Roburt

The Pittsburgh soul music scene has long fascinated me. Loads of blue eyed soul singers did really well there, local artists cut in local studios & had releases on local labels but the addresses on the labels were in other cities (LA, Detroit). Lots of acts eventually headed out to Philly to try to make the big time and so the local gene pool was diminished. But more acts kept coming through and so the local clubs always had decent live acts to showcase. A guy who was involved with one such group has just put out a CD album that is currently getting some praise. The guy in question is Mister Chandler and he now lives in Florida and sings gospel. When he was much younger (the 70's) and still back in Pittsburgh, he was hooked up with the Caprells. His older sister had recorded when he was still young and after hearing her voice on the record, it inspired him to follow a music career himself. He tells me that he played on the Pittsburgh music scene a lot in the 70’s. He worked with Al Dowe (who was involved with the Millage label), Cecil Brooks III, Roger Humphries RH Factor (and Rodgers Big Band) and more. He actually recorded with the Caprells (on tracks such as "Close Your Eyes", "Walk On By", "I Believe in the Stars" and many more). He also worked with a 3 piece blues trio called 'Black Lick' in conjunction with guitarist Cordell Dudley. Cordell also played with Betty Davis (the original Nasty Girl funkster). DeWayne Chandler got to play at all of the major venues in Pittsburgh; the Crawford Grill, The Tiger Tail, Walt Harpers Attic, the Encore, the Pyramid Lounge and other venues. He has a very good music pedigree and this shows through on his latest CD,'Teach Me Lord' ........... Check out his web site to hear the tracks ......... https://www.iammisterchandler.com/ The CD is available for sale at CD Baby ......https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/misterchandler2 Some old Caprells tracks ......

A picture of Melvin with his wife (she inspired the words to many of his songs) .....

A new release of 'Mystro & Lyrics' biggest song (commercially) ............ ... the Tom Moulton remix on Philly ReGrooved 3 ........

"Mercy, Mercy, Baby" .............

A Mystro / Lyric song .............

People still ask if the Showstoppers shared any members with the Four Perfections, I guess coz both appeared on the tiny Party Time label. I know Dave knows the answer to this question & has told folk that have asked him, but he's been holding back info that will (I'm sure) be in his book (SORRY DAVE, I'm gonna spill some beans but it was thru me & Kenny that you made contact). Anyway, the makings of the Four Perfections actually came about in the Pittsburgh area originally. Two twin brothers, who were great in school at basketball decided music was the way forward for them, not sports. One hooked up with a girl from another part of Pittsburgh, so he used to travel thru to her place most weekends but that didn't stop the two brothers from developing their song writing skills (one handling the music, the other the words). Anyway, in the mid 60's, they went off to college in Philly. There they hooked up with guys such as Eddie Holman and started writing songs with him as well. With Eddie, they wrote a song "Don't Forget That I Love You" and they recorded it (but they don't know what became of the recording). One song the 'Steals' wrote that was cut was "I'm Not Strong Enough". They had formed a group and started to sing the song on gigs. Their group, the Four Perfections were spotted and they got to record their song. When college was over, the group broke up & they returned to the Pittsburgh area. But they still retained their Philly music contacts. A song they had written, "Gotta Find My Way Back Home" was selected by Kenny Gamble to be cut by the Jaggerz (though it was only credited to Melvin & Mervin'). Anyway, the song was a hit & the two brothers thought they had hit the big time. But the music biz can be cruel and young guys easily get ripped off. That's what happened to the 'Steals'. They took day jobs but still kept on writing songs. Knowing some other guys on the Philly music scene, they got in touch with a few influential folk and pitched some of their new songs. One, "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love", was picked up by Tom Bell for the Spinners. From then, it was one song success after another ........ SEE HERE ........ https://www.discogs.com/artist/Mystro+And+Lyric What's your favorite 'Mystro & Lyric' / 'Steals & Steals' song ? I'm currently in touch with Melvin Steals and he tells me that now the two brothers have both retired from their day jobs, they are back into song writing mode again. IN FACT, they are currently writing new songs for Kenny Hamber that should be recorded in the near future. DAVE, drop me an PM and let me know which 'cats to leave in the bag' CHEERS

More from the guys ....... another interview .............. Marvin wasn't even in it for the money, what a star the guy is !!!!

Getting Bettye Swann on, singing her old soul songs for the 1st time in 30 years is a real coup. There are lots of jealous Yank soul fans who would like to be able to get to this show. Guess (though its a stone cold certainty) this will be a really great show to be at, wouldn't miss it for the world. When she has run out of songs that she & the UK band have (re)learnt, She'll have to sing "Make Me Yours" at least 3 times (encore & 2nd encore included) .... .... though on the 2nd & 3rd attempts, she can probably leave most of the singing to the audience.

I was buying Bunky import 45's as far back as 1970 (always loved the Esquires) and back then lots of the 45's I got came in company sleeves.

No doubt Clarence Thompson is on this track as well (he was a member of the Opels in the 60's). The backing band on this track, the Blue Rhythm Combo (or BRC) also back him up on "You, Me & Love" ...........

A documentary on the group .............

A tribute paid to the group by US celebs ......... "There Is" kicks in just after the 3 minute mark ....

A great UK comp LP to look out for is 'The Soul of Black Music' (on Sonet from 1979) .... 14 gospel tracks from the likes of Gospel Keynotes, Supreme Angels, Bright Stars, Consolers & more. I have a spare copy somewhere but it don't have an original cover. Here's the Supreme Angels track .........

Don't think his language would have gone down too well at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party though !!

This Be Be & Ce Ce Winans album (from 84) is good throughout ('Lord Lift Us Up') ........ .... (the PTL label version is rare but I think it was re-released on anuda label later) ..... .... this track being the best dancer on it ...

West coast King George .........

More Marvin Yancy ........... .... deep soul type gospel .......

The Marvin Yancy track ...............

NOT A BAD RECORD .. wash your mouth out, it's a BLUDDY GREAT record. I taught my son (also called Michael) to sing the song as soon as he could talk (though his version was titled Michael de Lubber). He liked it so much, he used to sing it (as a 3/4 year old) walking down the street. Once in Newquay in the mid 70's, he was singing it as we walked passed a load of moddy type teenagers on holiday in the resort. They were stunned and couldn't understand how such a little kid could know the words / tune to such a classy old anthem.

Bub was a one off. Back in the early days of the Cleggy Weekender, we always hosted a chalet party in our dossouse after the Sunday night session ended. That resulted in about 90 people squeezing into a room big enough for 10, so the doors were always left open. We had a full deck system in place & the music was played at full blast till about 5am. Our chalet was quite near the site's boundary and the locals didn't seem to appreciate NS at that time of the night. So the police were called and we were closed down. As Ady & those in authority were promising the Police there would be no more noise & everyone would quietly go to sleep (so no one was actually charged), Bub (who was in the next door chalet) decided it was just the right time to start letting off some fireworks he had with him that weekend. Needless to say, the police weren't too impressed.

Does this help at all .......... not a long enough clip really ........ The brain's failing these days but wasn't "Michael" his signature tune.

I seem to recall that Little Royal was originally from outside Norfolk or Baltimore (the Maryland / Virginia area anyway). He cut for Carnival (up in NY I guess) & then for local labels before having his stuff picked up for Tri-Us. Guess you're right that Heuy Meaux was just using tracks put out first on Tri-Us and pressing them up on his own label to try and make some extra money for himself. Little Royal seems to have ended up down in Florida in the 80's and he was still performing through to the mid 90's. A 1993 gig he undertook in Georgia ...........

A gospel dancer I really like is Rev Marvin Yancy (yep, the guy who wrote / produced lots of Chicago soul in the 70's) on "Step By Step". Other good CD's to buy to find more tracks you like are ......... 'Experience Gospel -- Soulful Side of Gospel' 'Gospel In The Groove' 'Detroit Gospel' 'Raise Da Roof' ......... (you can get a copy of 2 different volumes of this series on Amazon at present for pennies) AND many of the 'WOW Gospel' compilations (they put out one a year & have done for about the last 12 years).

WATCH OUT .... there were 2 or 3 guys who used the KING GEORGE name .......... ... there was even a guy based in Sweden BUT he was actually a transplanted American who had used the name first back in the States. I seem to recall previous threads about one or more of the KING GEORGE's ......... ........... A BIT OF AN OLD POST I MADE ......... Don Gardner started something with his "My Baby Likes to Boogaloo" in late 1966. Although it wasn't a big hit, it garnered covers by the likes of the Emperors in the US and King George in Sweden. Of Puerto Rican parents, musician Pete Terrace was a natural for Boogaloo style cuts & he even titled himself 'King of the Boogaloo'. AND CHECK OUT THIS OLD THREAD .....

NO, deleted it. Who'd have thought another group would think to call themselves the Dells. The only Dells facebook page (for the TRUE Dells) only allows you to LIKE, you can't actually post messages on it.