I've now done this one with Will and put it on YouTube.

It also included a short intervew wih Richard Becker, who owned PAC 3...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great interview, Graham.  This helps fill in the picture of how Roger and Willie got to Detroit, and why they still had connections in The South.  And I always wondered whether they were related to Charley (Edwin Starr).  They may be distant relatives, or, at least connected by their forebears having been unrelated fellow slaves on a single Hatcher-owned plantation. Nice that you added the Pac-3 interview, too.

Edited February 2Feb 2 by Robbk

Yes, I did wonder about a family connection, but Will was sure there wasn't one. I think Roger may have claimed one, but that may have been to ride on Edwin Starr's popularity. I remember asking Jim Holland (Four Hollidays) if he was connected to Eddie and Brian and he said that he once claimed to be a cousin, but there was actually no family connectuion.

I'd wondered what to do with the Richard Becker interview - it was relatively short - and this was a good opporunity to use it.

Guess, as stated, Roger thought claiming to be a cousin Of Charles Hatcher would help his career. Of course the fact that he lived in Detroit & Cleveland at times in his life mirrored Charles / Edwin's bio details. In Cleveland, he must have always been asked about a connection to Edwin as Edwin started out in the music biz in Cleveland and he would return there to get musicians for his backing bands (so Edwin was still well known on the local Ohio music scene long after he moved out of the city). Roger could be a very difficult guy to deal with, maybe coz he never really received the recognition / rewards his talent deserved.   

hi graham,  another little bit of history on detroit music thanks  ----  hope you have more    thanks tom creeden

5 hours ago, Tom Creeden said:

----  hope you have more    thanks tom creeden

I'm now editing one with Ron Murphy, who was a recording engineer as well as a very knowledgeable collector of Detroit 45s.

11 hours ago, G F said:

I'm now editing one with Ron Murphy, who was a recording engineer as well as a very knowledgeable collector of Detroit 45s.

I can't wait to hear what Ron said.  He was a friend of mine, who taught me a lot of Detroit's music history.  In addition to being a recording engineer, and record masterer, he ran a couple of his own record labels, as well.  He knew a tremendous amount of the history of Motown, and once had one of the very most comprehensive collections of Motown records.

I hope to get it done this month. It'll be quite a long one as I interviewed Ron a few times - and as you know, he knew a lot.

Definitely one of the best channels on YT great stuff 👍