Roburt
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Everything posted by Roburt
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Another bunch of 'everyday' shows @ the Apollo ....
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I'd guess that this was just one of many big touring revue shows that played the Apollo in the 60's. Most tours did all the chit-lin circuit theatres (Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, Philly, DC + others) and after 2/3 months or so on the road would finish off with a week at the Apollo. The Motortown Reviews always did this as did James Brown's Revues & other top act led packages also. I think that the Apollo management must have picked out one of these packages each year (?) to form this 'special show'. Was it an anniversary event of some kind (each Feb) or what, I can't at this time tell you. I don't think it had any massive major importance above all the other 'packages of stars' that played the Apollo. It was probably just a great marketing ploy BUT then I could be totally wrong altogether. This show seems to have been staged in 1967, so maybe they had one each year starting back in 1961.
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RONNIE CANADA From Sly, Slick & Wicked to the Cleggy weekender Ronnie Canada really is an 'international man of soul'. Starting out in Cleveland way back in the early1970's, he got his break in the music business with S.O.U.L. (acting as their roadie + sound & lighting technician). The group was centred around lead singer Larry Hancock and Ronnie has never forgotten the kindnesses that Larry showed him all those years ago. Back then Larry was already a veteran in the biz, having led the Intertains (Uptown recording artists) and written “Working On Your Case” for the O'Jays. When with the group, it was Ronnie's job to collect Beloyd (Taylor) each day and take him to the group's rehearsal session. It was Beloyd that gave Ronnie the belief that he could be a good singer himself, and set him on the path towards his later career. Ronnie continues to honour the memory of Larry Hancock by running a Facebook page that's dedicated to his appreciation. When S.O.U.L. broke up in the mid 70's, Larry Hancock helped form Truth (members: Larry Hancock, Al Boyd, Leo Green and Russell Evans). Ronnie was kept on (as their sound technician) and so got to further advance his musical skills. By 1978, Ronnie was an important member of Cleveland based gospel outfit, the Hubbard Singers. He also secured a role in a hit stage play 'Singin & Shouting' with another member of the cast being Alltrina Grayson (later to sing with Bobby Womack). While he was in the play, he got word that members of the group Sly, Slick & Wicked wanted to speak with him. They talked and Ronnie soon found himself a member of the Cleveland based trio. The group landed a record deal with Carl Maduri's Sweet City and started rehearsing for an upcoming studio visit. Ronnie was selected as the lead singer on the song “All I Want Is You” and so spent some weeks learning & rehearsing it. However on the day the group went into the studio, with the song's composer Dunn Pearson acting as producer and arranger, group leader John Wilson decided he would assume lead vocal duties. So the track was recorded that way and the cuts were licensed by Epic in the US and released to a luke warm reaction. However, here in the UK, Modern Soul fans were soon searching out copies of the 45 and it quickly took on anthem status. Other tracks were cut by the group, Ronnie singing lead on at least one, but this failed to make it onto vinyl. So Ronnie moved on, spending some time in Hank Ballard's group the Midnighters. Another opportunity soon presented itself though when the Blue Notes needed some new members after splitting from Harold Melvin. Group members Larry Brown & John Atkins went all the way back to the mid 60's (the group's “Get Out” period) and so had seen no reason to abandon their pedigree and give up the name. The group had already cut good tracks for Uni & Glades records (Florida: mid to late 70's) and were a popular live attraction when Ronnie joined their number. They had cut songs such as "Here I Am", "People Are Running Around" & "Standin' By You Girl", all of which soon found favour with British soul fans. One good gig the Blue Notes (with Ronnie as a member) played back then was at the Marco Polo Hotel & Resort on Miami Beach in 1982. In that period, he got to hang out with the likes of Rocky Mizell, Jimmy 'Bo' Horne and David Hudson (David being like a brother to him). Ronnie also got to record some solo tracks down in Miami with Clearance 'Blowfly' Reid and Willie Clarke, but these failed to escape from the tape vaults. However, Harold Melvin wasn't happy that two sets of Blue Notes were out there and so he took legal action against the Florida based outfit. Wanting to move on, the guys changed their name to Caviar and with Ronnie on lead vocals they cut “Never Stop Lovin' You” for Survivor (1982). They also laid down further tracks at that time but these didn't escape until an album was put out by Boogie Time Records (France: 2009). After the Caviar experience, he returned to Cleveland (1983) and took on a long residency at the Native Son club. His next big role came when he joined the group Omari. Another member of the group was Vince Broomfield and via him, Ronnie got to know the whole Broomfield family (which included singing stars Eugene & Dee Dee Wilde). Splitting their time between Philly & Florida, the group kept very busy. At one stage they toured with Betty Wright as her backing band. In their own right, they had the popular “After Loving You” out on Bound Sound Records (1983) which met with good reaction from soul fans as far apart as the UK and South America. The group's popularity in Sth America was such that they got to appear on a top TV show in Colombia. After Omari split, Ronnie hooked up with a version of the Drifters and the group played gigs right across Spain, including a 6 month period in Majorca. Returning to the US, he went solo and cut "I Don't Believe It" which escaped on AJ's Records out of Florida (1987). Copies of this 12” sold well in the UK and that once again raised Ronnie's profile (despite his name being shown on the label as Roney Canada). This track has stood the test of time well and has been included on quite a few soul compilation albums released in the last 8 years. Needing steady work, Ronnie went back into the group environment and returning to Europe, he started singing with the Platters and American Drifters. These outfits were a top live draw across Europe but Ronnie wanted to get back into the recording side of things. So, he started to collaborate with people in the house & garage worlds, cutting for Tomohawk (“The Power's In The Music” & “Tell The World” – 1993/94) and Shaboom (“Can't Get Enough Of Your love” – 2004). This work also resulted in him being used by various similar acts, Ronnie adding his vocals to tracks by the likes of Fabio Tosti, Audioplayerz and (more recently) Darockwildas. That just about brings us up to date. Ronnie, who now resides in Watford, keeps up his heavy schedule in the music world. He has just returned from Holland where he performed at the Bevrijdingsfestival. Next up for him is an appearance at the big 6T's Cleethorpes Soul Weekender. He will be entertaining the crowd in the Modern Soul room at the weekender on the Sunday afternoon (approx 4pm), he's sure to turn the room into a 'land of a 1000's dances'. So, if you are going along to this iconic event, don't miss the chance to catch Ronnie performing live. He's also still active in the studio and continues to work on numerous recording projects One of these (that is about to escape in a few weeks time) being the 'Edwin Starr EDM Remixes 2016' album (on which he sings). So the musical mystery tour that Ronnie has been on for 40 plus years has taken him from Cleveland, across the whole of the USA, onto South America and now Europe. Who knows what lays ahead of him, only the future will show that. JOHN SMITH; May 2016 -
Well it seems that Frank Bruno arranged the track, so just ask him all the details !!!
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Yes (unless my memory is playing tricks on me) they also had a club called the Twisted Wheel in Blackpool (this would have been around the late 60's). I have no idea when it opened & closed though. I do recall being given free tickets to go to Sunday sessions there when attending a Saturday night niter around that time. As we were from Yorkshire & heading in the opposite direction on a Sunday morning, we never took up the invitation. We were also given free tickets to attend the Manc club's Sunday afternoon sessions & never went to those either. I do know that both clubs had similar music policies (i.e. soul).
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Tarx Records operated out of the same NY address as Triode ... AND ... Doles Dickens worked on some of their cuts. He doesn't however get a mention on the label of this Tarx 45 from Baltimore's Benny Johnson (cut a good while before his Today stuff) ....
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Which incarnation of this track ??? the Renee / 1st One-derful, the 2nd One-derful or the ABC version ??
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Betty certainly must have liked this Leo Austell / Milton Bland (Monk Higgins) song as it escaped by her on 4 different US singles ... It first appeared on the Renee label in 1962 .... it was then picked up by the Leaner Bros and released C/W "I've Got A Claim On You" on One-derful (#4806) ..... that 45 was then quickly re-jigged and the cut was coupled with "I'll Be There" to orm a revised #4806. In it's One-derful form it charted locally in Chicago ..... Betty moved on with her career and had much success with Vee Jay but they went bust and so she signed with ABC Records (who always had a strong Chicago presence). With ABC, she cut the song again in 1966 with Johnny Pate acting as producer / arranger / conductor (ABC #45-10861). This incarnation of the song again did well & even charted as far away as WYLD in Feb 67. Anyone know why she seemed to like this song so much (& I know she cut quite a few Leo Austell songs so they must have been friends).
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Chattin' with Lou recently and got to talkin' bout his recent / current work in the studio. He's still trying to get Bobby Jonz / Jones into the studio to add his lead vocals to a song that the backing track is just about finished for (just some lead guitar solo work to add when the lead vocals are in place, Lou doesn't want the solo to clash anywhere with the lead voice). After that we talked about the stuff cut in Harvey Fuqua's studio (which Lou still uses at times) right up to Harvey's passing. It seems that Harvey was on an ol' skool kick & had set up a few old 60's artists to record. He was gonna put out a few new releases all at once to establish an ID for his proposed new label. So Harvey had fetched Etta James into Vegas and they had cut some new duets together. He'd also recorded Brenda Holloway on new stuff and another couple of old 60's artists. But when he died, no one else in his family / circle seemed interested in taking these tracks forward or makin proper use of the studio. Lou is trying to see what he can do but the family (who obviously now own these recordings) aren't really interested. We then sidetracked to old recording work & Lou spilled a few facts .... he told me that Jan Jones (RIP some years back in a car crash) cut "Independent Woman" in Agency studio but the masters were taken over to Boddies studio to have a disc cut from the tapes. Early publicity (back at the time that the Jan Jones 45 was released) stated that a 2nd song would form the B side to the 7" release (can't recall the title now but have the details somewhere) .... anyway, the 2nd song was all ready to be recorded but Jan never got round to it in the excitement of the studio session & getting a master disc cut of Indy Wolman. So, the 45 was released as Part 1 & 2 with the 2nd song never actually being recorded. Lou's recently been in touch with Lilian Kyle in an attempt to track down the master tape for his version of "Patch Up" which was cut in an LA studio in the late 80's but she isn't co-operating with his attempts to find it. ......... MORE LATER ..........
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I now live in Oxford, so can visit the local library and check the papers for that week. I''ll do that & report back.
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Reggie in action ....
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Try typing Money label into the search facility at the '45cat' web site.
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Yes, remember the Side Saddle well .... the Sth Yorks mod clubs all played some ska as well as the soul. I was out (in Dony) with Cliff Sirs only a couple of weeks ago (@ the Mojo revival night). He's a great guy.
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It is being reported on Facebook (by a friend of his) that the Impressions Reggie Torian has passed. No more details at present but it does seem to be true .... RIP Reggie.
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Interesting article ......... James & Bobby were over here all the time in the mid to late 60's (& then again in the 70's when their re-issues were hits) .... not surprised that he asked after Geno, they followed each other around the clubs of Britain .....
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A couple of us are guilty of veering this thread a bit off topic ... BUT ... it is all related info ...
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In 1966 a lot of soul acts appeared on RSG .... MARCH: Tempts + Stevie Wonder, Supremes, Martha & Vs, Miracles (all these off the tour). APR: Dionne Warwick, Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford MAY: 4 Tops JUNE: Marvelettes JULY: Nina Simone, Ad Libs, Inez & Charlie Foxx AUG: NIL SEPT: Dee Irwin, Lou Johnson OCT: Supremes, Ben E King NOV: Wilson Pickett DEC: Fontella Bass, Toys, Dee Dee Warwick No doubt Kim was on RSG in 65.
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There's also a Chuck Rowan 45 on Fantastix Music (a private label job) which was distributed by Stonegood. Is there anything else that Stonegood were involved with ??
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Doesn't help resolve the above issue BUT does illustrate the strange world of record labels that Monk was involved with. He was the guy behind the Sack label of course which has a few obscure releases related to it (both US & UK). In 1970 it seems that he started the Stone Good label & if this newspaper review is anything to go by, 3 x 45s were made available as promos. These were by Monk himself, Mr Lucky & Helena Wright. I'm unsure of any releases on the actual Stonegood label apart from a Helena Hollins that has to be the Helena Wright mentioned above. Monk's proposed track did make it out, but on the Sack label (which was listed as being distributed by Stonegood). These tracks here were co-produced by A(lex?) Brown. The female's 45 (whatever her name) did escape on Stonegood. Anyone have knowledge of the Mr Lucky appearing on a 45 that made it into US record shops ??
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I'm getting a bit off topic here ... BUT ... lots of US soul stars toured the UK in 64/65/66 .... most went on theatre tours as part of a package that was always headed by a big UK act (Beatles -- Mary Wells, Stones -- Inez & Charlie Foxx, Gerry & Pacemakers -- Ben E King, Soul Sisters as well though I can't recall who topped that bill in 64). Anyway, Kim Weston was due to tour on a bill topped by P J Proby but PJ fell out with the promoter (over a minor issue) and this led to the tour being cancelled about 1 day before the 1st show was due to take place. They had tried to get Chuck Berry to be the replacement top act & that seemed as though it would salvage the tour. But he couldn't get out of some US gigs he'd been booked for, so the tour was cancelled at the 11th hour. Now Kim was due to tour the UK for just about all of November 64, with back up provided by the Early Van Dyke Quartet (the Funk Brothers). I guess that they actually arrived in the UK but went home almost immediately. Anyone know what tracks were cut back in Detroit that November as the plan must have been to lay down tracks without the Funks that month.
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RE: Ooops! Could be the wrong tour. I think that photo dates from 69. Tour poster ........
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Monk Higgins wife was called Virginia. Not sure when they married, so don't know if any daughter would have been 17+ years old by 1973. Monk was born in 1936, so I guess he would have gotten married in the late 50's / early to mid 60's .... that would have made any daughter around 16 yrs old (max) in 1973. So it could have been his daughter but as he recorded a lot of stuff (& played a lot live) through the 70's and her name didn't seem to crop up again on his work, I'll leave others to decide what they think.
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There was a Monica Higgins cut for UA in 73, related to Monk Higgins (cut in LA I believe). Monk was working a lot in that period with Alex Brown (MAYBE it was Alex using a different name as she was signed elsewhere at the time).
