Emanuel’s 45s were released in 1964 and this gig was in March - Ypsilanti is just north of Detroit.

Emanuel’s second 45, I Need Somebody, came out in February ’64, with Thelma Records also leasing it to Nick Cenci’s Pittsburgh-based NPC label. The session features the Fabulous Peps backing Emanuel on a suave, slow-paced Don Davis production that sold really well around Detroit – it even made WJBK’s pop-oriented chart.

Emanuel became an attraction at Detroit’s swath of nightclubs and the Ypsilanti gig (shown above) featured fellow Detroiters Theresa Lindsey and Betty Lavett, who were also enjoying chart action with great recordings. Johnnie Mae was behind Betty’s first Atlantic 45 – My Man – and Don Davis is on top form on her tremendous follow-up, You’ll Never Change. Theresa was signed with Correc-tone Records - just down Grand River Avenue from Thelma’s office - and her stormer, written by Popcorn Wylie and Janie Bradford, has the Funk Brothers in full swing.

Also appearing on stage were Thelma artists Rose Battiste and Tommy Stone (aka Storm) - one of the Fabulous Peps, a trio that included Joe Harris and Ronnie Abner. Ronnie actually helped write the flip, Tomorrow, and the group sang background on various Thelma sessions as well as having a couple of 45s out on Thelma’s sister label, GeGe, the name coming from Berry and Thelma Gordy’s children who called their grandmother (Mrs. Coleman) “Gege”.

Robert Ward and The Ohio Untouchables also had two 45s on Thelma that year, but none of these fine recordings matched the success of Emanuel’s disc, making him Thelma’s top act. He began to travel outside of Michigan, performing in the Carolinas, Tennessee and the South, with his Thelma promotional photo showing him looking dapper in a white tuxedo and bowtie. He now had a new nickname: the Nat King Cole of Detroit Soul.

Emanuel appeared at the Graystone Ballroom later in March along with Theresa Lindsey, Tony Clark, Walter Jackson, Ty Hunter, The Adorables, The Four Holidays and The Reflections, who were riding the charts with Just Like Romeo & Juliet. Admission was $2.

The Ohio Untouchables and the Fabulous Peps backed Emanuel on his early recordings.
 

Notes thanks to Graham Finch

Page Lead-in Clip from I Need Somebody  [NCP NCP 303]

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