jukeboxgeorge

Here is a 1963 Mackenzie HS (Detroit) yearbook photo of Patricia C. Gilmore. It resembles the 2024 photo posted by Blackpoolsoul. The April 1950 US Census has Priscilla Gilmore age 6 living with her parents Charles & Dorothy and younger brothers Gregory age 3 and Dennis age 2. All family members were born in Michigan. Priscilla Page's sole songwriting credit was on Topper 1010, and the 1965 copyright registration indicates she was living in Detroit at 7425 Wetherby St. There was a story in the Michigan Chronicle 4/4/1964 about Gregory Gilmore age 17 also living at this address. There were a couple of ads for Priscilla Page (one as Paige) performing in Detroit in 1965 & 1966. Priscilla Price was born in Edwight, West Virginia. She was first advertised in the Michigan Chronicle in December 1972. As noted above, Priscilla Price is a different artist.

Many thanks for the replies so far. Jack Taylor of Rojac did have a connection to Detroit, dying there in 1985. Born in the South, Jack was in NYC from the late 1950s and detoured to Virginia circa 1960-1962 (Wilbert Harrison on Doc 1001) before starting Rojac in NYC in 1963. His entities were often named from parts of his name coupled with an associate (He's jac in Rojac, and Robert D. Roberts, named in an ad for Doc 1001, might be the Ro) and later Tay-ster (Tay from Taylor, ster from Claude Sterrett). So it's possible that he and the mysterious partner named Turner had a hand in the Detroit Sound 45, though with Rojac already in business it's hard to explain why he would have done this. There was also no split publishing on either the Detroit Sound or the Tay 45, with both crediting Love Note / Lovenote and a member of the Brooks Bros. as songwriter; label owners in the 1960s were experts at getting their publishers credited on 45s. At this point it seems that the 2015 comment "Jack Taylor-owned Detroit Sound" did not come from a discussion with a Detroit music expert on the Soulful Detroit website. We still don't know who Taylor and Turner were. As to The Sequins: unfortunately there are few mentions in The Michigan Chronicle newspaper. The InDangerousRhythm blog has a comment that Virginia Gray was an original member, which if correct might be for this 1964 release. The promo photos of this trio seem to be from 1967-1969, not from 1964. Gary Rubin of Pioneer Recording posted on Discogs that this Detroit Sound 45 may have been done at his studio. Does anyone have a copy of his massive and expensive book, Big Dreams and the Detroit Record Business? He hasn't replied to my e-mail. Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Dreams-Detroit-Record-Business/dp/1667883127

A question about the 2015 comment "The Jack Taylor-owned 'Detroit Sound'." I searched the Soulful Detroit website and couldn't locate any discussion. There is a 2010 comment which says: "It would be really nice to have some more details about Taylor and Turner. I thought there might be a connection with Dr Kyle, but there wasn't. I also spoke to the Brooks brothers involved on the TAY 45, but they couldn't recall who Taylor or Turner were." (Found here: https://soulfuldetroit.com/archive/index.php/t-708.html) There is also a link to this blog which says: "There have been suggestions that J. Taylor was the New York record producer but I think that is doubtful." (Found here: https://indangerousrhythm.blogspot.com/2006/12/sequins-hes-gonna-break-your-heart.html) Did the discussion suggest that Jack Taylor of Rojac involved with these two 45s? He seemed to be busy in NYC to put out a couple of 45s on labels with a Detroit address. Or was it a different Jack Taylor?

Ruppli's Mercury discography includes two unissued songs by Jimmy Reed Jr. from the same session: 1-40318 I'm in love with you 1-40321 Only in time In addition, Jimmy Reed Jr. filed copyrights on two other songs at the same time the two songs on the Mercury 45 had copyright filings. There were: Heartaches And Troubles Got Nowhere To Go (co-written by Al Smith; different from the Johnson / Collier song) Perhaps someone with access to Ruppli's Mercury discography can check to see if there was another recording session.

The image provides her correct name (Mary Ann)_and date of birth (1947), not 1950 as often seen on other websites. Despite living in The Bronx for decades, she may have never performed in NYC.

There were no copyright filings for any of the songs. None of the songs appear on Songview (BMI). Gene Redd does not have any other songs written with B. Moore, who might have been a member of this group, or with J. Hightower. No one has added a comment on any YouTube clip. There is one mention in Record World, but otherwise the music publications did not mention this group or its releases.

Unfortunately Bobby Harris had to cancel his appearance, and the concert went on without him.

Based on Copyright filings, Duke Hall = Robert Lewis Hall, born in Mississippi 7 Dec 1939, died in California 13 Jul 1993

22 June 2024 8PM at Brooklyn Bowl (Brooklyn, NY): Eli Paperboy Reed's Soul Revue w/ Special Guests Harlem Gospel Travelers and soul legend Bobby Harris, with support from Bobby Harden & The Soulful Saints. Eli connected with Bobby Harris earlier this year. This will be Bobby Harris' first performance in NYC in about 10 years. Bobby was also a member of The Harrison Brothers (with his brother Jim). He has also recorded as Rod Harris and the X-Cels. Details: https://www.brooklynbowl.com/brooklyn/events/detail/eli-paperboy-reed-s-soul-revue-k7vgfba6b09cj Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elipaperboyreed/p/C4WEZgFuWoF/

Some of the members used their middle names. George Edward Britt 5 March 1944 - 26 July 2009 (not 100% certain that this is the same George Britt) George Wendell Payton born 30 July 1941 - possibly living in North Carolina Ellery Kerlin Payton born 8 June 1947 - possibly living in Virginia John Milford Wiggins 27 January 1946 - 4 September 2009 Halsey Demetrius Payton 22 January 1944 - December 1992 (obituary published 15 December 1992) Photos and other information are here: http://doo-wop.blogg.org/royal-robins-c29076892

Thanks for the info, Kevin. Here's a story that Bettye might remember, printed in Michigan Chronicle 16 May 1964 page B1, about the 12th Annual Spring Dance at the Latin Quarter, organized by a group of Detroit business and professional men known as The King's Men. The entertainment included comedian Tina Dixon; James Hargrove (sic) & Lafayette Vaughn as "Silk and Satin;" dancers; and, by audience demand, Betty Lavette. See uploaded newspaper clip. (Perhaps the song referenced was Mr. Two-Gun Pete by Jack Cooley from 1950. There is no other info about Lafayette Vaughn, so maybe this name was not spelled correctly.) Ancestry.com records confirm the 1972 death date; no cause stated. Military records show his birth date on 8 September 1940. He served in the Air Force from 15 August 1960 to 13 September 1963. His mother, Mamie Woods of Cincinnati, signed the 1972 request for the Veteran's cemetery headstone. Curiously, in the 1942 Cincinnati City Directory, James E Hargrave & wife Mamie Hargrave were living at 804 West 9th St. The 1949 & 1952 City Directories have James Hargrove (sic) at this address. The 1950 Census (family name spelled Horgrove by the Census-taker) shows that he was an only child. In the City Directories starting in 1953 until at least 1959, James Woods & Mamie Woods were living at the same address, 804 West 9th St. It's difficult to understand why there was a change in the family name. There was a 1961 Copyright for "Teardrops" filed by James Hargrave, Jr. In doing research there are many songs with Copyright filings that were never recorded, and since lead sheets are available at the Library of Congress / Copyright Office, I hope that a singer and producer will search for these, find some that look interesting, and record them. (There was also a 1959 Copyright filed by James Hargrove II, presumably not Silky, but the filing would need to be reviewed.) My first post in January, with a 1968 newspaper story and photo that mentioned "Cold World" as Silky's latest recording and a big hit, was the final mention of Silky in Michigan Chronicle. This and another song, "The Tables Turned On You" - both co-written by the mysterious Tina Love - had Copyright filings toward the end of 1967, when Copyrights were filed for the two songs on Silky's Dearborn 45. Anyone know more about these tracks?

Here is a photo from the same paper 22 February 1964 including Silky, Ster-phonics (Sterophonics), Dwight Turner (Spyder Turner), Little Michael Stokes

Not certain that Silky's father was Bluesman Richard 'Nickel' Hargrave based on the Copyright filing as James Hargraves Jr. The first photo at the top is Silky. Here it is from The Michigan Chronicle 28 December 1968.

Sandra Phillips (Sandra Reaves-Phillips) R.I.P. (1944-2023) View full article

Although this topic has endured for a dozen years, it may be worth another look. A YouTube for Ward Burton - Sweet Temptation has replies by the songwriter @willhammond5265 (look under @thegreatmarkjohnson 11 years ago) here: https://www.youtube <dot> com/watch?v=nf45rvjoaLo "Martha Starr and Cressa Watson are the same. It's the same record with just a different artist name. I don't know where the Cressa Watson thing came from, but listen closely and you will hear they are exactly the same. I actually gave her (Carolyn Sullivan) the name "Martha Starr." I wrote and produced both the Martha Starr and Ward Burton versions..... but have no idea why the Cressa version came about. Just crooked "hanky panky" stuff that goes on in the record business. There is NO Cressa Watson." Note that this comment refers to Cressa, not Cresa. More importantly, it suggests that Martha Starr - spelled with two Rs - is Carolyn Sullivan, who recorded on Charay and then on Soft (also picked up by Philips). Although there isn't an exact data on this Martha Starr 45, Will Hammond filed the copyright for Sweet Temptation on 13 April 1965. Also note Chalky's comment about her sister Martha Star posted June 30, 2011: "In 1964 Martha went to Michigan..." This would indicate that Martha Star was not in South Carolina when Martha Starr recorded. There is also no mention by the sister of recording with Moses Dillard in 1971. In addition, Carolyn Sullivan's 45 on Soft / Philips was arranged by Moses Dillard, and Moses Dillard also recorded with Martha Starr on Awake (also released on Shout). There's also a comment by Joe Huffman (who co-wrote "Dead" with Moses Dillard): “I remember Moses Dillard brought in this one girl, Carolyn Sullivan. He said she had a great voice but he didn’t really have a song for her. Well, he started pumping on this thing on the organ, this rhythmic thing and I spewed out some words. About fifteen minutes later we had a song. We were working with a guy in Texas and he shot it out and Phillips Records picked it up. It went to number one in San Francisco for like six weeks.” Source: https://markfivearchive <dot> com/2021/01/18/moses-dillard/ These comments seem to indicate that Martha Star on Thelma was not Martha Starr, and that Carolyn Sullivan was Martha Starr.