Roburt

Leicester record shops have been mentioned ...

A film made about the 70's Dolomite films (one of which starred Mary love).

Of course, the Blues Brothers film both starred many soul acts (all playing semi fictional roles) ... can't nominate either film though, already made my pick ... REFFA HERE ... //www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTXszRHc0qs Then there's all the decent blaxploitation films with great soundtracks ... SUPERFLY, SHAFT, THE MACK, FOXY BROWN and the 'not so good ones' ... the 3 Dolomite films for instance. Also, Barbara McNair starred in many good movies, but not in singing roles.

Yep, I'll nominate the Temptations movie. BTW, ahead of us heading out to Vegas, I'd contacted the Motown Cafe there to see if we could have an extended 'backroom' tour of the place. Our proposed visit was just a few days before the TV movie was to be screened. An LA TV news team, doing a feature on the upcoming TV movie (it must have been due to screen on their channel -- on the coming Sunday night if my memory ain't playing tricks on me).,They sent a camera team over to the Vegas Motown Cafe to do a news piece on this 'strange group of Brit soul / Motown fans' over in Vegas to see & stage some live shows. We were interviewed & then filmed up on stage at the venue, singing along & dancing with the Cafe's own versions of the Temptations and Supremes. Dave Leedham was one of our group & he was going off after our time together ended to see a mate over in California. He'd told that mate about the TV news piece on us & his mate video'd it. Dave got copies of the piece and gave me a copy. Got that somewhere here too.

Roy Tempest eventually had to 'face the music' as UK record companies sued him for advertising fake versions of the groups they released records on. EMI had the 1st go on behalf of Motown acts but others soon waded in. By mid 69 the game was up for him & he had to agree to get out of the music biz or be sued for many thousands. He went into London property and then (I believe) banking. His exploits certainly allowed many UK soul fans to witness live shows by many lesser acts who's 45's would later be chased by NS types. The Steinways (ex Laddins) got just about the highest praise for their shows here. But the experiences they had to endure while over here led to the group breaking up on it's return to the US. He changed the name of his agency from Roy Tempest Org. and Global Promotions to London Attractions in 69, but by then people knew who he was & what he was up to.

There was the Temptations TV movie, which screened in the US when we were over on the 1998 Soul Trip to Vegas. It was on TV there a day after this event which was staged for us by Nancy Yahiro in Long Beech ... so mid Feb 98 then (see attached flyer). //www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkGtMGs-k3Q After that, it came out on video & you used to be able to pick up copies of the video version over here for around a quid (I have 3 or 4 copies of it here somewhere). There have been projects started to film versions of the lives of Otis Redding (Billy Ocean was tipped to play Otis at one stage) and the finished articles on Ike & Tina Turner, the Supremes (disguised under another group name & titled DREAM GIRLS), James Brown, etc. //www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2pdkjTB040 Also documentary type efforts about Reffa, the Funk Brothers, the Wrecking Crew, Nina Simone, etc. Lots of short clips of soul acts included in films about other subjects, topics (Mary Love being one to get featured in DOLOMITE, along with Arthur Wright's Soul Rebellion Orch). >> //www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYM0XJT28V0 Mary Love from the movie soundtrack (think she's featured singing it live on a club's stage in the actual movie) .. //www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jBf3jl6aNw Soul stars have appeared in many films in playing fictional roles as A.N.Other (Whitney, Beyonce, etc.).

There have (supposedly) been two documentary teams working on making TV progs about Roy Tempest and his activities in the 60's. The results of both teams efforts should have been out by now. Roy started off as a fully legit booker of UK beat groups and visiting US soul & blues acts but changed tack in 1967. He had brought over the likes of Solomon Burke, Spellbinders, Billy Stewart, the Coasters, Edwin Starr, the Vibrations & many more. From then he realised he could book New York based soul groups quite cheaply, fly them to the UK for next to nothing and book them on UK tours under false names. So we got the Original Drifters (Invitations) Fabulous Temptations (Velours), Fabulous Marvelettes (Gypsies), Isley Bros (Diplomats), Original Impressions (Topics), Fabulous Platters (Steinways), Fantastic Little Anthony & Imperials (The Puzzles), etc. He then got even more greedy & started passing off US & UK based fakes as solo artists such as Chuck Jackson, Carla Thomas, James Brown Jnr, etc. I was contacted in the past by members of both documentary teams & led to believe their projects would have been ready for screening before now. Alice Rose Popplewell & Adam Glenn were the last folk to get in touch with me. There questions started about a year ago & ended around 9 months ago (when I was led to believe they had just about everything they needed. Last summer, I was told they were about to head out to the US to interview some of the surviving group members who were involved with Roy back in 67/68/69.

The Younghearts, New Younghearts & Kings of Hearts are all, in a way, the same group. BUT THEY DIDN'T HAVE THE SAME MEMBERS ... The Younghearts manager (probably Booby Sanders) was a bit ruthless & used to screw the group members over money on a regular basis. So when a member would get tired of this he'd quit the group, sometimes all the members would quit at the same time. Bobby wasn't bothered, he'd just find a different group, sign em, rename em and a few days later the Younghearts, NYH or KofH would be back on the road undertaking the groups bookings. Bobby Sanders and Charles Ingersoll had started out at the beginning of the 60's in the LA group, the Extremes. I seem to recall, Al Boyd telling me that after he'd relocated to LA, the Imperial Wonders were even a set of Younghearts for a few days. The Imperial Wonders from Cleveland were hired by Bobby to become the group after Ron Preyer & his guys went their own way. Bobby told the Imp.W that the original group had split up, but that a new 45 was due out on them, so he needed new guys to promote the single. But one night, a few days later, both groups were playing shows in clubs on the same LA street. The Imperial Wonders went to meet the 'original group' and when told about their situation, the Imp. Wonder's quit as the Younghearts right there. It was Ron Preyers 4 guy's (which included Charles Ingersoll) who recorded their Minit stuff; Ron then led a trio (that also included Charles Ingersoll & Bobby Solomon) on the 20th Century stuff. The New Younghearts were 4 totally different guys & included Mark Putney in their line-up. Richard Dimples Fields was lead singer with one set of Younghearts. Many other guys were used on other of the recordings credited to the group under their 3 different names, others were in 'live' versions of the groups.

Some one off soul events across the midlands; there were similar promotions staged in Spalding & another in Nottingham (@ a footie ground I think) ... think the Sherwood Rooms ad was a bit misleading as they describe James & Booby Purify as being a T/Motown act and say the same about the Fab Isley Brothers (who were really Sam, Erv & Tom aka the Diplomats).

No, with regard to the Isleys unreleased Motown stuff, it was definitely the UK that spearheaded those first escaping from the vaults. So I'd say Dave Godin & Sharon Davis are very much in the frame as the people to thank. With Isley Brothers tracks doing so well (commercially) in the UK in 1969, equally it could just have been a EMI staffer who was on their Motown team. Later on, in the early 80's, I knew a guy who worked on the UK Motown team -- he said cassettes of loads of old Motown tracks were handed out to everyone on the team. Folk would play them when they had nothing else to do & put forward suggestions for possible releases.

Kettering it is then ...

Motown's Ralph Terrana tells me that we have Fran Heard to thank for saving all the old US master tapes. Under Fran's stewardship the library was run really well, being the most successful department in the Creative Division. She oversaw the transporting of Motown's extensive library of tape, multi-track and masters to LA it seems. Of course, most of the Isley's master tapes must have been requested by EMI ahead of Detroit being abandoned by Motown in 1972. Motown's home in LA (how it looks these days) ...

Lived in Northampton for a while (had Lou Ragland as a house guest while there). Back in the 60's / 70's it had a thriving mod / soul scene but that had all gone by the time I got there (apart from the Detroit Academicals Soul Club dos) ... Seem to recall becoming pally with a guy from N'ton at the Nite Owl -- Mick Murphy. Lots of R&B / soul venues there in the 60's. The Maple Ballroom had many top UK acts on (Animals, Who, etc.) in the mid 60's. Later on it staged soul disco nights with pirate radio stn DJ's starring & it ran the White Bicycle club style nights.. My memory may be playing tricks on me (I'm an ol' gibba) but I seem to recall a soul weekender being staged at Billing Aquadrome Caravan Park (near Earls Barton) about 25 years ago. Then there were the Northampton Soul Weekenders in the town centre that featured live acts (Impressions, Chris Clark, Falcons, etc.). Went to a couple of those.

A couple of mates of mine found their way into a UK store that stocked such additives way back in the day. They came away with bag loads of stuff. So much in fact, that if they were bored & had nothing else to do, they'd partake of some of the product even on midweek nights when there was no where at all to go.

Would love to see a couple of the Frollicking Kneecap ads. No doubt Ady would too, as he used to attend the sessions there. I have started & added to similar threads (on here) in the past about London 60's clubs, the Mojo Club, Nite Owl Club, etc. I have quite a few ads for similar clubs located right across the UK.

Asking a similar question in the past, was told Sharon Davis was always going on about such things in the ears of EMI staffers.

Anyone know who it was at EMI that decided it would be worth while asking the LA Motown office to send over copies of every Isley Brothers track recorded while they were signed to the label. It must have been the 1st case of serious 'vaulted track trawling' to have been undertaken on any soul or Motown act. Of course, years down the line, scouring the 'unissued cuts' vault for 'lost gems' became an everyday practise. With Motown's mass withdrawal from Detroit & the shipping of many 'things of value' to California, it's lucky ALL the old master-tapes were included. So much was just junked & left to rot in the Detroit buildings that the company had used ahead of the move. When ABC's tape vault storage facility was deemed 'too full' and company execs instructed staff to 'free up space' for newly recorded tapes ... the tape facilities staff's solution was just to throw away every tape of 'unissued tracks' (which it was obvious to them, would never be of any value). That's the reason why we've never got to enjoy listening to any 'vaulted ABC tracks' in the 50 years since it happened.

Muddying the water here (as not Midlands related) ... but it's a pity more venues didn't get celebrated in the way this club (located to the north of Yorkshire) was immortalised ...

The Charlie Thomas's Drifters 45 escaped in the UK as well as in the US ... As you can see from the ad; Charlie's group were deemed (by record company PR guys at least) as being the 'real' group in 1974.

Thanks for that info / link ... so it was B&S #19 ... £57. I guess my early editions of the mag (still in VG+ condition) are now each worth more than most of the individual records I have in my collection then (having well over 15,000 records, mostly soul, very many easy to obtain items).

Which edition of B&S went for £57 -- a quite early one I guess. Think my collection starts at around #13.

We in the UK always viewed the Johnny Moore led group as being the real Drifters but as that group spent all it's time in the UK, US audiences / fans had to look elsewhere. Johnny Moore had joined the Atlantic Recs group (from Cleveland's the Hornets) in 1955. He had to go into the military so left the group, only to return as lead singer in 64. He then brought his version of the group over to live in the UK in the early 70's and they remained here right through the 70's & into the 80's. Johnny then hired his own 'new' set of Drifters and he & they stayed in the UK till his death at the end of 1998. But that meant that from around 1973, that group weren't available to fulfil US engagements.,So numerous other versions of the group took the place of Johnny Moore's guys. Charlie Thomas had quit the Atlantic group in 1967 (he'd become a Drifter in 58). He started his own version of the Drifters in the US around 1973 and they cut for Musicor in 74. Charles 'Don' Thomas joined the Atlantic group in 69 and was with them till the group fell apart in 1970. Don Thomas then re-joined a set of Drifters in 1978 and at one point (80's), Charlie Thomas became a member of that same outfit (see photo). Charlie passed in late January this year, just a few weeks after Don had passed.

There are a few books out there but they don't cover the whole geographic area. Of course there are books about the bigger / later venues -- Casino, Wheel, Mojo & the 60's London scene. There's also book that's mainly about the mod /soul scene in Leicester in the 60's ('High Flying Around'). There are web sites for the Blue Moon in Cheltenham & for the Dungeon in Nottingham. There used to be (& may still be) a web site about the Dunstable California Rooms. I seem to recall a book about the Gliderdrome in Boston. Leicester council staged an exhibition a couple of years ago about the mod / soul scene in the city in the 60's, this being staged in the local museum. There has been a decent newspaper article about the Catacombs. Nothing I know about to do with any 60's scenes in Northampton or that general area., Same situation for Mkt Harboro, Peterboro & Lincoln. I guess there has to be a book about the R&B / mod / soul scene in 60's Birmingham, but I don't know the details. There is an article about Brum in the 60's on the RETROWOW web site but that deals with everything; architecture, shops as well as clubs, etc.

Charles Thomas had to become Don Thomas when he joined the Drifters in 69 as a long standing member by the name of Charlie Thomas had only recently left the group. So as not to confuse fans, Charles became Don. He was on their 69 recordings, released by Atlantic in 70.

A totally differnt guy, as was established at the time the 'You're The One' album became popular.