Roburt

AND ....... as half of Bob & Earl he helped make just about the biggest anthem of 1960's UK mod clubs -- "HARLEM SHUFFLE".

I know very little about the history of doo-wop groups and (like you) until the last few years generally didn't find time to listen to the tracks such groups cut back in the day. However, I have spent time researching the Baltimore black music scene of the late 1940's and 1950's. Baltimore always had a great entertainment scene, boasting numerous vibrant clubs and one of the big chitlin-circuit theatres; the Royal. The strange thing about the Baltimore club scene back then was that, although a lot of the best early doo-wop groups were from the city, the club scene for the most part stuck with jazz acts right through the 40's & 50's. Even when local groups had national success, they would only really play the city's theatres on a regular basis. The local star groups included the likes of the Swallows, (Sonny Til &) the Orioles & the Cardinals. National outfits such as the Drifters (Clyde McPhatters incarnation), the Flamingos, the Ravens, the Spaniels and the Four Fellows came to play venues such as the Royal Theatre and Astor Theatre (even the Vocaleers got to play the Royal in summer 53). So local fans got to see all the top doo-wop acts but the likes of Bill Doggett, Don Gardner, Sonny Stitt, Earl Bostic and all the local jazz outfits held sway in local clubs for the most part. The big local & national doo-wop groups inspired many kids on the street corners of the city's projects to try their hand at harmony singing and so a 2nd wave of groups such as the Plants followed on. No doubt there are a number of doo-wop group tracks that laid the foundation for the acts & sounds that followed in the 60's BUT it would need recommendations from the likes of RobbK to highlight which recordings back then helped set the scene for the creative explosion that came in the 60's. It would be good to learn which tracks turned out to be the most pivotal in moving black music forward during that decade or so.

I know Bob, but he did start out in Norfolk ....... PLUS ....the article makes mention of his work for Chess in Chicago.

Anyone on here make it along to these recent talks ........... https://www.norfolkblackhistorymonth.org.uk/events/2013/how-norfolk-got-the-groove.html Seems like they would have been quite informative, putting a different spin on the the local Norfolk (UK) soul scene back then.

The media in Virginia seems (in the last few years) to have woken up to the sterling work local soul singers & musicians put in back in the day ........ ..... here's a decent piece on Daddy G -- Gene Barge ............. https://www.virginialiving.com/arts-events/arts/a-nite-with-daddy-g/

Can answer my own question from above ................ ........ I read through pieces on Charlie McClendon & the Magnificents that I have since posted up on a thread under that title ........ ... on one of them it states that Charlie & the group did play gigs at clubs such as the Peppermint Lounge and the Top Hat.

Another good on-line piece .......... the Charlie McClendon Story .......... https://virginiafolklife.org/from-the-field/charlie-mcclendon/about/ An extract from the above ......... they booked Charlie at ...... makeshift Virginia Beach dancehalls that catered to young crowds, like the Peppermint Lounge and the Club Top Hat. ........ so I can answer the question I asked on another thread as obviously Charlie McClendon & the Magnificents did play gigs in the Virginia Beach clubs that catered for the Beach Music scene crowd back in the day.

I know this is a very old thread, but there's now lots of info on this outfit up on the net so I thought I'd resurrect it. https://www.vmsoul.com/magnificent.html https://www.virginialiving.com/the-norfolk-sound_1/ https://vimeo.com/56769567 "Put Me Down Easy" ......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o19Ew-VYMJo "Need Love" ......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kZ6SfdOP90 "Gonna Hate Myself in the Morning" ......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OxdjPbzmlc Charlie McClendon talking ........ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MENPlQzBabc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV53-A2-Si0

Done a bit of research in the past on the Norfolk music scene and knew that Bill Deal & the Rhondels figured large locally BUT never realised that there was a thriving Beach Music Scene just down the road from Norfolk that BD&Rhondels were almost a permanent fixture on as well. Seems that Virginia Beach, back in the 60's / 70's was doing its best to upstage Myrte Beach (& the like) down in South Carolina. This article, that deals with the clubs & live acts back then, is quite old but I hadn't seen it before (a link was posted up on Southernsoul) .............. https://www.virginialiving.com/virginiana/history/rogues-gallery-of-clubs/ Seems that acts such as Bill Deal & the Rhondels, the Drifters and local outfit the Showmen were the live acts that made the most impact in the Virginia Beach clubs back then. I wonder if the likes of Barbara Stant, the other Shiptown artists or Charlie McClendon & the Magnificents (who Norman Johnson of the Showmen did some work with) also played the Virginia Beach clubs on a regular basis. Anyone know ?

Another old Cleveland show ad, this one's from 1968. Bill Spoon & the Soul Notes were once again on the bill .......... ............ and again this was posted up by Invisible Soul on Facebook ...........

It was such a big US hit that there were a least 3 different presses of the single back at that time ............ (BTW there's also a 2nd UK Concord label version with a different label design) ............. ...... scans of the other two US versions below ........ The earliest Bamboo label design (first release when label was St Louis based) featured a bit simpler palm tree design but the next few releases after that seemed to escape with plain white labels. Guess the design used on Mel & Tim's hit was commissioned when that cut began to sell in quantity. Did the Bamboo #107 palm tree label design come about when Scepter took over national distribution of the label (Steve G will know) ??

The top banana, radio soul wise, for me was gudol TrickieDickie Searling. His Radio Hallam (Sheffield) show in the early to mid 80's was the bees' knees if you wanted to hear new releases, NS, MS, deep soul & jazzy soul each & every Saturday. His 'end of year' top 100 was always a must listen (which also usually ended up being recorded onto cassette). It was a great loss when he had a falling out with the management at Hallam (over show content) & moved on to Red Rose up in Preston. He would send me tapes of his new show on a pretty regular basis but it wasn't really the same. ALSO used to listen in to Dave Evison's slot on Radio Derby (was that on a Tuesday night ?), but RS's output was the tops IMO. Of course, back then, Radio One just about always had a decent weekly soul show back then but that hardly ever had any NS / MS track content.

The Memorial for William Franklin Bell Saturday, November 23, 2013 Time: 11:00 AM Where: Advantage Funeral & Cremation Services, Horis A. Ward Chapel, 1999 GA Hwy. 138 SE, Conyers, GA 30013 ................ Online Memory Book: www.mem.com ; In upper right hand corner, do search by his name - William Franklin Bell

A Montage showing three of the Zenette 45's ........... ... these include the B side of the Rita & the Upsetters single ...

Has anyone written a detailed article on Robert Staunton's music career ?? He certainly did seem to do stuff for lots of different labels and out of different cities ! No doubt these just list a few of his many efforts ............. https://www.discogs.com/artist/Robert+Staunton https://www.discogs.com/artist/Robert+Staunton+and+Robert+Walker

The King Mojo (Sheffield) had niters from around 1964/65 thru till the council ensured it was closed down (by not granting it a license when club licenses were brought in) in 1967. ........ the main reasons for this were ................ 1/ Every niter at the club featured live acts (mostly visiting US soul acts). Those acts would play a normal Saturday nite gig (8 pm to midnight -- going on stage about 11pm). So they had already been paid for one show but only having a limited time in the UK were willing to go on to another club (Mojo, Wheel, Nite Owl, etc) and do a 2nd show of the night. ADVANTAGE of this for act was two pay cheques in one nite, for the club it was (usually) a discounted fee from the group for the early hours show. 2/ Getting to & from the club. The Mojo / Wheel /Nite Owl live show niters attracted soul fans / mods from a wide geographic area. So someone could get from Hull to Sheffield (say) after work and still meet up with mates (in cafe, pub) before heading off for the niter session starting at 11pm / midnight (or whatever). Night spent dancing and watching the live act. Club throw-out time around 8am. Catch 1st bus back into city centre (if you'd been at the Mojo, didn't apply at Wheel, Nite Owl) and then hang around with friends for hour or so for 1st train of the day to get back home. So niters suited the club, the acts & the audiences. When dayers were introduced, getting home late on a Sunday evening was a bit more problematical. HOWEVER the act could perform at the dayer around 5pm and then move onto another club for a normal Sunday nite session (going on stage around 10pm). Again 2 fees in 1 day.

Good to learn that some of those old Zenette 45's were still turning up years afterwards (even if it was only yards from where they were originally commissioned). Which of the Zenette 45's did you find; the Kenny Hamber, Sonny V & the Velvets, El Ray, Rita & Upsetters or the Christian All Stars. Kenny Hamber grew up in the area as well, he spent his teenage years in the Lafayette Courts projects (after moving from the Somerset Projects). I haven't heard some of those tracks, would really like to get to listen to the El Raye (Sonnye Daye) & Christian All Stars cuts. A WSID ad for Sparky Mullen's radio show; this dates from around the time that the Rita & the Upsetters 45 was released.

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings doing 3 concerts in Florida in mid to late Feb .......... have to see if I can make it to one of them as well !

Invisible Soul posted this old Soul Notes club ad up on Facebook ............. ........ I thought it deserved an airing here as well ................

I was sure it had to be BUT had no proof of that fact. So I just kept my remarks limited to 'could easily have been same group'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSZQY-5UKEg

I can believe that the 'Richard Carrington related' deal wasn't fully legit. A lot of the tracks he sourced back then (after promising the artists cash) were pressed up, but many of the artists never actually received a dime from him.

You shouldn't be featuring articles by J R Smith; he's a nutter (or was that J R Hartley) R I P Bill.

I contacted Ron (via Facebook) and he has this to say about the track & his work with these artists ............... ...... The track was recorded by a band from New Castle, Pennsylvania called Reality band and Show. Wanda McDaniel is my sister (.... as Dave said). She (sang lead) and the Ultimate Choice (a vocal group from Ohio who Ray also managed) sang the background, which I arranged. Wanda is married now and designs jewelry, she's living in New York state. Danny Friendly from the Ultimate Choice now sings with the Edsels (of "Rama Lama Ding Dong" fame). As regards Reality band, I hear that all but the drummer have passed into time ! So it seems that the Ultimate Choice were from Ohio, so they could easily have formed the basis of the group that soon after recorded for Heat & Montage. Danny Friendly (of Ultimate Choice) has been lead singer with the Edsels since 2007. New Castle, which is where Reality Band & Show came from, is to the north of Pittsburgh and just across the Ohio state boundary from Youngstown (where the original members of the Edsels hailed from).

Back to info on the people involved with the record as the discussions on a possible release of this track seem to be going up the usual cul-de-sac ......... ........ info on Co-PRODUCER RON 'TINY' CRAWLEY (I guess the Tiny is an ironic nickname) ........ Ron Crawley is still involved with music, being one of the lead vocalists with Pittsburgh based group Pure Gold. He's been singing with the outfit since the late 70s. Born in Pennsylvania he moved to Pittsburgh in the mid-1950s and there befriended guys active on the city's black music scene, they gave him tips on singing. One of his close friends back then sang with George Benson and the Altairs. From the mid 60's, Ron did stuff with DJ's such as Sir Walter of WAMO and Wash Allen of WABQ (Cleveland). Around 1970, along with another old friend, (Alex Richburg) he began to write song lyrics and signed up with a new local music operation; Steel City Recording based in East Liberty (Mervin and Melvin Steals were also working for the enterprise). Another of the talents at Steel City back then was the late Phyllis Hyman. In fact, Phyllis was one of the backing singers on a Crawley-Greenley-Richburg song “Dancing on a Daydream” in 1974 (Soulvation Army Band on Soulvation Army Records). Through the 70's, he continued to sing with local groups and for a short time worked for the late Ray Mitchell’s Pittsburgh Music Industries with acts such as the Reality Band, Youngstown based group JC and the Soul Angels and the group Ultimate Choice. Whilst there, he worked on the track “Gangster Boy” which escaped on Apple Ray Records in 1977. Soon after that, he began singing with Pure Gold. Ray Mitchell's organisation already had a track record by the time Ray Crawley joined the set up. Back in 1973, Aliquippa teenage group the Hifadelics had cut tracks at Hartman & Associates' studio (Pittsburgh) for their manager George Perkins. The recordings led to them meeting Ray Mitchell around the time of the release of the group's only single, "Hifidelics Groove / Quiptown" on Quip (actually released as by the Hifidelics). Signed to Ray Mitchell's Pittsburgh Music Industries, he immediately put them to work playing gigs on the rust belt (Pennsylvania, central New York state, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Lower Michigan, northern Illinois and eastern Wisconsin) club circuit. The group fell apart when the heavy industries in their hometown were closed and the members had to head off to find new daytime employment. ......... related tracks .......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfk2uxwi5xk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAFoWGz9FBU As some Ohio based groups worked with Ray Mitchell and Ron Crawley at Pittsburgh Music Industries, I wonder if Ultimate Choice were from Ohio. If so, this outfit that cut for Heat Records & Montage in the first half of the 80's may be related (or even the self same group) ............. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcNqaBZzI9s What Ron 'Tiny' Crawley looks like these days ........

Coz I'm old skool and like 'physical product'. Mind you, it being included on a comp LP or CD would be just fine too (not obsessed with 45's, though they are very very nice).