label
scan courtesy of Dougie Ward
Bob Hamilton is much
more of a mystery. Listed
in BMI as Robert Harston Hamilton Jr, Bob can be found
writing and producing many classic songs for Golden World. In
fact he left his mark on more than 50 sides on the Golden
World group of labels. What
I do know of Bob is that he was one of the musically gifted
Hamilton brothers who lived in Detroit. They
were Al
Hamilton (aka Kent), Eugene Ronald Hamilton (Ronnie Savoy)
and Bob himself, who liked Producer credits recorded under
the alias, Rob Reeco. The
Adorables 45 is the only one which lists him as Bob Hamilton. It
is also rumoured that Bob was one of The Nitecaps on the
fifties Groove label, as was his brother Ronnie, who was
probably lead singer. Bob's
work at Golden World was coming to an end in the early
months of 1966, his final credit being the highly popular
"I Love The Life I Live" by Tony Micale of The
Reflections. Tragically
he was shot dead in a drive by shooting in Detroit in 1969. Ronnie
Savoy appears to have branched out on his own after The Nitecaps
final release in 1956. A
quite prolific songster, he recorded for Candello and Gone
in 1959, MGM in 1960, Phillips in 1962 and Epic in 1963. As
well as recording for Wingate in 1965, Ronnie also had a
release on Chicago's Tuff label in 1966. The latter being
"Pitfall" which he co-wrote under his real name,
and which is a top drawer song. Davie
Gordon has also established that Ronnie owned a Publishing
company called Suron and did some production work for The
Drifters in 1968. As
for Golden World, I can find him credited on 17 sides as a
song writer.
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