Benny's Song or is it ?

View full article

Fantastic reading Andy.

 

 

 

Cool Sounds have always been a firm favourite here on their WB 45s, as have The Imperial Wonders.

 

Fascinating back story to these records and artists we admire.

Jim

 

 

39 minutes ago, Jim Elliott said:

Fantastic reading Andy.

 

 

 

Cool Sounds have always been a firm favourite here on their WB 45s, as have The Imperial Wonders.

 

Fascinating back story to these records and artists we admire.

Jim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Jim 

Thanks - enjoyed reading this!

Yee-Haw ! Will come again to dive into it deeper and try to register some of it better. Fab info read thanks. Natural SA born here... 

Hi loved reading the article...

re, the information about who were the group members of "Cool Sounds"

Any idea who the female vocalist is on the Cool Sounds WB's release of 

"I'll take you back" as to me it's almost definitely a female,as well as the lyrics indicate the same..🤔

I would love to know for sure who was all involved in the Cool Sounds line ups... Have been wondering...

Many thanks again for the great article 👍

2 hours ago, Alan Mac said:

Hi loved reading the article...

re, the information about who were the group members of "Cool Sounds"

Any idea who the female vocalist is on the Cool Sounds WB's release of 

"I'll take you back" as to me it's almost definitely a female,as well as the lyrics indicate the same..🤔

I would love to know for sure who was all involved in the Cool Sounds line ups... Have been wondering...

Many thanks again for the great article 👍

I'm still waiting for a couple of responses and maybe some one will tell me....hopefully !

 

Bennie Charles Cherry (born 1945) should still be living in Las Vegas, and if you google this full name you might find his current address, though in the past decade he seems to have moved a few times.  BMI.com credits him as sole songwriter of My Love Has Gone, No Time For You, and Too Late To Cry.  BMI.com - whose database has numerous mistakes - has not yet linked this name to Benny Cherry, who in 1997 co-wrote Keep The Power In The Punch (on a CD as Keep The Power In Your Punch).

Songwriter credits for No Time For You might have been a mistake when the label was printed, not necessarily an effort to take a credit away from Cherry.  BMI.com does have the flip side Hey It's Love credited to Dan Henderson.  

Who Can I Turn To (Where Can I Go) is not in BMI.com for Cherry, Sanders, or Lenoir Music, despite both being credited on the 1972 copyright filing which credited Cherry with words, Sanders with words & music.  There was no copyright filing for Who Do I Turn To, and no publisher was printed on the Lota Soul label.  The credit to Sanders could be another example of a manager taking partial credit for a song in return for getting it recorded, something far more common in the 1950s.  It might also be a legitimate (if slight) change to lyrics and music arrangement that could justify partial songwriting credit.

BMI.com also has songwriting credits for Bennie Charles Cherry II (born 1998) who writes and raps as BC The Ice God, and if you contact him on social media he might help locate his father.

I also want to provide a more refined update on credits for "Who Do I Turn To." Bennie wrote the composition under commission from a renowned local folk painter, Theadius McCall. McCall also owned a youth club called "Soulsville U.S.A." in the East Side of San Antonio; he was responsible for putting "the Primes" together and another local group called "Timmy And His Soul Brothers," which Theadius was part of. Bennie was only aware 'Who Do I Turn To' was covered by the Cool Sounds when I mentioned it to him. Furthermore, Epstein heard the Justifiers perform "No Time For You" at a local talent show in San Antonio and ended up recording the tune for the Commands and giving them the song credits. Today, Bennie does receive royalties for "No Time For You" via the Numero Group. Bennie is alive and well in Vegas and still performing with his group "Touch of Silk."

This isn't the first time a San Antonio song has been swiped. Robert Williams' group "The Equasions" released 'Its So Hard To Say "So Long" on the Pac Sounds label. Several years later, the "VEE GEES" recorded the same tune and gave themselves the credits. Coincidently, one of the songwriters is "Leroy Williams," who has no relation to Robert Williams.

The group consisted of Robert Williams, Vernon Shannon, James "Squirrel" Hartfield, Ricky Cotton, and Lamar Sumter. Williams and Shannon were previously part of the Volumes, which featured harmonizing twins James & Joseph Garnett and Robert's cousin, Ronnie Wallace. All from Brackenridge High School. They released one record on Garu - I'm Gonna Miss You b/w I've Never Been So In Love—another rare SA record.

I started an all-45 label and my first release is by the Justifiers, Bennie's first group. You can learn more about Bennie's history here: https://justifiers.bandcamp.com/album/watch-out-theyre-tough

A fascinating tale that brings to the surface many underhand things that have occurred in the music biz down the years.

Bobby Sanders was certainly an operator who knew his way round most aspects of the music biz. No doubt (in common with the likes of Don Robey), he used his knowledge / power to his own advantage on many occasions. I know there were numerous members of groups who were sent out to perform as the Younghearts / New Younghearts who had a low opinion of Bobby S.

But then, no doubt in HIS early years in the biz, Bobby was ripped off himself at times. As they say ....  fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Maybe he thought he was due a few 'breaks' later on in his career to make up for earlier events when he had been ripped off.

It could well be that the Cool Sounds, being a Bobby Sanders managed group, followed the same path as the Younghearts / New Younghearts and had an ever changing line up. From their 1969 Pulsar 45, thru their Pick-A-Hit 45 and onto their 3 x WB 45's ... those releases escaping over a 3 year period, the group could have had numerous different members.

WB in the period 1970 to 74 seemed to put out a real mix of assorted pop, folk, rock & soul, with no real direction to their release strategy. Also, many singles got a release but didn't seem to get any promotion at all. A WB promotions man, visiting radio stns to gain plays on the companies latest releases must have had an almost impossible job  -- did he spend all his time at pop radio stns who had the largest audiences (though few of them would playlist the label's obscure soul releases) or did he also visit some big R&B stns to push just the label's 'black' releases with them.

I have no idea how the promotion dept at WB was staffed during those years & how those staff worked at the time. It would be fascinating to find out more about this subject.

From 1970 to 75, all the major labels (CBS, WB, RCA, Capitol, United Artists, etc) were signing up soul artists from indie black labels, but many had no idea how to market those acts effectively. The likes of Atlantic, ABC, Phillips / Mercury and more had been servicing the R&B / black market for a good while & in many cases, seemed to make a better job of things. Then just as they had an established roster of soul acts; disco took over.   

I know a few 'strange things' surrounded the 1973 WB 45 release credited to Lou Ragland (Since You Said You'd Be Mine), not least the fact that it was recorded by the group Lou led at the time & not by a solo Lou.. . .  Reprise was a WB label & they seemed to follow a similar haphazard release policy to WB itself. Singles were released by the label on the likes of the Hypnotics (an outside production by Kent Washburn) in 73, on Barbara Lewis (an outside production) also in 73 and by Life (an outside production) in 74 ... BUT no effort at all seemed to go into promoting these releases or gaining decent sales figures on any of them. Why bother signing these outside productions up if you were just gonna let them all 'wither on the vine'.