By MEL&THENSOME (195.219.7.61 - 195.219.7.61) on Tuesday, September 17, 2002 - 04:39 pm:

Here we go,once again.As usual any in-put very much appreciated.1/Sugar Pie Desanto was once a featured vocalist with the James Brown review.2/Yvonne Fair made the original of James Browns,I Feel Good,called,I Found You on King records(5594).3/WasWalter Kimble(who played on many big sellers from New Orleans)on Tenor,on Robert Parkers,Barefootin session and not James Edwards.He also claimed that Willie Tee played piano and not Edward Frank.4/Was the very first 4 Tops record called,An Innocent Kiss/Walkin With My Baby released on the Chess subsiduary,Singular records(712).5/Lorraine Ellison cut Stay with Me after Frank Sinatra failed to turn up for a session and she was backed by a 40-piece all white session band.6/Lebaron Taylor was a D.J.on the WCHB radio station.7/R.B.Greaves(a nephew of Sam Cooke)was also known as Sonny Childe.8/Did Leon Huff play the piano on the Cliff Nobles track,The Horse.9/The superb Philly MFSB,Were once rumoured to be,The Fathers Angels who recorded the northern/rare soul biggie instrumental,Bok to Bach.The rumours came about as it was a Jerry Ross production.10/The Impressions were first known as The Roosters.11/The original Impressions featured 2 brothers,Arthur and Richard Brooks.Fred Cash joined when the 2 brothers left,and at one time were in Detroit,if this is correct,are these the Brooks Brothers that recorded on Tay records with Looking for a Woman.12/Was Rick Wakemans first ever session on a record,as the Key board pleyer on Jimmy Thomas's,Beautiful Night.13/Did Martha Reeves and the Vandellas sing as back up on all or most of the recordings on the Fortune LABEL.14/Was the Tenor Jazz saxophonist Harold Ousley(or is)the brother of King Curtis or was it actually King Curtis.

By Mark Speck (65.56.62.211 - 65.56.62.211) on Wednesday, September 18, 2002 - 12:10 am:

#'s 5, 7, 9, and 10 are true, according to various articles I've read.

As for #11, while two brothers named Brooks were indeed in the Impressions, I don't think it's been proven that they were the guys that did "Lookin' for a Woman".

Best,

Mark

By MEL&THENSOME (195.219.7.40 - 195.219.7.40) on Wednesday, September 18, 2002 - 09:33 am:

Cheers Mark,it was a bit of a long shot about the Brooks Brothers,but stranger things have happened.MEL.

By KevGo (12.84.124.108 - 12.84.124.108) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 12:40 am:

KevGo here...Does anybody have any information regarding the Shades of Blue ("Oh How Happy"). Who were the members and are they still around? Did Berry Gordy really buy the rights to "Oh How Happy" & the Impact catalog? I have two compilations with that song and neither one credited Motown or Universal/PolyGram as the owner of the recording. Also, whatever happened to Robin Seymour, who had his own TV show in Detroit. Was he a radio DJ?
Thanks
KevGo

By AH (63.188.32.196 - 63.188.32.196) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 07:23 am:

KevGo, this is not really answering your question but play "Oh How Happy" then the German National Anthem and you'll see where Charles Hatcher (Edwin Starr) got the idea for the music. Hatcher spent time in Germany while serving in the Army. You can find real audio samples of the German national anthem by typing "German National Anthem" in Google or another good search engine.

By MEL&THENSOME (195.219.7.16 - 195.219.7.16) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 09:25 am:

Mein Gut AH,Wass ist all this mein flugenhammer.Deutchland ist Soul,nein,nein,Hande hoch you schwein-hund.MEL(Alias,Herman The German)P.S.Joking aside AH,I Served in the brigade of guards in germany and was glad to get out of the place.

By AH (67.25.177.163 - 67.25.177.163) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 09:34 am:

Really Mel, I've always heard that Germany was cool!

By MEL&THENSOME (195.219.7.16 - 195.219.7.16) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 09:48 am:

AH,Not when your a mean old hairy arsed nasty squaddie its not.Mind you at the time we were on stand-by and preparing for the Falklands conflict,when we suddenly got posted to Munster.So we had a battalion of guardsmen ready for action one minute,then the next its all off and a big chip non everyones shoulder followed us to Germany.I Always remember playing my Northern/Rare soul tapes loud in the barracks and some guys would come in and listen and some would yell obscenities.I Suppose I SAW Germany in the totally wrong eyes as it came at the wrong time.Must add though met some nice women and actually found some nice early Stevie Wonder Import Motown L.P.S Over there.MEL.

By Ralph (209.240.198.62 - 209.240.198.62) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 09:49 am:

Kev,

Motown does not own the Impact catalogue. Harry Balk still owns all the rights to Impact and Gomba Music. Members of the Shades of Blue are still around and I believed some of them posted here on the forum. When Lowell completes the work regarding the new server you could check the archives. The same goes for Robin Seymour. He has posted here and is now living in L. A.

By rmhardin (62.254.0.7 - 62.254.0.7) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 12:06 pm:

Ah, yes - Germany. I have only once paid a visit, for an overnight stay for a TV assignment which involved videotaping interviews with David Broome and Harvey Smith, a five-star hotel, and rather a lot of Schnapps. My memories of that trip are a little vague! (Mein Kopf tut mir Weh....)

By MEL&THEN SOME (195.219.7.76 - 195.219.7.76) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 01:41 pm:

rmhardin,ooh I Say,Tally Ho old Bean,chin,chin.MEL.

By Ritchie (62.254.0.7 - 62.254.0.7) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 01:59 pm:

Danke schoen, Mel. (Sometimes "auto-complete" auto-completes the wrong ID, and I don't realise till it's posted. Same damn thing happened on the Motown board.....)

But, in reply to your fine response...

Would you believe... I once had an email from a guy in Texas that began with "Tally Ho, London!" and ended with "Pip Pip" - obviously trying to make me feel at ease, by using everyday English vocabulary.

Thankful for his kind consideration, I replied in similar vein, beginning my message: "Howdy, pardner! How's life in the Wild West?"

Ritchie (aka rmhardin)

By David Meikle (62.252.128.6 - 62.252.128.6) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 02:17 pm:

Le Baron Taylor worked for WJLB in 1966.

By David Meikle (62.252.128.6 - 62.252.128.6) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 02:32 pm:

Sugar Pie Desanto was with JB briefly in 1961.

Has anyone heard her singing "The one who really loves you"? SENSATIONAL!

This pic in London courtesy Westside.

By David Meikle (62.252.128.6 - 62.252.128.6) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 02:33 pm:

Sorry had probs with scan.

By MEL&THENSOME (195.219.7.97 - 195.219.7.97) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 03:01 pm:

Ritchie,nice one mate,Isuppose we do seem to have that stigma of being portrayed as Hooray Henreys by our American cousins,really funny how you say you replied with the archi-typal,Howdy Pardner.Just had to take 5 there Ritchie,as I cant stop laughing over the Hows life in the wild west.Priceless mate.You should of invited him over and took him on a tour of all the Equestrian Centres and Polo clubs frequented by one and all down the dock road,or then again you could of taken him to Liverpools once famous Dodge City.Must go,I Think Jeeves is ready with my apperratife(if thats correct spelling,then look out Eton)MEL(Studying life on the Gallops).

By MEL&THEN SOME (195.219.7.88 - 195.219.7.88) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 03:25 pm:

David,Ive got this picture of Sugar Pie in a Home of the Blues magazine dated 1966.Also are pics of Patti and the Blue Bells.Pete Lawson got a few blown up for his magazine.Talking of Sugar Pie,I Have heard the side you mention and think it is a good side.I Have a nice genuine Acetate of Do I Make myself Clear and also on an original Pye release.I Bet sugar and Etta James were a handfull out together.Can you shed any light as to a 1961 release on Bob Geddins Label,Geddison(100)called Strange Feeling/A Little Taste Of Soul as to wether the Backing Band was actually Jimmy McCracklin and his Band?Cheers David.MEL.

By David Meikle (62.252.128.6 - 62.252.128.6) on Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 04:02 pm:

Mel

The backing band on ALTOS was the Nat Hendrix Band.

By MEL&THEN SOME (195.219.7.115 - 195.219.7.115) on Friday, September 20, 2002 - 11:51 am:

Thanks David.

By John Rhys (63.198.70.120 - 63.198.70.120) on Sunday, September 29, 2002 - 04:29 pm:

I hate to refute Ralph Terrana's info but regarding the Shades Of Blue and the Impact catalog....Berry Gordy did buy part of the Impact catalog but not all of it; only the pieces that were making money at the time which included "Oh How Happy."
Since Motown bought the record....I have never received one statement or one penny in royalties. So much for Motown's accounting and ethics policies.
Motown has leased the rights to over one hundred compilation releases worldwide and I'm sure that none of the participants except maybe Charles Hatcher have received a penny.

By KevGo (12.84.106.156 - 12.84.106.156) on Sunday, September 29, 2002 - 06:45 pm:

John:
Thank you for the clarification. You may want to approach the folks at Collectables in PA (www.oldies.com). They issued a Shades of Blue anthology in which the licensing credits read "Track 1 (Oh How Happy) licensed courtesy of the Motown Record Company, LP. Remaining tracks licensed courtesy of Harry Balk." Also, "Oh How Happy" was reissued in stereo on a Varese Sarabande collection put together by national radio oldies host Dick Bartley (I forgot the name of the CD but it's still in print). You may want to go on Varese's website or Dick Bartley's for more information (surf Yahoo! for their URL's).
Good luck and let's get these legends paid.
Regards,
KevGo

By Ralph (209.240.198.62 - 209.240.198.62) on Sunday, September 29, 2002 - 08:31 pm:

John,
Thanks for setting the record straight with me. I had no idea. I suppose under the current Motown regime there is no hope of you ever seeing any royalties.

By KevGo (12.84.107.61 - 12.84.107.61) on Sunday, September 29, 2002 - 11:52 pm:

John:
Harry Weinger, the VP of Catalog for Universal Music Group (he oversees the Motown vault and produces reissues) is a frequent contributor to this forum. You may want to approach him as to what the hell's going on with the Shades of Blue royalties. He's very sympathetic to the plight legends face and may be of some help. I forgot his email address but he recently contributed his two cents in the Standing in the Shadows segment of the SD Forum. You may want to log onto that section and reach out to him.

Good luck,
KevGo

By Davie Gordon (193.122.21.34 - 193.122.21.34) on Monday, September 30, 2002 - 07:01 am:

Kev,

Harry Weinger has nothing to do with the Shades
of Blue. They recorded for Harry Balk's Impact
label which he ran before joining Motown. Harry
retained ownership of Impact - the Impact masters
are not Motown properties.

By Davie Gordon (193.122.21.34 - 193.122.21.34) on Monday, September 30, 2002 - 07:07 am:

Foot in mouth time - I should have read John Rhys'
post before putting in my two cents worth.

"Oh How Happy" cropped up some years ago on a Charly CD which I'm sure credited the copyright on
the track to one of Harry Balk's companies.

Maybe when Balk did his deal with Motown it was
just the publishing they bought and not the actual tracks - they've certainly never reissued
any Impact or Volcano material themselves

By KevGo (12.84.110.249 - 12.84.110.249) on Tuesday, October 01, 2002 - 03:27 am:

Davie:
As I indicated to John Ryhs I have the Collectables CD of the Shades of Blue's material in which the master licensing was credited to Motown Records for "Oh How Happy" and the remainder was credited to Harry Balk. The next time you visit an oldies section in Tower Records or order it online (www.oldies.com) you will see the info yourself.
As for Harry Weinger, he's been a dear colleague and friend for over six years and I've asked him about reissuing the masters of the Wingate family of labels as well as the Shades of Blue recordings (if not on Motown then another Universal-related label). He told me himself that he may do so under the old "Rare and Hard To Find" series Motown had done years ago on vinyl. He's a busy man but he's not too busy to help an artist/label person such as Rhys.
KevGo