Ain't Nothin' But a House Party - A chat with Bruce Weinroth, producer of the Show Stoppers classic A deep-dive into the song’s roots in the Philly Sound, its second life as a Northern Soul classic, and its resurrection as...

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5 hours ago, Roburt said:

Columbus, Ohio -- July 67 ... # 31

Good list   Lots of great singers and groups, bit of a soul heaven 

showtime label on this one 

The Show Stoppers 45 wasn't a pop hit in the US (not even a national R&B chart hit), whereas it was on the UK pop charts (March 68 & Feb 71). .

Their 45 did really well on lots of US R&B radio stns but at different times (on some) due to it being from a new start-up indie label -- hence not enough sales / radio plays everywhere at the same time, so not on the national R&B chart .

They came to the UK for promo & TV purposes and then to tour here.

BUT, as their hit came at the time that the 'fake groups' scam was at it's height (spring / summer 68), I seem to recall a NY group touring here on one occasion as a 'fake' version of the group.

 

Brilliant Article. Thanks

Dave

Interesting article and heres some add. showing their first incarnation (same line up) as the Fortune Tellers. They cut two 45s between 61 and 63 - what always puzzled me was that their 61 release has them as Fortune Tellers (on Sheryl Rec.) where on the og studio acetate they are already billed as "Showstoppers"... six years before they actually released as the "Showstoppers" ! However, the acetate clearly shows a strong and much earlier connection between the band and Jerry Ross, predating the Heritage release by seven years ! 

John Fitch not only wrote "Houseparty" but as their backing band guitar player also did a lot of touring with the Showstoppers incl. their UK tour. This tour not only generated the Showstoppers Beacon 45 release but also a release of a very nice John Fitch 45 which got some interest from the few upfront venues & DJ`s in the recent past.

 

Both sides of the Sheryl 45 were re-released on UK Beacon and german Polydor around 69/70.

 

From south of the border ...  

22 hours ago, Marc Forrest said:

Interesting article and heres some add. showing their first incarnation (same line up) as the Fortune Tellers. They cut two 45s between 61 and 63 - what always puzzled me was that their 61 release has them as Fortune Tellers (on Sheryl Rec.) where on the og studio acetate they are already billed as "Showstoppers"... six years before they actually released as the "Showstoppers" ! However, the acetate clearly shows a strong and much earlier connection between the band and Jerry Ross, predating the Heritage release by seven years ! 

John Fitch not only wrote "Houseparty" but as their backing band guitar player also did a lot of touring with the Showstoppers incl. their UK tour. This tour not only generated the Showstoppers Beacon 45 release but also a release of a very nice John Fitch 45 which got some interest from the few upfront venues & DJ`s in the recent past.

 

Marc, thanks for the comments. Two questions/thoughts:

- Had not heard of The Fortune Tellers, clearly a Philadelphia group. But all The Show Stoppers were born in 1948/1949, so seems unlikely they were in The Fortune Tellers (not impossible, though). If there is a connection, could it be older Burke brothers? And is that acetate from the 1961 recording? Anything you can clarify on that would be great.

- Houseparty was written by Carl Fisher (Del Sharh) and Joe Thomas, The Show Stoppers guitarist, at least according to the publishing credits and my conversations with Bruce Weinroth. Am I missing something here?

Cheers and thanks for reading the piece.

46 minutes ago, Joel E Turner said:

Marc, thanks for the comments. Two questions/thoughts:

- Had not heard of The Fortune Tellers, clearly a Philadelphia group. But all The Show Stoppers were born in 1948/1949, so seems unlikely they were in The Fortune Tellers (not impossible, though). If there is a connection, could it be older Burke brothers? And is that acetate from the 1961 recording? Anything you can clarify on that would be great.

- Houseparty was written by Carl Fisher (Del Sharh) and Joe Thomas, The Show Stoppers guitarist, at least according to the publishing credits and my conversations with Bruce Weinroth. Am I missing something here?

Cheers and thanks for reading the piece.

Hi Joel, 

sure and yes, Fortune Tellers and Showstoppers same group. The Sheryl 45 and the acetate are one and the same song and recording. Credited to the Fortune Tellers (45) and Showstoppers (Jerry Ross acetate). 

These links might be helpful

https://music.metason.net/artistinfo?name=The Show Stoppers

This article informs us that Solomon Burke put the four brothers as early as 1957 😮 on the show business map

https://wiki.edu.vn/wiki32/2021/10/18/die-showstopper-wikipedia/

And finally the 1969 UK release -eight years after the of the Fortune Tellers Sheryl 45-  is credited to "The Showstoppers" 

https://www.discogs.com/master/1211732-Showstoppers-Just-A-Little-Bit-Of-Lovin

John Fitch wrote the "ANBAHP" flipside "What Can A Man Do" and was a guitar player (apparently also for Frankie Beverly & The Butlers) Later he went on to write some 130+ songs for different artists incl. the hit  "Shame" (Evelyn Champagne King) 

https://www.discogs.com/artist/152012-John-H-Fitch-Jr?type=Credits&subtype=Writing-Arrangement&filter_anv=0 

I know there are a few sites who have this listed as a 1961 release, I think 1962 is more likely as you can see by this survey from October, 1962 (Fortune Tellers at #53)- 

On 26/02/2023 at 14:11, Source said:

if not aware, here's a quick highlight of a 'party time' related Source article from @Dave Moore

 

Dave, see my comments in that thread. I'm going to pull together a list of followup questions for Bruce W., from comments here and from the article above. Which is a great article, btw. Bunny Sigler is a Philly legend, so glad to hear you got him over to UK.

AUGUST 68: Not the Philly guys themselves, just the UK band due to back them a few weeks later ...