Roburt

The US city where Luther Ingram was most popular was St Louis (he was based near there). From the mid 60's right through to his 1st big hit, if one of his 45's was gonna chart anywhere it was in St Louis. His singles even made it onto the St Louis Pop 45 charts on numerous occasions. For instance, in October 65, his Decca 45 "You Never Miss Your Water" was listed on the St Louis Pop charts. Then, after he had signed with Mercury / Smash, his new 45 cut "Foxy Devil" again made the St Louis Pop chart in April 66. He again charted in the city in 67 with "If It's All The Same To You Babe" on HIB in January 67. Finally his Ko Ko 45 "Pity For The Lonely" actually charted nationally in 1969, after first being popular in St Louis. BTW, "Foxy Devil" (Smash 2019) was the other side of "(I Spy) For The FBI". If this 45 first charted in St Louis in mid April 1966, then I doubt it was in the shops as early as December 1965 (unless the local radio DJ's flipped the 45 over after "I Spy" had failed to make any impact locally).

Mark S, obviously a Northern fan .... BUT CERTAINLY NOT a soul fan ..... I have dozens of TC tracks that I rate as being far far better than "Look At Me Now". The man's also great live and a true gentleman to boot (he apologised for making me wait 5 minutes to get a 45 signed).

Richard Lovelace & Jon Charles Meadow -- the 1st seems to have been Detroit connected, the second New York.

Seems that Jamo was still with the Bobby Peterson Quintet in 1962 and was definitely running Jerry Butler's backing band (orchestra) by early 1965. Now all that has to be worked out is what he was doing in 1963 & 1964 ... PLUS .... when exactly it was he teamed up with Jerry Butler. I know that the Bobby Peterson Quintet were touring the US in 61/62 on the R&B review shows, so that's probably where Jamo & Jerry met up & became friendly.

Chubby's 'at the discotheque' .........

A top group, down all the way from Chicago ...

Yep & then pull down Elland Road .... just move United to a different building .... play games in the future at Headingley. I mean, who will care a jot, it would just be in a different building. Better still, ground share with Dony Rovers, after all they have by far the better stadium.

Dekka, ****** ... just ignore this thread & let the people who do care about the club engage in 'grown-up' discussion.

Checked the Radio Caroline charts for June / July 66 and Jamo didn't appear on them (though I recall Rosko playing "I Spy" all the time on his show). What was in the Caroline charts at that time was ......... JUNE 66: Percy Sledge "Man Loves A Woman" (No.1), Edwin "Stop Her On Sight" (No.12), Stevie Wonder "Nothings Too Good" (No.16) & Roy C's "Rockin Pnemonia" (No.26). JULY 66: Ike & Tina "River Deep" (No.1) + entries from the likes of James Brown, Robert Parker, Guy Darrell ("I've Been Hurt"), Lee Dorsey, Solomon Burke, Wilson Pickett & Jimmy Beaumont ("You Got Too Much Going On").

Nev, I said no 'oooh arr missis' type comments were allowed !!!

Jamo Thomas seemed to cut his 1st 45 in conjunction with Jerry Butler & the Chicago crowd in 1965. His Conlo 45 ("Stop The Baby") was released some time in 1965 and was produced by Jerry Butler; it seems certain to me that these tracks just featured Jerry's road band (minus Jerry himself). No doubt, after these tracks were cut, the ensemble went back out touring. The owner of St Lawrence Records (Dick Simon) helped Eddie Thomas set up Thomas Records .... hence I guess the reason that when "I Spy" was released in the UK by Polydor (in June 66), it was credited as a St Lawrence recording. Jamo must have been working on tracks with Eddie Thomas before "I Spy" was cut as there is a Sound Plus acetate stamped as belonging to Eddie Thomas of ABC Records ("Okey Dokey Time / Bongos on 2nd Street") up on popsike. Again, I would think that both these tracks just feature Jamo fronting Jerry B's touring band.

Although 'Shagging' seems to date back to the 1930's & people in the Carolinas were already doing it on a regular basis (no oooh, arr missis, here please), it's the scene as it grew up in the 60's that I guess is of most interest to us here. One of the top 'beach' venues back in the mid 60's was the Folly Beach Pier, located at a holiday resort not too far outside of Charleston. A beach scene dance held at the Folly Beach Pier back then .......

There's a number of books about the beach scene ...... One that deals with the history of it's development & how Shagging came about is up on Google Books (in part ) .... go here .... https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=24N5hiaZVPUC&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=Shag:+Dancing+On+The+Edge&source=bl&ots=VVXtqUPmri&sig=LLSg7fcub6hmp9hEfLGP8j9QfKc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HTweULiXGeOe0QXakYHgCA&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAA#v=

In a run of early B&S mags (around Nos. 16/17/18/19), the full Curtis Mayfield related 1960's recording facts were laid out in a number of tables .... ... date & place that all the Impressions tracks were recorded & the US (& UK) releases the tracks ended up on. If my memory ain't playing tricks on me, Jerry Butler's recording data was also listed at the end of the series.

A South Carolina show at the end of July 65 that the Jerry Butler Orchestra were on ....

Robb, that DOES SAY .... (Jamo's) was recorded a couple of months after Luther Ingram & The G-Men had recorded the original version of the song for Smash Records !!!! It seems that Jerry (& Jamo) also gigged in 1965 on a tour with Otis Redding .... see attachment ....

Dean, you're right, his SS7 stuff came later .... can't trust everything you read on the net (one of the reasons I stated -- found on the net). Lots of the info on Jamo that is 'out there' seems a bit confusing .... it's stated in different places that he was born in the Bahamas OR in Chicago. I'd go with the former myself. From the digging I've done though, he deffo seems to have moved from the Pennsylvania area to Chicago in the early to mid 60's. He hooked up there with the Jerry Butler / Eddie Thomas / Curtis Mayfield crowd and that eventually helped kick off his solo career. Jerry Butler was almost always on the road in 1965/66 with (no doubt) Jamo leading his backing band during the period up to his 1st St Laurence / Thomas 45 being released. It should be well documented when (during that period) Jerry was back in Chicago recording.No doubt, Jamo laid his St Laurence / Thomas tracks down when he was also 'off the road' and back in Chicago. From the tour info I posted above, it seems Jerry (with Jamo) was on the road from February to June 1965.

To say so little seems to be known about Jamo Thomas in the period between him quitting the Bobby Peterson Quintet and having his hit 45 in 1966 .... ... it did appear that he was involved in a few high profile happenings ..... The Paramount Theatre was a noted movie palace located at 43rd Street and Broadway in the Times Square district of New York. Opened in 1926, it was the premiere showcase for Paramount Pictures and also became a popular live performance venue. The theater was closed in Feb 1966 and its space converted to office and retail use. It is featured here in this youtube clip ... Anyway, at the end of May 1965, the movie 'Black Spurs' (a standard Paramount Western) was showing at the Paramount Theater. Along with the movie, a live show was also staged (probably the last one ever staged there due to the uncertain status of the famous old building). The revue was described as being 'loud and vibrant'. It consisted of the Soul Brothers, nine live acts who performed with two orchestras " these being led by Jamo Thomas and Joe Tex (guess Jamo was fronting Jerry Butler's backing band).

How come attachments (that were up for a few days) have started to disappear from some threads on here ??

Some of the info in the above is a bit off (Thomas when established as a label wasn't a subsidiary of Curtom) but much of it rings true .... Jamo must have been close friends with Eddie Thomas as both toured with Jerry Butler. Jamo led Jerry's road band for a period of time. Here's a show they did together in March 1965 at the Howard in DC .....

A Bobby Peterson Quintet track (the B side to "The Hunch") that was played at the Wheel (so it says; this was EVEN before my time !!) MORE INFO OFF THE NET ..... Jamo Thomas came to Chicago during the early '60s and cut his first single Stop the Baby for the Conlo label, produced by Jerry Butler. He moved to the Sound Stage 7 label in 1965, which led to the recording of Bahama Mama in Memphis, which became a hit. In 1966, he met Eddie Thomas, Jerry Butler's former driver and now an executive with ABC-Paramount, who was starting to cut records for his own Thomas label. In 1966, Jamo Thomas recorded I Spy For the FBI. It was recorded a couple of months after Luther Ingrams & The G-Men had recorded the original version of the song for Smash Records, but it was Jamo's version that had more success, reaching No.98 on the pop chart. Luther Ingrams has said that he believed there had been some sort of a deal between Jamo and the Impressions concerning the record, perhaps something to do with its double release on two separate labels. Jamo's version first came out on St. Lawrence Records in Chicago, before it was released on the Curtom subsidiary label Thomas. Jamo himself was based in Chicago. He worked with Monk Higgins Burgess Gardner and a host of Chicago people associated with Craig-Vee Productions, on St. Lawrence, Satellite, Sack and Thomas Records, Chess and Decca, before moving to Philadelphia, where he recorded for the Perception label, including Shake What You Brought With You and You Just Ain't Ready. Later, Jamo recorded for MCA and Nassau Records.

"The Hunch" which features Jamo Thomas on percussion .... Jamo (with the rest of the Quintet) appeared on the American Bandstand TV show on August 22, 1960 (Season 3, Episode 256) & another incarnation of Jamo's UK 45 (which made the UK pop charts when reissued in 1969) ...

Info on Jamo's early music career (off the net) -- BTW, it seems he was born in the Bahamas .... Bobby Peterson was a pianist / vocalist from Chester, Pennsylvania, who started out imitating Ray Charles in smoky little bars on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Further musical apprenticeship was served as piano player for a vocal outfit known as the Apollos. In 1958 Bobby teamed up with sax player Joe Pyatt, who needed a singer and key- board player for his new combo and the Bobby Peterson Quintet was born. The other members were David Butler (drums), Chico Green (bass) and JAMO THOMAS (congas and bongo). They made six remarkable singles for Buddy Caldwell's Philly-based V-Tone label between 1959 and 1961, before disbanding permanently in 1962. The band started to play in clubs with a mixed repertoire of current R&B hits, Ray Charles favorites and a few originals, when Lawrence Kerrin, a local talent scout and promoter, heard them at the Skyway Inn in southwest Philadelphia. Kerrin and Joe Pyatt collaborated writing the Quintet's first single, a simple sax/piano instrumental called "The Hunch". Kerrin introduced the combo to Buddy Caldwell, who operated his new V-Tone and Len labels out of the back of his upholstery store on Ridge Avenue. "The Hunch" (c/w the vocal "Love You Pretty Baby") managed to climb to # 71 on Billboard's national pop charts, but a note-for-note cover by Paul Gayten on the Gordy family's embryonic Anna imprint did slightly better, peaking at # 68 in November 1959. The quintet followed this up with a powerful two-part instrumental, "Rockin' Charlie", which was used as a theme by ace deejay Jocko Henderson. They began doing one-nighters up and down the eastern seaboard, and were brought to Chicago by Buddy Caldwell to record their third single, the great "Irresistible You" (written by Luther Dixon). This 45 went to # 15 R&B and # 96 pop in the autumn of 1960 (though a pop cover went much higher). The group was now touring all over the country, with stars like Jackie Wilson, Jerry Butler and Smokey Robinson. "Been Saving My Love For You"/"Three Street" was the fourth V-Tone single for the Bobby Peterson Quintet. Released in early 1961, it sold quite well. Further 45's folowed but the young musicians were already tiring of the hard road life and drummer David Butler chose to settle down and get steady work. Joe Pyatt, the real leader of the group, joined Dave "Baby" Cortez's combo as sax man in 1962, while Chico Green went on to work with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters. Jamo Thomas joined several combos and scored a # 98 pop hit in 1966 with "I Spy For the FBI". Bobby Peterson himself recorded two further singles under his own name for Atlantic and Centaur, and returned to the rounds of Chester's clubs. It seems that the Quintet continued on after drummer David Butler quit ..... May 1, 1989 -- HASSON WILLIAM MIAH, TOP DRUMMER Services were to be held today for Hasson William Miah, a professional musician who performed with major artists. Miah, who died Wednesday, was 51 and formerly from Chester. He lived in Chicago. Miah was a drummer who performed and recorded with the Bobby Peterson Quintet, Jerry Butler, Curtis Mayfield and Philip Upchurch. Born and raised in Chester, Miah began his musical career at the age of 6 on the piano. But by age 13, the lure of playing drums was too strong and he switched instruments.

The Caribbean comes to Ft. Lauderdale .....

Back to the Apollo & some heavyweights were all on together ...