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Photo courtesy of Edward J. Wolfrum
Al Kent was born Albert
Prentis Hamilton in Detroit in 1937.
He had made some
solo recordings in New York City for Wizard, Baritone and
Checker. Prior to 1967, he
had a small amount of input to Golden World as a songwriter. After the sell-off however his name appeared on almost every Ric-Tic
disc as either a songwriter or producer. He would also
release three solo efforts including the classic "You've
got to pay the price" c/w "Where do
I go from here". The 45 reached Pop #42 R&B #22. Al moved on to
Motown for several years, then joined Armen Boladien at
Westbound, where he
worked again with the Fantastic Four. At Golden World he
met his future wife Norma Toney. Norma was a prolific
songwriter who had just co-written "Inky dinky wang
dang do" for the Dramatics. She also co-wrote
three songs by the Fantastic Four plus the Flaming Embers
"Bless you". Her finest moment,
however, came when she co-wrote the BMI award winning song "Deeper and
Deeper" for Freda Payne.
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