Roburt

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 ...

Being from Donny (originally) & going to Sheffield Poly for a few years, I also used to buy quite a bit from Sheffield record shops like Violet Mays (& many others).

I'm not too sure if the other label variations are boots. Soul Clock started out with Galaxy Records distribution (after going it alone at first & leasing a 45 out to Bell). This (Galaxy distribution) was the set up when "TIMES A WASTIN" was released. Galaxy were a well established organisation & had pressing deals with RCA ... I believe that they got RCA to press up copies of that run of Soul Clock 45's (#104, 105, 106) at different plants (east coast, west coast, etc.). Those 3 x 45's certainly got a big push, with a national ad being placed in the music press. The other two 45's did quite well (Whispers & Sugar Pie) and made quite a few radio charts. The Fuller Bros 45 didn't fare as well, though other of their singles got radio exposure. The Whispers 45 (#104) comes in 3 different versions -- all square logo versions but different colours). This 45 was issued some time before the other two (over 4 months earlier). Sugar Pie's (#106) just seems to come versions in 2 colours. The first Whispers 45 to feature the round logo (to my knowledge anyway) came out around 6 months after "Times A Wastin" -- but MAYBE Soul Clock tried again with this single as they believed it should have done better. They were certainly still pushing the 45 in June 69, a good while after it had first been released (perhaps the round logo dates from a June / July re-press to re-service radio stns). Anyway, 6 months after the 45's had been released (#104, 105, 106), Soul Clock seemed to fall out with Galaxy & their deal withered (after #109). Next up, early 1970, the label came back but now distributed by Canyon Records. Unfortunately, Canyon outreached themselves and soon went under (less than a year later).

BACK TO THE BALTIMORE AREA in JUNE / JULY 1965 ... just over 4 months after Billboard brought back it's R&B chart ... Baltimore was buzzing that summer. Lyndon Johnson was President and was bringing in anti-segregation legislation. The 4 Tops were #1 on the US charts with "I Can't Help Myself", Baby Washington ("Only Those In Love") was #1 on WWIN's chart. Just below Baby's 45 were Gene Chandler's "Nothing Can Stop Me" (#2), Billy Stewart's "Sitting In The Park, Kim Weston's "A Thrill A Moment" and there were also offerings from the Marvelettes, Billy Butler, Otis Redding ("Lovin You Too Long"), Tony & Tyrone, Fred Hughes, Gloria Parker, Jackie Wilson, Dee Dee Warwick, the Impressions, Edwin Starr ("OO Soul") and the Invitations. Live show wise, it was the run up to Independence Day & so the theatres / clubs were busy. The Royal Theatre had a review on which featured Gene Chandler, Walter Jackson, Billy Butler, the Vibrations & more. In local clubs, you could catch Arthur Prysock, Winfield Parker, Ruby Johnson, Virgie Till, Betty Dorsey, Brenda Jones and more singing live. Down on Sparrows Beach & Carrs Beach there were more big review shows. The African Beavers and Buster Bron topped the bill @ Sparrows Beach. At Carrs Beach, they had 3 big shows; Marie Knight, Jimmy Hughes, Johnny Taylor, Carla Thomas, Otis Redding, Joe Tex, Billy Stewart, Gladys Knight, the Ovations, William Bell, Jimmy Tig, James Phelps, Gene Chandler, Jimmy McCracklin. Barbara Mason, Joe Simon, Willie Tee, the Marvelows, the Vibrations, Tom & Jerrio + the Royalettes all performing. Otis Redding was very busy that year. His show on 4th July @ Carr's Beach would be his only local appearance -- though he'd headline @ the Howard Theatre in DC in late August. By then, Carr's Beach was owned by a bunch of black Balto businessmen but it's music policy / shows were organised by Ru-Jac Records owner Rufus Mitchell . Not unsurprisingly, he went to see Otis in person ahead of the show, taking a copy of the latest Ru-Jac 45's with him. Otis listened to these in his down time before the show and really liked something on one of the tracks .... Arthur Conley had been born in Georgia but he grew up in Atlanta. He first recorded as the lead singer of Arthur & the Corvets. The group released three singles in 1963 and 1964 on Atlanta based NRC Records. In 1964, he moved to Baltimore to be with his father & became lead singer with Harold Holt's band . But times were hard for him & he spent much of his time acting as a valet for other soul singers around town. Harold Holt had a 45 out on Ru-Jac in early summer 1965 on which Arthur was lead singer. Otis Redding, in town to perform @ Carr's Beach was given a copy of the 45. He likes to voice of the singer on the "I'm A Stranger" cut and decided he'd like to record Arthur himself ... Otis worked with Arthur in the studio, helping further refine the song. This was then cut & Arthur had his first single released on Jotis in October ... the rest is history ... That summer, Otis toured on the show tagged as 'THE SUMMER PARADE OF STARS' with much the same bunch of acts doing numerous shows in support of him. When that review broke up, he took his last protege on tour with him. That was his Jotis recording act Billy Young ("the Sloopy"): see DC show line--up. Later, after his Jotis 45 came out, Arthur toured with Otis's shows. "I'm A Lonely Stranger" made it onto quite a few radio stn charts & established Arthur in his own right. His later 45's ("I Can't Stop" & "Take Me"- Fame) did even better. But his career really took off in Feb 67 with "Sweet Soul Music". .

It's just great that (thanks to Bob's parents) Stax have been able to let us listen to lots of his old interviews.

I'll have to take this to him, at present it doesn't play that well ...

I like both sides of their 45 ...

Was it ever established that CHARLES & WALTER were really BOB & EARL. Certainly Relf and Nelson worked on the tracks this duo laid down. Their 45 didn't sell that well at the time of it's release but no doubt Chene struggled to get the word out about the single. It did get a bit of radio exposure, but that seems to be the limit of it's success. ALSO, the next release on the CHENE label was actually by Bob & Earl ("The Sissy"), so that's another link that points to a connection.

Lots of blacks from London & Darnsouf never got into the northern scene at all but had their own genres going -- funk nights, two step nights, Brit-funk, Chris Hill discos, Pete Tong nights, etc. Some of the black DJ's were even suspicious of the Northern scene & what it entailed. My memory may be playing tricks on me but I think I remember that TREVOR NELSON came along to a Cleethorpes Soul Weekender to check it out (around 15 years ago). I seem to recall Ady telling me that he really enjoyed himself while there.

There are quite a few famous ones; Shaft, Superfly, Across 100th Street, Pipedreams, Lets Do It Again, The Mack, Trouble Man, Sweet Sweetbacks, Coffy, etc BUT there were many more made between 1970 & the mid 70's. Lots were pure garbage, film wise, but still had decent soundtracks. Dave Godin always recommended 'Cotton Comes To Harlem' and in others, decent soul artists make cameo appearances (the 3 Degrees, Mary Love & more). Anyone here recommend one either cos it's a decent watch or cos it features great music ?

You're right, the team went on BUT there was no more actual releases on the Philly Groove record label. Mind you, the Delfonics disappeared off records for almost 4 years.

LOADS .... will this do to be going on with ...

An example of a new R&B label that would have struggled to get it's new 45's played on US pop radio stations ... GOLDEN WORLD's RIC - TIC label ... a false start was made in 1962 but the label was reactivated at the start of 1964. It's 1st release (Jan 64) was Gino Washington's "Gino Is A Coward". That made a little impact and made a few radio charts (both R&B + pop in April/May/June/July). The 45 didn't actually sell that many copies, especially to pop fans. A few weeks later (September 64) the labels next release was put out; Freddie Gorman's "In A Bad Way". This struggled to make much impact at all but it gained radio airplay in St Louis. It caught on with the listeners to KATZ and actually made their chart (late October 64). AT ALMOST THE SAME TIME, Golden World 45's were themselves were doing well via the likes of the Reflections "Romeo & Juliet" which was a massive R&B + pop radio hit. From their it sold well to both black & white US record collectors and gained a relatively high placing on the Hot 100 and on Cash Box's Top 100 (#9 @ end of May 64). The Ric -Tic label stuck to the task though. Freddie Gorman's next single ("Take Me Back" -- Jan 65) made a bit of noise -- getting onto WCHB's chart low down (#25). J J Barnes was high on the same chart but he wasn't on Ric - Tic yet). It would be Edwin's "Agent OO Soul" with it's James Bond inspired topicality that would break through in a big way for the label (R&B + pop) that summer.

To illustrate my post above ... the top two acts on Philly Groove were (of course) the Delfonics & First Choice ... both groups had big hit 45's (in the US and overseas) ... AND not just R&B chart hits, but extensive pop chart success too ...

With Philly Groove being such a hit label run by really well known & successful guys, I'd guess somewhere on the net there are details on the exploits of the label and it's artists (from interviews, etc). I known the label went 'defunct' in 1974 when Bell Records all but ceased to exist (or rather morphed into another record company) and that there was loads of unissued stuff from 1974 (& earlier) still lying around. In recent years, these unfinished tracks have been used to teach kids being educated on how to make / mix a good track. Has it ever been documented who these unissued tracks were by and if any were David Lasley cuts ? It's Drexel University in Philly that has use of these tracks; has anyone been in touch to ask them for a full listing of the unissued cuts they make use of ?

I'd like to find more about his time in the Army in Europe. I know in England, USAF (& similar US unit) bases had their own newspapers (just distributed around each base & to adjacent bases -- for instance; in Suffolk; Lakenheath & Mildenhall + not too far away Alconbury). These newspapers (+ the base's radio stns) would document what had recently happened on bases & what was upcoming. Just about all these bases were almost self-contained -- their own supermarket (stocked with US made goods including food), their own bar, their own bowling alley + their own theatre. The theatres would be used to show the latest films AND to stage live shows from pop / soul acts. Lots of US soul groups were signed up to tour overseas based by the USOE and they'd be flown over to the likes of the UK, Europe, Philippines, Japan (& war zones such as Viet Nam) to entertain the troops. These shows would be heralded in the base newspapers to ensure these shows were known about by everyone on base. ANYWAY, if a bunch of base personnel formed a group & were considered good enough, they'd be asked to do a show in the base's bar or theatre. If this went well, adjacent bases would ask them to perform there also, and this info would go in each base's newspaper. As the only language Americans speak is English (we're not much better here either), even if a base was in Germany, Italy or Spain, the newspaper would be in English. I'd love to get access to some of these papers to see if the exploits of the likes of Dennis Edwards, Edwin Starr (sorry, Charles Hatcher), the Servicemen (with Larry Banks) and the like were documented back then. We know a lot more about the exploits of certain US military guys in the UK -- Geno Washington, Sonny Childe aka R B Greaves, Herbie Goins, etc. -- earlier the likes of Lou Rawls (Korean war period) had done the same. . . . But most of what we know of the above is their off-base exploits, not who they teamed with on-base and which bases the groups they played in / were with did shows at. Anyone done an in depth interview with Dennis (or the like) that asked him about his time in the military or who he sang with before he was drafted ? I got to sit down & chat with Edwin about his time in Cleveland before he was in the military & then teamed with Bill Doggett to sing lead vocals for the combo ... but I failed to ask him anything about his time in the military (3 years on European US Army bases). I know he formed groups in the army but have no idea what they called themselves or on which bases they got to perform. As Edwin had recorded with his Cleveland group (the Futuretones) before going into the military, so I'm sure that during his spell in the army (1960 to 63 ?), he'd have done all sorts musically. Same for Dennis also I'd guess.

NOT TOO MUCH HELP ... BUT ... From January 1961 to December 1963, Edwards was called up to serve in the U.S. Army. He spent most of his time stationed in Europe, where he would perform on base with other guys he served with. Before his Army stint he'd sung in gospel + R&B groups around Detroit. So, on his return from the Army, I guess it would have made sense that he'd get back into singing / performing (with a group ?) in 1964.