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I've just uploaded my interview from 1998. Louvain talked about recording in Chicago, with Bobbie Smith and at Golden World and Correc-Tone, and of course Motown with The Rayber Voice, then The Andantes.

I haven't heard back from Louvain and decided to put the interview on YouTube -- I'll post a new thread about that.

Thanks for letting me know. I'm not sure why I don't think of this before, but I've reached out to Louvain. I'll let you know if/when I hear back from her.

Hopefully he sees this thread. The name doesn't mean a thing to me, but it sounds like The Andantes went to Chicago a few times at Al's request.

Thanks, Robb. Any idea who Al is - the guy Louvain mentioned?

Thanks - I didn't know. Funnily enough, I was just looking through the VeeJay listing and trying to guess which song they may have sung on. I listened to a few Jerry Butler recordings, but not that one! Luvain said Mary Wilson (Supremes) joined them.

Yes - Louvain talks about how angry she was when Motown left for LA. She only found out the day they actually left. Hopefully I can get the interview edited fairly soon and uploaded to YouTube.

Thanks Louvaine also mentioned recording for Abner (at VeeJay) in Chicago. She said Pat Lewis joined them on various sessions - especially after 65-ish when Motown said they didn't want the three women to do sessions for anyone else. I'm not sure Louvaine was on that Jackie Wilson LP, as she said that she complied. I'm not sure what they/she sang on at VeeJay.

Here's a short clip of an interview with Louvaine Demps - one of The Andantes. She mentions going to Chicago to record for a guy named (what sounds like) Al Trevishaw. Do you know anything about Al and the recordings he was involved in? Any info' would be very much appreciated. Chicago Andantes.mp3

It's highly likely Bob is the B Thomas, but who he is/was is another mystery.

Sorry - I didn't construct my post very well, Robb. I think the writer could be Fred Brown, but he never sang, so that makes me wonder if the 'other' guy singing simply overdubbed himself - the two voices sound very similar. I've not traced any of Fred Brown's writing credits in BMI, which is strange. You can see on record labels that he wrote songs with Joe Hunter and J.J. Barnes.

I've often wondered who Bob and Fred were. I've a feeling that it could be just one singer who overdubbed himself, and yes, I know there are two songwriters listed. The F Brown isn't the one (Fred Brown) who discovered J. J . Barnes and had Kable and Mickay's etc.

I do have one interview from around 1998 that's on cassette tape (these two interviews were done on a mini-disc recorder). There's not much on it that would add to what's covered, but I feel there may be more interview material somewhere which may surface when I go through other discs. I recall subjects we talked about (Marv Johnson springs to mind) that are not on the two interviews included in this video, but maybe I just didn't record those chats. I met Ron numerous times.

Thanks to all for the positive feedback. I think these interviews I did need to be heard and saved.

I've just uploaded this interview with Ron, who knew his stuff...

I hope to get it done this month. It'll be quite a long one as I interviewed Ron a few times - and as you know, he knew a lot.

I'm now editing one with Ron Murphy, who was a recording engineer as well as a very knowledgeable collector of Detroit 45s.

Yes, I did wonder about a family connection, but Will was sure there wasn't one. I think Roger may have claimed one, but that may have been to ride on Edwin Starr's popularity. I remember asking Jim Holland (Four Hollidays) if he was connected to Eddie and Brian and he said that he once claimed to be a cousin, but there was actually no family connectuion. I'd wondered what to do with the Richard Becker interview - it was relatively short - and this was a good opporunity to use it.

I've now done this one with Will and put it on YouTube. It also included a short intervew wih Richard Becker, who owned PAC 3...

Cheers, Robb - I had a photo of Jay issued by Abbott Records, but sold it years ago. The only scan I have is the one I used on ebay, which I'd obscured... the high-res scan got lost somewhere on my hard drive. Shame. Here's the one that sold on eBay...

This interview was done well over 20 years ago, but hopefully there's something you didn't know. Did you talk to anyone, like Fab, when you wrote the article? I didn't cover the last 45 (?) the group had on the Me-O label as Fab had left by then.

I've just about finished editing an interview with Will Hatcher - I want to check something before putting on YouTube.

The interview spans quite a bit...

There may be a 8783, but Fab and Jay said they never recorded a song like that, so I reckon it doesn't exist - as Tom mentioned earlier. From what people have said, Diamond Jim was not the librarrian type and no doubt his filing system was far from 100 percent right.