Discogs also posted his passing.
Besides his great singles, as Al Hamilton he wrote many classic tunes- "Hungry For Love", "Real Humdinger", "Headline News" , "Stop Her On Sight", "You're My Mellow" and many 45's for the Fantastic Four.
R.I.P. Al !!
Both of Terri's 45's were released in 1967. "Geni"/ "When I'm In Your Arms" was reviewed by Cashbox in their April 22 issue. "When..." was a Best Bet and "Geni" received a B+ rating. "Straighten Up and Fly Right" was another Best Bet and was reviewed in the October 7, 1967 issue.
According to the book "Come And Get These Memories", Brian's wife Sharon did have a mother named Dorothy Pierce. But... I can't confirm that name was used by H/D/H to work outside of Motown.
You might want to tell Johnny "does this for a living" Manship that "Joey Byers" who wrote "Somebody's Always Trying" for Ted Taylor(auction ends 19/05/2021) is actually Joy Byers the wife of Bob Johnston.
No one is perfect- we all make mistakes sometimes.
I've never seen any 45's on the Big D label in Chicago. I did see a couple of the Tempos "Don't Leave Me" in Chicago stores though and a Diamond Jim 45 but I don't remember which one.
I can't say where or how much effort Amy/ Mala/ Bell put into promoting the Big D label but, they did think enough of the label and Mr. Bo to include them in this Cashbox ad from July, 1967.
Most of the Riley's releases got airplay in Detroit and Cleveland. The Tempos "Don't Leave Me" did pick up some airplay in Miami (#37). Major Lance's "You Don't Want Me" also did well on the survey.
I'm not sure about the James Velvet =James Ellis theory.
According to the liner notes of the Ace CD "The Satintones Sing!", James Ellis left the music business after the Satintones split up.
I did some snooping on you tube and someone says Don Oriolo told them the group was from Newark, New Jersey. Another person says this singer was part of the group-
I'm glad you cleared that up- the rest of the records that were mentioned did have some kind of Detroit connection- that one made no sense which is why I posted it. I knew someone would have the answer.