Roburt

Guess they didn't have the money for a more full backing PLUS the studio was quite a basic set-up .... . . . . . BACK GROUND INFO ... Quin Ivy opened his own studio, Norala. Ivy recalled “I had a total investment in that studio of $7,000, It was put together on a shoestring.” His new studio's fortunes changed in late 1965, when Ivy and Marlin Greene cut “When a Man Loves a Woman” (Percy Sledge) there. “We cut [it] in mono on a little two-track machine with me engineering… With the money that track made, Ivy was able to build a larger, more modern facility at 1307 Broadway and he moved his newly rechristened Quinvy Recording Studio in there in mid-1968. In 1969, Ivy sold his old studio on 2nd Street to Billy Cofield (who had played saxophone on “When a Man Loves a Woman”). Cofield and his partner, James Thomas, then reopened the facility as Paradox Recording Studio. They started their own PARADOX RECORDS as a vehicle to release tracks cut at the studio. Their ventures were however short-lived and in 1973, the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio team took over the building and converted it into a writer’s workshop and demo studio.

Buga, no show nearer than London or Rugby.

<< Charlene & The Soul Serenaders - Volt - 1300 >> I love the varied soul sounds that Stax Records committed to tape, however this track was an 'outside recording' (cut in a basic Muscle Shoals studio) picked up from a little indie label for release on Volt. To me it's a very messy track with below par lead vocals (on this side of the 45 at least). As this sale was of the Volt version, not the Paradox 45, can't understand why it goes for so much money ( & I know it's a NS dancer but it 's far from being one of the best of the genre). Guess it has to be cos many Volt copies out there are SS demo's which don't feature this cut. I'd buy a Volt demo as "Love Changes" is a very classy example of deep soul.

Didn't put up the relevant RECORD WORLD R&B chart on the above post ... only just noticed ... thought I'd also post this up to supplement the info above. a November 1960 Balto club gig for Sonny Til. One of his supporting singers being Virgie Tillman aka Virgie Til (lovely singer - - - & not a bad looker either) ....

Pity my article about Marvelous Ray disappeared when RareSoulForum.co.uk became defunct. Don't think I've even got a copy of it myself anymore (written on a computer that has long since gone to the eternal resting place in the sky ... not the cloud btw). Marvelous & myself in Cleveland airport (way back in time) ...

The impressions recording career (in the main) ran for a period of almost 30 years -- from 1958 to 1987. After years with ABC, Curtis M took them with him to his Curtom label. The group stayed with Curtom till 1976, but then moved to Atlantic's Cotillion label. They were teamed with McKinley Jackson and then were reunited with Johnny Pate by Cotillion, but their stay with the label lasted less than a year (76 into 77). They seemed to be without a record deal in 1978. Next, like many other vintage Chicago soul acts, they were signed to Chi-Sound (20th Century) and worked there with Carl Davis & Eugene Record. There stay with the label ran from 79 to 81 and towards the end of that period, they cut a re-working of their old hit "For Your Precious Love". This track got them back onto the national R&B charts. But again, they went without a deal till MCA signed them in 87. Their MCA 45 put them back on the R&B chart but didn't result in a follow-up release. I would guess that they were cutting tracks in an attempt to land a record deal in 1978 and from 1982 to 1986. Then again after 1987. With "Precious Love" getting them onto the charts, I'd make a stab at these tracks being cut around 1988 / 89 / 90 ... BUT I'm just guessing here. With the Ripete 45 dated as 1989, they would have had to have cut that track in 1988 or 89 and then gone shopping for the deal.

At last; a decent record gets a mention.

Jumping back exactly one year now: to Independence Day weekend 1964 -- so within the period that Billboard had abandoned it's R&B chart / coverage ... A big 45 at the time was the Impressions -- Keep On Pushing. This had started out strong in Chicago but quickly spread right across the US, getting plays on both R&B + pop radio stns. The 45 had been released late in May 64 and it was getting plays from the off. By early June it was on the pop charts on stns in Vancouver, Philly plus in California, Texas & Pennsylvania. By the start of July it was #5 on WHK (pop stn) in Ohio. It was also on the national R&B charts; climbing to #7 on Cashbox and to #9 on Record World's R&B charts. It was #23 on Cashbox's top 100 pop chart. In Baltimore, it was #4 on WEBB's chart, It was the #1 seller @ One Stop's in Newark & Chicago (these serving black owned record shops). One the live front, there was a big show, hosted by Fat Daddy @ the Royal Theatre in Baltimore and Frankie Beverly & the Butlers were on with an impressive cast @ Carr's Beach. Two big shows that weekend in DC too -- the Marvelettes, Tommy Hunt, Wilson Pickett & the O'Jays starring @ the Howard Theatre, with the Miracles, Kim Weston, Marv Johnson, Bobby Parker & Little Royal on @ the National Guard Armory. A Baltimore singer's career was really taking off at the time. She being Virgie Till. Vergie had been taken under the wing of Sonny Til (ex of the Orioles) a few years earlier. Virgie had joined his show on a regular basis and the pair were appearing all over the place together. HOWEVER, Sonny's wife wasn't accepting the story that Virgie was Sonny's young niece and a showdown occurred. The outcome being Sonny being sued for divorce.

Bob was primarily a Sweet Soul lover, so lots he liked best wasn't really up NS fans street.

A scan from my Chuck Corby article in a recent SOUL UP NORTH mag (#121) ... ALSO a pic of Chuck performing way back in 1961 + a pic of him with FOUR + 1 ...

MORE FROM CHUCK ... connected to the Pittsburgh venues in my 1st post ... back in 1964-65 I was with the group Four Plus One we were playing right down the street on route 51, for John Adams at the Golden Nugget. At that time route 51 was what they called 'Cocktail Canyon', filled with night clubs all up and down the Strip. Jimmy Beaumont was playing the hottest club at that time, the Las Vegas nightclub. On the other side was the San Francisco nightclub. Someone told Jimmy about this young kid singing at the Golden Nugget, so Jimmy came in one night (He never told anybody he was there to hear me). Then he told one of the ladies who worked there (Patty Patrone) to tell us to go up to the Las Vegas one afternoon -- I believe it was on a Wednesday audition day. I couldn't believe it, so we did just what he asked. At the time, I really respected Jimmy, in my estimation he was the best of all time. We went to the club, told the manager who we were & that Jimmy Beaumont had sent us. The manager told us to hold on and he went to get Jimmy and the owner who weren't there at that time. Back then I wanted to be Jimmy Beaumont, I tried to sing just like him, act like him on stage. When we were finished performing Jimmy called me over and said the owner likes you, he wants to hire you. Jimmy said "Chuck, you have to be yourself, don't try to be me. Be yourself and I think you can go a long way in this business". I'll never forget the advice he gave me at the time. He had no clue who I was. There wasn't a Chuck Corby yet. I was still Chucky Ciorra from the little Italian community in Pittsburgh ..... Chuck also confirmed that he & Billy Sha-rae kept in touch after Billy relocated to Detroit. Chuck was over in the Motor City to perform at a club; Harold's Club. He got up on stage with Billy and his group one night. We performed together for a long time as they were the house band at this club there. That was way back in the '60s and it was probably the last time Chuck saw Billy. Luckily, I found an ad from that era, when Chuck was performing with his first group, FOUR + 1 (Chuck being the 1).

That review was playing gigs up & down the US eastern seaboard at the time (Pittsburgh, Baltimore, DC, Philly, New York, etc.). Even more acts on the review for some shows, see below. Love the MABEL & JOHN entry; guess the phone ad taker knew very little about the stars who were going to appear locally.

Like most US cities, Pittsburgh had a thriving club scene back in the 1960's. From top jazz venues such as the Hurricane Lounge and Crawford Grill through bars / lounges to bigger venues such as the Penn Theatre, Stanley Theatre, Civic Arena & Syria Mosque. A wide selection of live acts were performing around the city, both black singers and blue-eyed soulsters (Pittsburgh had more than it's fair share of these). On any given weekend, you could catch top acts performing in various different venues ... I asked Chuck Corby about his early years in the business and he confirmed that he played all the same venues as other locals (George Benson, Billy Sha-rae, Jimmy Beaumont, etc.) The bigger venues around town played host to big recording acts. So, you could catch a wide selection of acts on a regular basis back then ... Chuck confirmed that he played all the same venues as the likes of Billy Sha-rae and the two shared the stage on occasions, I'd have loved to have witnessed one of those shows ...

WOT ?!?!? .. no mentions for COCHISE ... a mid 70's monster.

In 69 it wasn't as soulful (which is probably why the Kidderminster lads -- Mick & John -- were heading up to the Wheel on a regular basis). Though it had been more soulful a few months earlier ...