Roburt

Back in 82/83, I used to do some work for Move Records out of Edinburger ... They were always being sent indie soul 45's by US outfits wanting a UK licensing deal. Can't remember the other label involved, but there was a popular US 45 about at the time with a label featuring a sunset type scene. Imagine my surprise when Alan sent me copies of 2 new US 45's on the Balt based BEVNIK label. They used the exact same label scene on their singles ...

thread amended (due to my brain being switched off when I originally posted) .. HAMBURG ...

Just a quick heads up for anyone attending the Hamburg Soul Weekender at the start of October. Rudy's film is being screened there (it's mainland Europe debut), so don't miss it if you will be there.

Got loads of stuff on the Cheetah, I've posted bits of it up here in the past. I'm on the move at present (on a cruise), so I'm away from my stuff ... AND only have intermittant access to the net (the charges on the ship are astronomical) ... but if my memory ain't playing tricks on me ... Soul Congress / the Crow were the house band at the club in the late 60's (right up to the time they cut YOUR AUTUMN OF TOMORROW). ...

Another very sad loss for us & the soul world in general. Back when I was a member of the Prestatyn team, I took Don & Lou Pride for a day out in Liverpool. Lou & his manager wanted to do all the Beatles stuff, so went off to the museums. Don wasn't bothered, so I spent lots of time chatting with him till the other 2 had finished. He talked a lot about leaving the biz in the late 60's / early 70's and getting into the building trade. He won a job for Curtis Mayfield & Curtis liked him so much (Don was a real gent) that Curtis persuaded him to become his tour manager. So Don spent months on the road with Curtis & his musicians. He (Don) told me a good few great stories from those times, including how Curtis would go about writing a song (some came instantly to him, others would take months to complete).

Lots of times, musicians gave backing tracks to radio DJ's to use as their theme tunes ... or just to butter them up ... letting them put their name on an old instrumental track in the hope they'd get in their good books & the DJ would then play your next record. . . . . Artists would also do 'free' live shows for certain top radio DJ's ... ... these shows would be advertised as .... 'CERTAIN DJ' (say HOT ROD or FAT DADDY) hosts big gala night of stars ... .... the DJ would then pocket all the ticket money.

The Hot version of the above song from 1977 (I've also got Rudy Love's version here but it ain't up on Youtube ... A few solo cuts by Gwen Owens, cut at the same time & in the same Muscle Shoals studio, escaped on the BBC Radioplay album 'RULER OF THE HUNT'.

So the label was owned & run by Gene Redd. That makes sense as he was recording with Earl Bostic for King from the early 50's and then working directly for King from the late 50's into the 60's. Dayton is just up the road from Cincinatti (King's HQ). He got into production work in the mid 60's and he was also a major player at Musicor at the same time. He had moved on to De-Lite by the end of the decade and enjoyed much success there. Guess Redbug was the first time he dipped his toes into record label admin duties.

A few Sth American Stevie Wonder 7"ers ...

Pruter says Maurice Jackson owned & ran Maurci.

Loads of different Maurci label designs up on 45cat ... https://www.45cat.com/label/maurci Almost nothing about the label in Pruter's CHICAGO SOUL bible. Strange as he loved the local labels that operated in the 60's.

The track that introduced me to the man back around 64 -- ANY DAY NOW.

AND OF COURSE ... KGFJ DJ in the mid 60's Magnificent Montague was involved with the Packers recordings AND wasn't he also heavily involved in Magnificent Records.

The Manhattans made a decent stab at this song ... but the earlier versions by (Gwen Owens &) Hot plus the original demo by Rudy Love are better still ..

Rudy's dad sang this mod classic. Rudy will be singing his own version (as a tribute) on his UK show ...

KGFJ had a team of old DJ's in 66 ... they were replaced shortly afterwards by a mainly different bunch of guys (see 1968 line-up below).

Nothing really concrete from my end, just a few bits of info ... Magnum obviously had loose ties with another couple of LA labels; Mutt & Jeff . . plus . . . Wonder At least two guys involved with stuff on the label were 'connected' on the LA music scene ........ 1/ ELLIOT CHAVERS (who recorded as Elliot Shavers) ... he wrote for & arranged / produced some LA studio sessions .. earlier he had a R&B cut released on Zan-Dan in the US in 63 which was flipped over (B side becoming A) on it's Aussie release. The track was retitled as "Surfies Stomp" and this created quite a stir 'down under' as the 1st surf record to be released in the country (don't ask me how that happened, I have no idea). Elliot was associated (on & off) with Magnum for about 4 years 2 / JIMMY JOHNSON (& his band). He was involved with at least 7 Magnum releases ... either up-front or backing up / producing the likes of Johnny Wyatt. He ran his own recording studio in Watts, so I guess quite a bit of the Magnum stuff would have been cut there. So either Jimmy & / or Elliot could have been involved in the ownership or running of the labels ... but that's just my speculation.

In the summer of 1970, Leroy & the Drivers were getting some action with this Duo 45 ...

There were some interesting cuts included on the BBC Radioplay album releases (especially in the 80's) ... ... trying to getting hold of copies of the best ones is a difficult task these days though ...

Rudy Love & his band will be in the UK (& available for live show bookings) between Wednesday 26th September and Tuesday 2nd October (except Sat 29th Sept of course). Any venue within easy travel distance of London would be considered. I know it's pretty short notice but the maker of Rudy's film, John Alexander, will be in the UK on September 5th. So he will be easily contactable to sort out all the details.

Back in the 50's, radio was still the main form of home entertainment. Many US radio stns broadcast plays or dramatic / soap type dramas. Others hosted live musicians in their studios (lots of early doo-wop / blues / R&B tracks were cut in radio stn studios before being put onto records). Lots of stns were owned by the same big corporations (RCA, etc.), so to cut down on unnecessary expense, some music shows staged at one radio stn would be recorded, transferred to record and then sent around a number of their radio stns in different cities. Thus, jazz, blues & other forms of music would end up on transmission discs. I've picked up a few blues, R&B & jazz oones down the years. Curiosities they may be, but I like em (keep meaning to frame a couple up & hang em on the record room wall).

John Alexander (the film maker) has expressed a strong interest in getting the documentary about Rudy Love (80 minutes duration) screened at a UK soul weekender & at a couple of Euro based soul weekenders. He can supply a copy of it in DVD format or via an online link or as a mp4 file. If anyone out there would be interested in this proposal PM me or drop an e-mail direct to John ... johnalexander@post.harvard.edu Old dvd's put together by Rudy in the past ...

Morris Levy & Roulettes close connections to the mob have been well known since the 60's, he really was a piece of work. Guess the HBO tv show will be well worth watching. It's a good thing they decided to host that concert at that location east of DC as nearer to DC are the two top 60's black music venues (Carr's Beach / Sparrow's Beach). If they had used those places, the likes of Rufus Mitchell & the Ru-Jac team could well have ended up the same way (fortunate they had largely fallen out of use in the early 70's).

So it now seems that the Emeralds (from Ohio) became Lee Roye & the Emeralds (Redbug) who morphed into Leroy Jones & His Band (Spar / Hit) before becoming Leroy & the Drivers ... seems a detailed study on this outfit needs to be done by a Ohio / Nashville / Chicago soul freak ... BUT it also seems likely that they were a different outfit to Ohio based Luther Bond & the Emeralds (1950's thru to 1960) and the Emeralds on King (1967) ... . . . . lifted from discogs ... The Emeralds got together in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio during the spring of 1953. The members of the group were lead singer Luther Bond, baritone Will Miller, tenor voices Charles Godfrey and Cedric Cox, and bass Clyde Giles. As they worked on their harmony and stage presence, they were encouraged to try their hand at area amateur shows. These talent promotions were quite common in the early n nineteen fifties and were the route that opened the door for so many of the vocal groups trying to make their way to fame and fortune. Soon they had themselves a manager who was a local radio personality named Ernie Waits. He searched around looking for a chance for the new vocal group to have an opportunity to record and soon they hit paydirt with the Savoy Record Company located in Newark, New Jersey. The group was signed to the label by Fred Mendelsohn the A & R chief for Savoy. A short time after New Year's Say in 1954, The Emeralds gathered in their home town for a session with the label. With some session musicians (Russ Hampton, Edwin Conley, Wilbur Jackson, and Charles Montgomery) they recorded the songs "See What You Done" and "What If You" on # 1124. The record was listed as by Luther Bond "And His Emeralds". By March the trade papers have good sales figures for the record in the label's home of Newark, and a testimonial by "Moondog" Freed from Cleveland. In June of the year Savoy releases two songs from the January session - "You Were My Love" and "Starlight, Starbright" on Savoy # 1131. Luther Bond & The Emeralds appear at a big show and picnic outing held by radio station WNJR in Newark on July 4th. Later in July "You Were My Love" is named a pick hit of the week in the group's home town of Cincinnati. The group made a number of appearances for the rest of the year in support of their two recordings. The group had another recording session for the label in late March of 1955, again in Cincinnati. By this time Wardell Fallon had replaced Charles Godfrey with the group. "It's Written In The Stars" and "I Won't Believe You Anymore" were released by Savoy on # 1159. Two other tunes were recorded - "I'll Love Again" and "Chicka-Lee" but were never issued. All the songs were written by Luther Bond. "It's Written In The Stars" was one of the true stylistic songs of the time that demonstrated the sound that was so popular then, and remains so today for so many. During the summer Savoy Records highlights the group and their record in the music trade press. It was interesting to see that in one ad the group was identified as "Luther Bond's Emeralds", and in the other as for the record, the vocal performance was listed as by "Luther Bond" (no group). This could have been a possible reason for the break up of the group by the end of the year. By the beginning of the new year (1956) Luther Bond had put together a new group of Emeralds consisting of John Johnson, Willie King, and Robert Trice. John McGue was the group's accompanist on guitar. This time they scored a recording deal with home town company Federal Records. In September of 1956 Luther Bond & The Emeralds recorded "I Cry" and "He Loves You Baby" on Federal # 12279. By November it was a pick hit in the trade press especially in Cincinnati. The record however never really took off and The Emeralds receded into R & B oblivion - for a couple of years anyway. After sporadic live appearances and recording sessions that failed to materialize, the group gave it one more shot. In the summer of 1959, Luther Bond & The Emeralds hooked up with Showboat Records based in Nashville, Tennessee. This label was in partnership with New York based Apollo Records and recorded the group with the tunes "Gold Will Never Do" and "Jitterbug Jamboree" on Showboat # 1501. The record got initial airplay in the cities of Nashville and Memphis, but sales went flat and did not get national attention. In November Federal Records released two songs by the group that had been held in the can for two years. The songs "Old Mother Nature" and "Six Foot Hole" were released on # 12368. Not helping the group's attempt at resurrecting their career, Ray Scrivener was involved in selling off his Republic Records label and also buying out his share of Showboat Records from Apollo. The group had one more recording session that resulted in "Someone To Love Me" and "Should I Love You So Much" on Showboat # 1505 in early 1960. Soon after that record also failed to get much attention, Luther Bond & The Emeralds called it quits. So they faded into history as another R & B vocal group that remained on the periphery of the musical scene, but contributed to that very history that they so much wanted to become a greater part of. Unfortunately Luther Bond passed away in 1979, but the awesome sound of "It's Written In The Stars" will live on as long as there are admirers of this musical style. ALSO SEE REDBUG THREAD ON LOOK IN YOUR BOX

Leroy & the Drivers in 67 ... see 45 scan below ... So if (as seems highly likely) Lee Roye & the Emeralds became Leroy Jones & Band before they were Leroy & the Drivers, then that outfit's musical history is pretty much tied down from 1961-ish thru to the early 70's ... BTW, the Lee Roye & the Emeralds concert seems to be from 1964, so he was operating as Leroy Jones & Band + Lee Roye & the Emeralds over the same time period. . . . HOWEVER ... the guy who is listed as writing some of Leroy & the Drivers songs is Leroy Smith ... so it all gets quite muddy (I'm assuming that maybe Leroy Smith was the name Leroy Jones used for his song writing works).