Roburt

Kenny is on the radio live now ............. https://tunein.com/radio/WKND-1480-s30303/

Nope, not at the moment. Hard copy only. One may follow later, but I'm 'old skool' I'm afraid.

Kenny is being interviewed about his life & the book on radio stn WKND (Hartford) later today ........ ................. https://www.goisradio.com/power-1480 .......... https://tunein.com/radio/WKND-1480-s30303/

A brilliant documentary that really showcases the classic music made in Muscle Shoals.

I'd say the 45 has fans on the NS scene ............

'TEARS IN MY EYES' -- The Kenny Hamber Story has now been published and is available for sale. The book consists of 180+ pages of text and 8 pages of pictures and tells the full story of Kenny's life and long career. He started out singing on the street corners of Baltimore back in the 1950's and by 1961 was performing at the top summer venue of Carr's Beach on bills topped by the likes of Jackie Wilson. An ever-present on the vibrant Baltimore club scene throughout the 1960's, he still found the time to head off to New York and Philly to record and play live gigs. Hooking up with a group towards the end of the 60's, they headed off to fulfill a club date up in Providence (Roade Island). He never returned from that gig and made a new life for himself in New England that lasted into the 1980's. Moving on again, he relocated to Hartford and Manchester, Connecticut. Nearly 60 years after he started out on a singing career, Kenny still lands regular gigs at places such as Foxwood's Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut. He is currently back in the recording studio (with a full band) laying down tracks for another release. He performed right through soul music's golden years and experienced many ups & downs, his exploits taking him all over the world. Today, he still chases new dreams to add to his many past achievements in the entertainment business. CHECK OUT SOME INFO ON THE BOOK HERE ........... https://www.facebook.com/KennyHamberStory The book is available for £10 + £1.90 P&P. Drop me a PM if you are interested in obtaining a copy.

Cherry Stone's 45 version escaped around August 1966 whereas Rita started work on her TRC album around late 1967 and completed it in mid to late 68. I wonder how Ray Charles got to know about this obscure song which I believe was just the B side to "He Walks Softly" ........... Ray Charles toured Europe in 1966 and was always out on the road when back in the US. His Australian tour actually commenced in mid August 1967. He did a TV show in Sydney on 18th August (see here .... https://raycharlesvideomuseum.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/genius-of-ray-charles-live-in-australia.html) and it must have been at that time that he met up with Rita. Rita was already a friend of Billy Preston (from club dates back in LA) and Billy was on that Ray Charles tour, so it was probably via Billy that she got access to Ray.

A 45 by the outfit that Rita Graham was fronting on the Australian tour during which she got to meet Ray Charles ............

An extract from my bio on Rita .............. ......... RITA GRAHAM (of Rita & the Tiaras) ............. ... Rita had landed vocal duties fronting the group Chuck Rowan and his Cliques (who at the time had James Gadson as their drummer) and they received an invitation to tour Australia for 6 months. After a few shows on the tour, Rita got to perform on the ‘Tonight with Don Lane’ TV Show. Her appearance was such a success that she was split from the group by the booking agency and sent on solo gigs. Backstage at a show in Sydney, she met up with Ray Charles. Ray spent time chatting with her and got her to duet with him in his dressing room. He was so impressed with her musical knowledge and singing ability, that after she returned to LA, he got back in touch. After signing her to his Tangerine Record label (TRC), Ray took her into his RPM International studio and they began recording tracks for a proposed album. With Ray always touring, it was some time before enough tracks were laid down to complete her ‘Vibrations’ LP. However they were finally completed and the package of (largely) old standards sung in various musical styles was released in 1968. Unfortunately, Rita didn’t get the chance to promote the album as Ray’s current set of Raelettes (Clydie King, Merry Clayton, Alex Brown & Gwendolyn Berry) suddenly quit on him. A big show was looming and so Ray instantly needed to put together a replacement line-up. He teamed Rita with Susaye Greene and Beverly LeShure to form the new group and they were on stage with Ray in LA that night. Rita remained as a Raelette for 6 months and even toured in that capacity but she was troubled that her album was being neglected and was receiving little or no promotion. The situation resulted in her having an argument with Ray and frustrated, she quit the group. The circumstances resulted in her never getting to perform any of her LP tracks live, even her great version of “My Cup Runneth Over”.

It's a 'fake' label Steve, maybe you might post up the real one (Soul Sensations & etc.)

Other Audiofonics 45's ............

No, it was released twice, the 2nd time under the Ringleaders name (NOT) !!

Here it is .............. The Soul Sensations and the Coachman Reviews Band -- No More Than Before (Audiofonics)

Audiofonics had their own studio as well as running a record label ............ They also cut & released tracks by gospel outfits.

The Carolina Soul site says there were only 3 soul 45's released on the Audiofonics label ...... The one you are asking about (#1005) plus two others by the New Cavaliers ....... 1003 The New Cavaliers "Yo-Yo / My Love Has Gone" 1004 The New Cavaliers "My Dearest Shirley / Pygmalean" I guess all of them are quite rare. The New Cavaliers also had a 45 out on the Greene Soul label.

The Nite Owl club was located at the western end of Newarke Street in Leicester ....... ... here's what the road looked like in more recent times ........

A short note I got from Sam a few years back ..............

I believe he 'retired' a couple of years back. Paul Mooney will have the full facts.

Guess you're not doing the Pye International (US soul stuff) & Piccadilly (UK recorded soul stuff) labels as well Pete, or are you also including those ?

The tour she was involved with was a bit of a strange one. It was led by Baltimore radio DJ 'Hot Rod' and featured mainly Baltimore based artists (the Royalettes, George Jackson, Eugene Del & others). The venues the package appeared at were various US Job Corp Centres, no doubt they were put on as an attraction to help draw people to the centres. As all the other artists involved were from Baltimore, anyone know if Audrey was also from the city ?

I'm not sure how long she stayed in the music biz, but young white teenager Audrey Slo certainly made an impact in the mid 60's with her Swan track "Gonna Find The Right Boy". She did some live shows to promote the record and even went on a tour along with a number of other recording artists ..... Is much else known about her ?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrFSX3YvrqU

When I stated there was input from Brick on these Flight tracks, I wasn't trying to say that Flight were Brick, just that the guys from Brick were involved with the recordings. As Chalky pointed out , there's a guy with the surname of Brown who helped write their song. I always assumed this guy was related to Jimmy Lord Brown and that he (& the other co-writers of the song) were the members of the group.

Both copies of this 45 are detailed on the Georgiasoul web site ........... ... https://www.georgiasoul.com/gasoul/n-s.html Major input on this track from Jimmy Lord Brown and I guess other members of the group Brick.

We need news on who the live act will be though Martyn !! .... no doubt, Ady hasn't fully tied up all the loose ends involved yet. Guess we'll still have a while to wait before we learn who will be performing in Cleggy this June. Don't believe you'll make the announcement in March Ady ..... still, it's good to know that you're fully on the case now.

I'm sure someone here (Robb K or Boba) must have discussed with one of their contacts what ' typical' pressing costs for small runs of a particular 45 would have been in the US back in the 60's. . . . . . HOWEVER . . . . . . the costs of running a recording session in a local studio that wasn't equipped with the latest equipment could be very low. I have an invoice for a gospel session (so the group turned up ready to cut with their own musical director and band) staged at a 'standard' St Louis studio in 1966. The studio hired itself out for $25 an hour !!! 45 minutes of studio time + the actual tape containing the tracks laid down in that time cost the group leader just over $26 (including tax). That worked out at the equivalent of less than ten quid to lay down around 7 or 8 tracks (assuming one take on each song and little down time because of mistakes). Of course, tracks on the tape then had to be mastered and the like to allow records to be pressed up but the cost of the actual recording session for an indie label could be peanuts. ... ALSO .... many times a local label could negotiate studio session time without any advance payment. The label guys would promise to pay the session costs once the 45's were pressed up and selling in the shops (of course, many times they never actually got around to paying the bill, so the master tapes remained in the studio's tape vaults with the artist / label owners never actually gaining possession of them).