Discography

There were numerous US groups called The Holidays. These are the various recordings by the Detroit ones:
 

Label Group’s Name Song tiles m/y Star-X 501 (1) Fresando’s I Mean Really / Your Last Goodbye 1957 Bumble Bee (1) Five Masters We Are Like One / Cheap Skate 1958 Penthouse 9357 (2) Royal Holidays Margaret / I’m Sorry (I Did You Wrong) 1958 Carlton 472 (2) Royal Holidays Margaret / I’m Sorry (I Did You Wrong) 1958 Herald 536 (2) Royal Holidays Down In Cuba / Swingin’ At The Bandstand 1959 Buccaneer 502 (13) Caprees If I Should Lose You / Where There’s a Will 1962 Markie 109 (3) Four Hollidays Step By Step / Grandma Bird 1962 Markie 115 (3) Four Hollidays I’ll Walk Right Out The Door / I Won’t Need You 9/1963 Markie 115 (3) Four Hollidays I’ll Walk Right Out The Door / I Can’t Wait 9/1963 Master 3001/2 (3) 4 Hollidays Deep Down I My Heart / He Can’t Love You 2/1964 Holliday 4013 / 14 (4) Hollidays Set Me On My Feet Right / Happy Young Man 1964 SYCO 2001 Jimmy Holland Sugar Baby / More Sugar Baby (Instrumental) 3/1965 Blue Rock 4036 Jimmy Holland Baby Don’t Leave Me / As Long As I Have You 1965 Markie 121 Jimmy Holland I Can’t Wait / Sugar Baby (Sweeter Than Candy) 1965 Golden World 36 (5) Holidays I’ll Love You Forever / Makin’ Up Time (Instrumental) 3/1966 Golden World 47 (5A) Holidays No Greater Love / Watch Out Girl 8/1966 Revilot 205 (6) Holidays Love’s Creeping Up On Me / Never Alone 2/1967 Revilot 210 (7) Holidays I Know She Cares / I Keep Holding On 9/1967 Groove City 206 (8) Hollidays Easy Living / I Lost You 1968 Revilot 226 (9) Holidays All That Is Required (Is You) / I’ll Keep Coming Back 2/1969 Soul Hawk 1008 (10) New Holidays Maybe So Maybe No / If I Only Knew 1969 Westbound 157 (10 B) New Holidays Maybe So Maybe No / My Baby Ain’t No Play Thing 1969 Marathon 257 (11) Fabulous Holidays Too Many Times/ I’m So Glad 1972 Marathon 18475 (11) Holidays Gettin Kind of Serious / Gettin Kind of Serious (Inst.) 1973 Marathon 18475 (11) Holidays Ego Tripping / Lady Day 1973 Rob-Ron 75 (12) Holidays This Is Love / The Love We Share 10/1975 Ron-Hol 76 (12) Holidays Procrastinate (Why Do We) / Instrumental 5/1976 Marathon 440 (11 - 12) Holiday Getting Kind of Serious / Procrastinate (Why Do We) 1980

Below are the group members on the above recordings.

Selected CDs. Please drop us a line of you know of any others.

Below is a audio index of recordings.  Click the little sound icon [] to hear a cut from each.
 

Title Ref. Maybe So Maybe No 1 I’ll Love You Forever Your Last Goodbye 2 We Are Like One I’m Sorry 3 Down In Cuba James Holland 4 I’ll Walk Right Out The Door James Holland 5 Deep Down In My Heart James Holland 6 Set Me On My Feet Right James Holland 7 Sugar Baby Maurice Tony Gray 8 I’ll Love You Forever Maurice Tony Gray 9 No Greater Love Maurice and Elsie Gray 10 Love’s Creeping On Me Steve Mancha 11 Easy Living James Holland 12 All That Is Required James Holland 13 Maybe So Maybe No James Holland 14 Getting Kind Of Serious James Holland 15 The Love We Share I Lost You 16 Your Last Goodbye 17 I Mean Really 18 We Are Like One 19 Cheap Skate 20 Margaret 21 I’m Sorry (I Did You Wrong) 22 Down In Cuba 23 Swingin’ At The Bandstand 24 If I Should Lose You 25 Step By Step 26 Grandma Bird 27 I’ll Walk Right Out The Door 28 Deep Down In My Heart 29 He Can’t Love You 30 Set Me On My Feet Right 31 Happy Young Man 32 Sugar Baby 33 Baby Don’t Leave Me 34 As Long As I Have You 35 I’ll Love You Forever 36 Makin’ Up Time 37 No Greater Love 38 Watch Out 39 Love’s Creeping Up On Me 40 Never Alone 41 I Know She Cares 42 I Keep Holding On 43 Easy Living 44 I Lost You 45 Al That I Required (Is You) 46 Maybe So Maybe No 47 If I Only Knew 48 My Baby Ain’t No Play Thing 49 I’m So Glad 50 Too Many Times 51 Getting Kind of Serious 52 Ego Tripping 53 The Love We Share 54 Lazy Days 55 Procrastinate (Why Do We) 56

 I wish to thank the following Detroiters for patiently answering my questions and giving me an insight into Detroit’s rich musical history: Elsie Baker, Ron Banks, Robert Barksdale, J. J. Barnes, Armen Boladian, Frank Bryant, Dennis Coffey, Don Davis, Melvin Davis, Will Davis, Frank Garcia, Wilburt Jackson, Tony Gray, Diane Hogan, Joe Hunter, Don Mancha, Thomas Mealy, Carlis Monroe, Sam Motley, Ron Murphy, William “Sonny” Sanders, Betty Worley, V.C. Veasey, Vernon Williams, Clyde Wilson (aka Steve Mancha) and Richard “Popcorn” Wylie

Many thanks go to collectors Bob Abrahamian, Carl Pellegrino, Joe Moorehouse, Ron Murphy and Naoya Yamauchi for kindly providing record-label scans and audio files. Richard Johnson supplied the 1966 Revilot advert and doo-wop aficionado Nikki Gustafson graciously gave her information on The Royal Holidays’ career.

My main interviews with James Holland were on August 4th, 1998 and February 8th, 1999. The interview with Tony Gray and Elsie Baker was on January 24th, 1998, and Steve Mancha’s was on October 17th that same year.
 

Researched and written by Graham Finch