liner notes of the Grapevine CD "Lou Beatty's Detroit Soul", Lou's middle name was Roy.

[Eddie Hubbard]

Excellent article ,thanks to all who contributed 

 

[Kenmidgley]

Brilliant read. Thanks for sharing,

[Robbk]

Nice article Keith.  Lester, himself has been often overlooked, other than his rare record getting notoriety.  I didn't like either side of his one LaBeat release.  He was a much better singer than he showed on his two released cuts.  Too bad his life was cut off so early.  Too bad he didn't get a chance with a record company to give him a true chance and the right material.  Unfortunately, we at Airwave couldn't get the financing to do a project on him, because we had other things going on, and by that time, he had really given up on trying to forge a singing career.

 

[Marc Forrest]

Wonder who that "well known record entrepreneur" was, who stole the records of Tom Depierro - was it ever revealed ?  

[Chalky]

27 minutes ago, Marc Forrest said:

Wonder who that "well known record entrepreneur" was, who stole the records of Tom Depierro - was it ever revealed ?  

Soussan

[Fleetwood M]

A fantastic insight.

[Agentsmith]

On 15/12/2023 at 20:45, Chalky said:

Soussan

Too right Karl, only name anyone would think of

[Agentsmith]

What a great insight, enjoyed reading this very much, a continuous learning curve is this scene of ours, especially about the artists whose names adorn the music ( and records ) we love.