Roburt

Frankie Seay was in trouble in the 80's when he undertook some live gigs .......... ... this was because he was accepting live bookings under the name of one of the many versions of the Ink Spots that were performing across the States back then ........... The original Ink Spots rhythm-and-blues quartet has not been together since the 1930s, and all four of those musicians were dead by the 70's. But the many versions of the old group refused to fade away. The original breakup of the Ink Spots in the 40's had led to more, not fewer, neo-Ink Spo groups. ``In the last year, we have sent letters to 10 other groups in Florida asking them to stop using the name,`` said Mili Della Lilley in 1985. As president of the Hanover Group entertainment agency in Fort Lauderdale and personal agent for Jim Nabbie`s Ink Spots Inc. she insisted that she managed the single honest-to-goodness, one-and-only, real-McCoy Ink Spots. Or at least the closest thing available at that time. Jim Nabbie`s Ink Spots filed a lawsuit against some other Ink Spots who have been performing around FLORIDA. Named as defendant in a Broward Circuit Court civil suit was Frank Seay, leader of a group that at various times has called itself Ink Spots `82, the Fabulous Ink Spots, the Great Frank Seay and His Ink Spots, Ink Spots `81, The Ink Spots, and the Great Frank Seay and the Super Spots. The situation was very confusing. Even Frankie's attorney, Jerome L. Tepps, has had to take a crash course in music history to play this particular game of To Tell The Truth. ``I think Jim Nabbie is one of the original Ink Spots,`` Tepps said. ``My understanding is that he`s as close as anybody can be to being the real thing while being alive.`` ``He`s not one of the original four,`` Lilley agreed. ``They`re all dead. They would be in their 80s if they were alive.`` According to Lilley, Deek Watson, who was one of the originals, brought Jim Nabbie into the group to replace Bill Kenny, whose mezzo soprano voice was considered the distinctive signature of the group. Kenny made the group famous for such big hits as If I Didn`t Care, We Three, and I Don`t Want to Set the World on Fire. But even Kenny was not an original Ink Spot. The first four members, who began singing in the late 1930s, were Watson, Jerry Daniels, Hoppy Jones and Charlie Fuqua. The Ink Spots have always been abundant in splinter groups and imitations. According to a United Press International news story in 1966, at least 10 groups by that name were performing at that time in North America. The group Lilley represents is composed of Nabbie, 65, who lives in Atlanta; King Drake, 64, Palm Beach; and Harold Winley, 52, and Sonny Hatchet, 53, both of whom live in New York. According to Tepps, Frank Seay`s Ink Spots have agreed to drop their name, meaning Tepps probably will not have to pursue his lawsuit. In addition to taking bookings under the name of Frank Seay & Contact High, it seems that around the mid 1970's, his group also started going out as the Ink Spots. Whilst they got good reviews under that name & attracted an 'older audience', they would perform more contemporary songs if faced with a younger audience. Francie & the group sought to legitimise themselves (as the Ink Spots) by stating that Frankie (& his brother Eddie) were the nephews of 1960's Ink Spot Joe Boatner and that they had earlier performed with Joe. They also had Billy Mack as a group member at times and he had also been in a few 'incarnations' of the Ink Spots at times. The line up of Frankie's Ink Spots in 1975 was Frank & Eddie Seay, Billy Mack and Joseph Palmer but members came & went right through to the mid 80's. In 1975, the group were being booked right across Florida with one big gig being a week long engagement at the Sheraton Cyprus Gardens in Winter Haven (between Tampa & Orlando). Frank only sang lead on a few of the group's songs, Billy Mack & Joseph Palmer having voices more suited to the old Ink Spots favorite tracks. Frank sang lead on more of the contempoaray songs the group performed. Eddie Seay mainly played guitar for the group (though he did contribute some backing vocals). Other musicians that they toured with (as their backing band) included Oscar Williams & Leon Butler. I believe that some of this whole ensemble had been performing with Frankie for some years by 1975. It seems unlikely that Joe Boatner approved of Frankie's version of the group. However as Joe had been performing (with his own incarnation of the Ink Spots) up in Maine & Canada since at least the late 40's and was still securing regular bookings for the group through the mid 70's and into the early 80's. Here's a photo of Frankie's group in 1975 (Joseph Palmer being the guy at the back, with the other three as named underneath) .... Anyone know if THIS Eddie Seay is the guy who had 45's out on Imperial, PPI ("Look My Way") & Cyclone ??

Spotlight Booking Agency,a division of Tropical Records, were looking for talent in October 1970. The new agency was already handling Eddie Holloway, Human Race, Joe Simmons and Billy Smith.

Soul harmony singing seems to be a dying art .... young performers don't seem to have the patience to hone such skills. ........... a sad loss indeed. When TV shows such as X Factor can launch crap singers on careers & yet guys such as those above can't get into a recording studio, it shows how far out of whack that the record biz is now.

Yep, there's a label scan of that 45 (JTWYA) included in post #5 of this thread (though he's credited just as Eddie Taylor on the label).

Tony Borders .... direct from Hollywood .......... ..... so not from Quinvy Studios, Muscle Shoals, Alabama at all ....

He 'claimed' to be Johnny Taylor's brother BUT Johnny never accepted the claim by all accounts.

RIP Frankie .................

There's more info on Frankie Seay with this youtube video .......... In 1975/ 76 Frankie was playing regular gigs at the Wreck Bar in Castaways Hotel (Nth Miami Beach). His group was called Frankie Seay and the Contact High at that time. Unfortunately Frankie passed away late last month. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ico0mgNEiC4

Another Johnnie Marie 45 outing ............

More action for Tropical Records in August 70 ..... Johnnie Marie Jones was one of the backing singers on Betty Wrights 1974 LP 'Danger High Voltage'.

Eddie Holloway was also still going strong in the 80's ...........

Gem Records was also a Tropical subsiduary label ............. Eddie Holloway had a good 45 out on the label in August 1970 ..... The 45 must have been 'flipped' as the B side was being promoted by local radio jocks that month.

An earlier Rufus Beacham 45 (on Scepter) ...............

'Move Into Soul 6' that contains the mid 80's Frank Seay tracks ....

Another sought after Frank Seay Tropical 45 ......... some of his 60's tracks have ecaped on CD in the last 10 years ....

The Tropical Records that Bobby Williams & the Mar Kings had a 45 out on was a different label based in NE Florida ........ Guess he's the "Funky Super Fly" & "Steal Away" guy (from the 70's) as well.

Tropical Records sub label; Soul Time ............... Rufus Beacham arranged the track.

4' 2" tall Eddie Taylor had one of the early 45's to be released on Tropical. He played loads of club gigs around Miami throughout the 60's. After his Tropical 45, he signed with Peacock & had good releases with them as well. Swamp Dogg last ran in to him in East Elmhurst New York around 68/69. He was appearing at Arthur's club there as the vocalist for the Red Prysock Band (the club being owned by Arthur Prysock, Red's brother). Swamp recalls that Eddie could sing his ass off and the women were crazy about him (seems that despite his size, he was a true ladies man).

Tampa born Rufus Beacham was nearing the end of his recording career when he cut a 45 for Tropical. Rufus was born in December 1930 and had been around (on the recording scene) since the beginning of the 1950's, initially leading his Tampa Toppers band. Ray Charles cut some tracks fronting Rufus's band (orchestra) and Rufus himself had releases on Chart, Sittin' In With, King (mid 50's) & Scepter (early 60's).

With his group, the Soul Riders, Frank made appearances in Miami clubs ............. For a guy that was around on the scene down there for around 20 years & who had a UK release, little seems to be known about him ...

Though Frank Seay was active on the Miami club / recording scene for around 20 years, I know little about him. He did achieve a UK release in the mid 80's, when Move Records (Edinburgh) picked up a track he put out on his own Sawax label. But it's his late 60's funky soul tracks that are the most collectable .......

Has a full discography listing & label ownership / management / studio info / producer details been compiled for Miami based Tropical Records. Just about all the releases (that I know of) on the label are sought after .............. 3 x Frank Seay & the Soul Riders, (Little) Eddie Taylor, Rufus Beacham, Treetop & the Soul Branches, the Charles Vickers LP, etc. The company also had a subsibuary label; Soul Time. But I only know the Alberta Walker 45 on that inking. The company was owned by a Willard M. Bailey and the likes of Swamp Dogg (Jerry Willliams) & Clarence Reid worked with the artists involved. The label operated out of three addresses that I know of; 4900 & 4950 NW 7th Avenue plus 1099 NW 3rd Avenue. I believe they operated from the mid 60's through to 1985 (at least a record store using the name was still going strong) though the owner met an early death at the hands of local Miami gangsters (drugs & money being the cause of the dispute that resulted in him being mudered I believe).

Casino .. Billboard; 1975 .......... https://books.google.com.cy/books?id=MREEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA63&dq=%22Wigan+Casino%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pzGyUIbTLMXIswajxIDABg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Wigan%20Casino%22&f=false Casino ... Billboard; 1978 ......... Casino Classics really .... https://books.google.com.cy/books?id=hSQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT68&dq=%22Wigan+Casino%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HjKyUP6MPInxsgbY94CwAg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAQ

This one's pretty tricky to find (Charlie Brown) ....not many of these around Greg that wouldn't be by Charlie 'Cole Black' Brown who was lead singer of the Violinaires would it ?? I really like his 'limited release' Jewel 45 (the main pressing of which was organised by Garry Cape here in the UK) ..... ....... Garry said "I remember one time when I was in Shreveport in the late 80s, I visited with Stan and he showed me the masters listing - there were many many more Chicago recordings that he had the rights to. At that time I was a record-dealer and so didn't show too much interest in them (!!) - but I did get the Charlie 'Cole Black' Brown pressed - previously it had only been available on a Jewel demo - I had it released on a slightly lighter coloured Jewel label.... " Garry also commented "very very irritating thing is that they showed me the masters register, and it showed 4 tracks by Charlie Cole Black Brown - but in those days I was more interested in 45s than in masters and as they didn't have the audio readily to hand I never got to hear what the other 2 tracks were - but having been cut at the same session, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise if they were pretty good ........ In the years since, I've tried to track them down - but change of ownerships of the masters means it has been a frustrating failure....."

Steady on Bob , I'm an old Yorkshireman & not a pretty sight without full clothing.