Louise

Oliver Cheatham: Forever Saturday Night. Native Detroiter Oliver Cheatham was born February 24th 1948 into a family of eight other children. It was his gospel trained mother, Maddie that encouraged her son to sing. Oliver was a shy child who would only sing to other people from behind the sofa. He was a keen sportsman who harboured thoughts of becoming a professional Baseball player with the Detroit Tigers. This changed one night when his sister Jackie recommended him to her then boyfriend Allen Cocker a member of the group known as The Young Sirs who just happened to be a man short for a forthcoming show. On his sister’s recommendation Oliver deputised and thus became a permanent member of the Young Sirs. The Young Sirs big break eventually came while they were performing at a local cabaret show. Unbeknown to the group Barbara Burt was in the audience. Barbara Burt together with her husband Ernest operated the Magic City label located at 8912 Grand River, the former home of Correc-Tone Records which they had purchased from its former owner Wilbert Golden in 1965.Upon Barbara’s recommendation The Young Sirs signed to Magic City where they recorded the mellifluous, “There’s Something The Matter (With Your Heart)/African Love” (MC 010).With Oliver by now assuming the role of lead singer. The groups others members were Oliver’s by now brother in law Allen Coker, Van Johnson and his nephew Mike Johnson and the group’s bass vocalist Ronald Noel. While at Magic City Oliver was asked by Ernest Burt to chaperone a group of guys some five years younger than himself who recorded under the name Mad Dog And The Pups, Although never strictly regarded as a member of the group Oliver did provide some of the backing vocals and occasional the lead vocals when his young protégés’ were found wanting."¨ Photo:- from left to right are: Mike Johnson, Allen Cocker, Oliver Cheatham, Ronald Noel & Van Johnson. As the 1970’s dawned Oliver signed up with Marvin Higgins who placed him under the guidance of the highly respected record producer George McGregor. Oliver’s first McGregor, production “I’m Only A Man/Out Off My Hands” was released on the Black Rock Label (2002) under the pseudonym of Butch & The Newports. With” Butch “being Oliver’s nickname and The Newports being Allen Coker, Curtis “Kippy” Henderson."¨ A name change followed with Butch & The Newports now becoming The Gaslight with the addition of a fourth member Michael Eatmon. With three further 45 single releases appearing on Higgin’s Grand Junction logo. Firstly “I Can’t Tell A Lie/Here’s Missing You (1001), then” If You See Her/Drifting Away” (1002) followed by a second issue of “I’m Only A Man” but with a different flip side to the Black Rock release “I’m Gonna Get You” (GJ-1100)"¨"¨The Gaslight’s next release “Just Because Of You/It’s Just Like Magic” first gained a release on the tiny independent T.E.A.I. label which was owned by Chuck Armstrong, a former road manager of the Dramatics. This release was later picked up for national distribution by the major Polydor label. It would appear that a second Gaslight release on T.E.A.I. may quite possibly exist. A track entitled “Hard Times” with “It’’s Just Like Magic” on the flip (See below)."¨ At this juncture the all too common drug culture then prevalent throughout the recording industry began to lead to problems amongst the Gaslight which eventually saw the clean living Oliver leave. It was at this particular juncture that Oliver who by now was considering a solo career, began to do some production work of his own with his cousin Bill Miller. Together they bought some studio time at the United Sounds Studio and it was from these sessions that they wrote produced and recorded the recently discovered tracks “Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)” and “Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers” amongst others."¨"¨Oliver was then invited by an old acquaintance Jerome Barnes to join his group, Oliver initially refused as he was still considering pursuing a solo career. But eventually Jerome persuaded Oliver to change his mind thus Oliver became a member of The Sins Of Satin."¨ Following three album releases the Sins Of Satin went through a change of both personal and direction at the suggestion of their producer the influential Detroit radio DJ Al “The Perculator” Perkins. Now renamed “Roundtrip “ the group grew to eight members, Jerome Barnes, Oliver Cheatham, Jimmy Johnson, Kenny Jackson, Angelo Loric, Ila Coates, Kim Warren and Sharlo. Perkins plan was to build the group around the lead vocals of Oliver. A further name change followed with the group becoming known as just “Oliver”. During his time with Perkins Oliver’s lesser known trait as a roofer was called upon to repair the studio roof. A skill he had learnt while working with his Uncle in Cleveland during the summer holidays. "¨ Al Perkins in conjunction with his wife Irene ran a stable of several artists under their Perk’s Music Production Company. One such act was the group, One Way who included a multi-talented musician and later producer in his own right Kevin McCord. In collaboration with Kevin McCord Oliver co-wrote what is regarded as his all time signature tune the much covered 1983 dance floor hit “Get Down Saturday Night” which eventually reaching number 37on billboards R&B charts, and remains a popular radio play to this day. In 1985/86 two further Oliver Cheatham releases appeared on the UK based Move label “Mama Said/Look Of Love” (MSS3) and” Turning Point/Play Me Trade Me “ on the Move subsidiary label Champion (MSS6). The “Turning point” release also featured the vocals of Oliver’s daughter Tania. Both Move releases were owned by Vee Allen (aka Velma Perkins sister of Al Perkins) and produced through her Leland production company. Leland is the name of the Town in Mississippi where Vee was born."¨ Oliver continued to score chart success throughout the remainder of the 1980’s and into the 90’s with such songs of note as “SOS”, “Celebrate Our Love” followed by two duets with Jocelyn Brown “Turn Out The Lights” and “Mind Buster”. Further chart success came in 2003 when Oliver featured as the guest vocalist on Room 5’s UK No1 hit “Make Luv “ which incidentally sampled Oliver’s “Get Down Saturday Night”. Oliver at this juncture was residing in England and had previously recorded a Garage version of the old standard “Our Day Will Come” with the London based band, Native Soul. Oliver’s popularity on the European dance scene means that he’s a frequent visitor to the continent with a huge following in both France and Germany."¨ The elusive “Hard Times” track is proving to something of a conundrum as it has appeared in several Oliver Cheatham articles but nobody has ever seemed to have seen it. What we do know is the track was recorded thanks to Andy Rix’s acetate. Both Oliver and the records producer George McGregor claim it was released? With George also stating that it featured “ It’s Just Like Magic” on the flip?"¨"¨So could a previous interviewer have made a typing error writing down Tier instead of T.E.A.I.?"¨"¨Or were there two T.E.A.I. releases of “It’s Just Like Magic” with different flipsides?"¨"¨Unfortunately George McGregor is hospitalized at this moment and unable to check his paperwork so the jury will have to remain out on this one for now."¨ Words by David Welding"¨"¨ Acknowledgements to: Oliver Cheatham, Bill Miller, Anthony Jones (aka A.J.Sparks), Cynthia Girty, Irene Perkins, Vee Allen, Janet Wright and George McGregor."¨ Photographs: Bob Abrahamian, John Smith, Andrew Whitmore, Craig Lane and Oliver Cheatham."¨ Label Scans: Bob Abrahamian, Andrew Whitmore, Andrew Rix, Trevor Polnyj and David Welding. Checkout the Story and details of the new Soul Junction release of Oliver's unreleased 70's Gem "Don't Pop The Question" b/w "Good Guy's Don't Make Good Lovers" at: Soul Junction Finally Pop The Question

Oliver Cheatham: “Soul Junction Finally Pop The Question” Listen to ‘Don’t Pop The Question’: http://soundcloud.com/chalkster/oliver-cheatham-dont-pop-the Listen to ‘Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers’: http://soundcloud.com/chalkster/oliver-cheatham-good-guys-dont Some of you while listening to your favourite internet radio soul shows over the last couple of years may have heard a great little uptempo 70’s dancer track reputedly by a female artist by name of Pam Jackson (a name purely based on a assumption). At long last the true identity of both the artist and the track has eventually been found, the full story continues below: The origins of the track came from a un-credited acetate that was won on E-bay by Italian collector Marco Cavenaghi. The acetate contained six tracks with the only information to be found being the name Pam Jackson which had been handwritten on the sleeve. Marco gave a cut of one the tracks to his friend Olindo Di Tizio to play on his radio show. It was Olindo who later passed a cut of the track which by now people were calling ‘Don’t Pop The Question’ to the following UK dj’s Bob Smith, Kevin Oxberry, Steve Plumb and Wayne Arbon, in the vain hope that through greater exposure someone would come forward and recognise the track thus revealing it’s true identity. Chat room discussions also failed to uncover any further evidence. Although a school of thought did arise that a possible candidate could be Detroiter Oliver Cheatham (who was renowned for his falsetto vocals) and that the track could be a previously unissued Magic City release. In March of this year (2012) during a conversation between myself and Kevin Oxberry (Kevin had previously spoken to me about the track) the subject of the elusive Pam Jackson track was raised again. Kevin stated that he and the other guys had exhausted all their avenues of enquiry and two years on were still none the wiser and had all but given up. At this point I volunteered Soul Junction’s services to track the real artist down. First of all I contacted A.J. Sparks, A.J had been a session drummer at Magic City and had played on most of the sessions but he didn’t recognise the track, this was followed up by talking to Cynthia Girty Of Cynthia And The Imaginations/ Imaginary Three, thus eliminating any remote chance of Pam Jackson being an alias or real name of one of the girls. My own gut feeling was indeed that the real singer was in fact Oliver Cheatham after comparing the track against his Polydor and Grand Junction releases etc. So next up I called Janet ‘Pixie’ Wright a former session singer at Magic City and a close friend of Oliver’s who still tours as a session singer with him and Jocelyn Brown to this day. Janet gave me Oliver’s telephone number, now Oliver a regular commuter (between Detroit and France) was actually in Detroit at that very moment. So I gave Oliver a call and explained what was on my mind and then proceeded to play him “Don’t Pop The Question” down the phone. After about 20 seconds in Oliver was singing along and excitedly shouting ‘man that’s my song that’s” Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)” the songs real and full title. This was the first time Oliver had heard the song in nearly forty years. So after he eventually calmed down I played all the other tracks from the acetate to him. He instantly recognised a second track the beautiful sweet soul ballad “Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers”. “Great! We’ve got an A and B side how’s about leasing them to Soul Junction for a 45 release Oliver?” Say’s I, “yes!” Came the reply, “but I need to remember when and where I recorded them?” Say’s Oliver. A day later Oliver called me to say after much thought he remembered recorded the tracks in circa 1974/75 and that he co -wrote both songs with his cousin Bill Miller and that Bill may well be the songs producer. As a precaution we systematically contacted all the people who Oliver recorded for in and around this time to see if they had any claim on the tracks, one by one they all came back with the answer no! At this point things began to look doubtful and Oliver still hadn’t located the elusive Bill. A month passed before one night out of the blue I eventually received a call from Bill Miller. Bill a former Vietnam veteran and’ purple heart’ medal holder apologised for not contacting me sooner but his current business commitments involved a lot of travelling throughout the United States. He first off wanted to know how we got hold of the songs (see above) and then he confirmed to me that he was the producer on both tracks. He went on to Explain, that at the time (circa 74/75) nothing was really happening for him and Oliver having just left the Gaslight was considering a solo career, so they both clubbed together and bought some studio time at United Sound Studio’s In Detroit. This being where Bill produced some of their songs on Oliver (as well as some other artists). Bill then later received an invitation to a Producer’s party which the Motown Corporation were hosting to discover new local talent. Billy got a couple of studio acetates cut to take to the party which featured Oliver singing ‘Don’t Pop The Question’ and ‘Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers’ plus two other funk tracks by him. The acetate also feature two tracks by a female artist presumably the mysterious Pam Jackson (Bill has still yet to definitely confirm this). Subsequently Billy was signed by Motown as an arranger, producer and songwriter going on to work with the Commodores as well as the blue-eyed Ohio funk band Wild Cherry of ‘Play That Funky Music White Boy’ fame. Bill lost track of the acetates and now assumes that may have been left behind at United Sound studios when he removed his tapes and were probably sold off when the studio closed down? What ever happened, both copies eventually found their way on to the open market via E-bay. David Welding Oliver Cheatham’s “Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)/Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers” Soul Junction (SJ518) is due for general release on Monday October 15th 2012. The A-side is the joyous dance track “Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)” which once heard leaves the songs unforgettable hook firmly inside your head. While the B-side is the beautiful sweet soul ballad “Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers” which showcases Oliver’s falsetto vocals to perfection and is so reminiscent of his earlier 1970’s Grand Junction and Polydor releases. For those of you who are not familiar with the songs please take a listen to the sound clips on the Soul Junction website: www.souljunctionrecords.co.uk Acknowledgements to: Oliver Cheatham, Bill Miller, Janet Wright, Irene Perkins, Vee Allen, George McGregor, Cynthia Girty, Anthony Jones (aka A.J.Sparks), Marco Cavenaghi, Olindo Di Tizio, Bob Smith (Uptight Records) Kevin Oxberry and Nick Robbins (Sound Mastering Ltd) Press Release: Oliver Cheatham “Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)/ Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers” Soul Junction 518 Release Date: Monday October 15th 2012 Oliver Cheatham will forever be remembered for his timeless 1983 R & B hit “Get Down Saturday Night” on MCA records, which he co-wrote with fellow Detroit musician Kevin McCord. But Oliver’s career began way back in the mid 1960’s when his future brother in law Allen Cocker invited Oliver to join his group The Young Sirs. The Young Sirs eventually joined Ernest and Barbara Burt’s Magic City label where they recorded the mellifluous “There’s Something The Matter (With Your Heart)” with Oliver now being regarded as the groups lead singer. Into the 70’s the Young Sirs became The Gaslight who recorded several excellent 45’s for Marvin Higgins’ Grand Junction label. With their “Just Because Of You/It’s Just Like Magic” later being picked up for national distribution by Polydor Records. Under the guidance of influential Detroit radio DJ and record producer Al Perkins, Oliver firstly became the lead singer of the group Sins Of Satin later re-named Roundtrip and then following a further re-naming just becoming known as Oliver. Following on from “Get Down Saturday Night” Oliver continued to score chart success with “SOS”, “Celebrate Our Love” followed by two duets with Jocelyn Brown “Turn Out The Lights” and “Mind Buster”. Further chart success came in 2003 when Oliver featured as a guest vocalist on Room 5’s UK No1 hit “Make Luv” which incidentally sampled Oliver’s “Get Down Saturday Night”. Oliver at this juncture was residing in England and had previously recorded a garage version of the old standard “Our Day Will Come” with the London based band, Native Soul. And so to the present, 2012 will see Oliver return to the fore with the eventual discovery of two great previously unissued 70’s soul tracks found on a once lost and forgotten acetate. The A-side is the joyous dance track “Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)” which once heard leaves the song’s unforgettable hook line firmly in your head. While the B-side is the beautiful sweet soul ballad “Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers” which showcases Oliver’s falsetto vocals and is so reminiscent of his earlier 1970’s Grand Junction and Polydor releases. 2012 will also see Oliver return on a vanity project of his own with the forthcoming “Enjoy” cd album. For further information please contact John Anderson or Dave Welding Tel: +44 (0)121 602 8115 E-mail sales@souljunctionrecords.co.uk