This information examines some background information of R&B recording artists who were not well known in the top U.S top 40 charts.

 

To begin our journey let’s travel down south to New Orleans with Ernie K Doe, who had a monster hit in 1961 with “Mother-in-Law,” possibly the biggest R&B hit to come out of this area .  Things weren’t  going well for Ernie. Music styles changed and he had a difficult time adapting his playful style to the R&B trends of that day.  The Minit label that released “Mother-In-Law soon went under, and K-Doe followed legendary New Orleans music producer Allen Toussaint to the Instant label.  He did manage to get back on the R&B charts for the last time in 1967 with the singles "Later for Tomorrow" and a remake of "Until the Real Thing Comes Along." 

“Until the Real Thing Comes Along” was released by Duke Records and was a small only a small R&B hit.  However, although this sound did not receive the airplay of Doe’s earlier hits.  However in my opinion it remains one of the most under rated R&B sounds ever released.  Unfortunately, these sounds would mark the end of the recording career for Doe.  He died of liver and kidney failure in 2001.

 

Let’s continue our information on “The Forgotten 45’s” by looking at a classic release by Timi Yuro, known as the the little girl with the big voice.  She is considered to be one of the first blue-eyed soul stylists of the rock era.   Before I begin the profile of our next song, let me explain what blue-eyed soul is.  Blue-eyed soul  is a term used to describe rhythm and blues and soul music performed by white artists. The term was first used in the mid-1960s to describe white artists who performed soul and R&B that was similar to the music of the Motown and Stax record labels.

Timi Yuro possesses that type of crossover appeal.  According to her record label, Liberty Records, Yuro moved with her family to Los Angeles. There, she sang in her parents' Italian restaurant and in local clubs before catching the eye and ear of record executives.  

Yuro showed an emotional but elegant vocal style that owed a debt to Dinah Washington and other black jazz singers.    A good example of this was in 1962 when Liberty released Yuro’s recording of "What's a Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You?)",

Many listeners in the early 1960s thought Yuro was black. She opened for Frank Sinatra on his 1961 tour of Australia. and continued to perform into the 1970’s.  She died of cancer in 2004.

Now let’s move over to Memphis, TN where one of the pioneering vocal groups there, the Del Rios started performing in the '50s.   Different guys came in and out, but one constant was William Bell., a star soul music vocalist and writer who began recording for the Stax label in 1961 with this group.  At that time the group consisted of Louis Williams, Norman West, James Taylor and of course William Bell. The group operated out of Memphis However, chart success for the Del-Rios did not exist.

The Stax single "Just Across the Street,’ one of Bell’s compositions, never received much publicity or promotion and was seemingly released as an afterthought.

No more Del Rios singles are known, though it's believed they recorded many unreleased tracks for a myriad of labels including Satellite Records. The group later evolved into the Ovationswith ex-Del Rios members Melvin Jones and Louis Williams.  Bell's recordingcareer extended to 2006, when his most recent LP, New Lease of Life, was released on his own Wilbe Records

 

Now let’s soul walk up to Detroit and examine a forgotten oldie from Westbound Records performed by the Detroit Emeralds.  The Emeralds formed as a vocal harmony group in Little Rock, Arkansas, and originally comprised of four brothers,   They expanded their name to the Detroit Emeralds when a childhood friend joined the group in Detroit. 

This group had their first R&B hit, entitled “Showtime,” on Detroit’s Ric Tic label in the late 60’s.   Let me point out that when Motown Record owner Barry Gordy bought out the Ric Tic label in 1968, the Detroit Emeralds did not join the recording giant.   Instead, in 1970 they joined the Westbound label and performed several large R&B hits, including “Feel the Need in Me.”

 

 “Feel the Need in Me,” released in 1973, would reach #22 on the R&B charts that year.  It was also popular in the United Kingdom that year.  Ironically, this song was popular a year after Detroit’s Motown label relocated to Los Angeles.. By 1974, the Detroit Emeralds group was falling apart; and at one point there were two outfits using the name.

Let’s stay in the motor city a moment and examine one of the doo wop groups that had many members who strongly contributed to the history of soul music.  I’m referring to the Falcons, who originally formed in Detroit back in 1956.  At one time the group was composed of Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett,  Joe Stubbs, Mack Rice, and guitarists Lance Finnie and Robert Ward.  Eddie Floyd was a legendary Stax performer whose largest hit was “Knock on Wood.”  Wilson Pickett would become a major soul recording artist for Atlantic.  Joe Stubbs was the brother of Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs.  Mack Rice wrote and recorded the original “Mustang Sally.”

In 1959, the group released the recording of “You’re So Fine” for the Lu Pine label.

 

The Falcons had two more hits with Stubbs as lead singer with 'Just For Your Love' (number 26 R & B 1959) and 'The Teacher' (number 18 R & B 1960),  before Wilson Pickettreplaced Stubbs in 1960.  The group started to break up in 1963.   Joe Stubbs died on the 5th February 1998 from a heart condition.

The Ad Libswere a vocal group from Bayonne, New Jerseyduring the early 1960s.  Featuring their characteristic female lead vocals with male "doo-wop" backing, their 1965 single "The Boy from New York City", written by George Davis & John T. Taylor, was their only success.

Known originally as The Creators,, the group formed during 1964 with Hugh Harris, Danny Austin, Dave Watt, Norman Donegan, and Mary Ann Thomas. "The Boy from New York City" was released during December 1964 and by March 1965 had scored number 8 on the US popular music charts.

The Adlibs continued to record into the 1980s, but never repeated the success of "The Boy from New York City". The song scored again in the UK for Dartsduring 1978 and in the US for The Manhattan Transferduring 1981.

The Free Movement was an American R&B group from Los Angeles formed back in 1970.  They consisted of Godoy Colbert, Josephine Brown, Cheryl Conley, Jennifer Gates, Adrian Jefferson, and Claude Jefferson.

They issued a major hit single, "I've Found Someone Of My Own", a mellow ballad released on Decca Recordsin 1971

“I Found Someone of My Own” peaked at number 5 on the US Pop Singles Chart in 1971.  A second hit, The Harder I Try (The Bluer I Get)" also charted in 1972.   It climbed to number 50 on the US Pop Singles Chart.  After this release, no other hits are known of from this group.

Back in 1952 an American rock and roll band lead by Bill Haley was formed.  Initially organized in Pennsylvania as Bill Haley and the Saddlemen from 1949–1952 they performed mostly country and western songs in their early career.  The original members of this group were Haley, pianist and accordion player Johnny Grande, steel guitaristBilly Williamson, and bass player Al Thompson.  The new name of Bill Haley and his Comets was adopted in the fall of 1952.

Most of the major hit releases were with Decca Records.  From the end of 1954 until the end of 1956 the group would place nine singles into the Top 20, one of those a number one and three more in the Top Ten. Top hits included their largest hit of “Rock Around the Clock,” released in 1954, and was one of the most important records in rock and roll history.

The group fused elements of country music, Western swing, and black R&B to produce some of rock and roll's earliest hits.  Also, let me point out that this was one of the earliest groups of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest of the world.  “Skinny Minnie,” a less popular recording, released in 1958, was a prime example of “good old rock and roll.”

This was the group’s last major hit for Decca Records.  It peaked at number 22 on the hot 100 charts in 1958.  After this recording, the band rapidly began to decline in popularity andHaley found it difficult to score further large successes.. Sexier and wilder acts such as Elvis Pressley and Little Richardbegan to dominate the record charts.   Overseas, however, Haley and his band continued to be extremely popular, successfully touring the United Kingdom in February 1957.  Haley and his Comets would continue to record until Bill’s death in 1981.  Haley was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Between the late 50’s and the British invasion of the mid 60’s there were many soul recording acts that would come and go.  Soul music was definitely heading in a new direction that would ultimately be strongly influenced by the invasion. 

However, one of the soul groups to remain uninfluenced by the invasion was the The Spinners.  This group started recording back in the mid 50’s under the name of the Domingos.  The original members were Bobbie Smith, Pervis Jackson, George W. Dixon, Billy Henderson, and Henry Fambrough.  Four years later, they came to the attention of producer Harvey Fuqua, founder of the Moonglows doo wop group.   Fuqua began recording the group -- who were now called the Spinners -- for his Detroit Tri-Phi Records. The band's first single, "That's What Girls Are Made For," became a Top Ten R&B hit upon its 1961 release and featured Smith on vocals.

When Tri-Phi was bought out by Motown in the mid-'60s, the Spinners became part of the larger company's roster.   Though the Spinners had some R&B hits at Motown during the late '60s they didn't have a genuine crossover success until 1970, when Stevie Wonder gave the group "It's a Shame."  Motown never really concentrated on the Spinners, and they let the group go in 1972, when they signed with Atlantic Records and worked with producer Thom Bell,   Under Bell the Spinners became one the greatest soul group of the early '70s, creating a body of work that defined the lush, seductive sound of Philly soul.  The Spinners were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999  Harvey Fuqua died of a heart attack at a hospital in Detroit on July 6, 2010; he was 80 years old.

Let’s wrap up this information by traveling back to the West Coast again.  The Spiral Starecase was an Americanband, best known as a one-hit wonderfor their 1969 single"More Today Than Yesterday".  The band, from Sacramento, California, was a popular 1960s group, recognizable for its hornsand lead singer/guitaristPat Upton's distinctive voice. The group also included Harvey Kaye (organ), Dick Lopes (saxophone), Bobby Raymond (bass guitar) and Vinny Parello (drums).  Starting as the Fydallions, they released this billboard hit in January of 1969.

This recording reached #12 on the popular charts in during 1969..  Finally, let me point out that this song has been widely coveredby, among others, Diana Rossand the band Goldfinger, and was featured in the 1991 filmMy Girl, on the soundtrack of The Waterboyin 1998.  It is also in an episode of Ally McBealentitled Silver Bells.

There are many more examples of this kind of music.  We are only chipping at a very large iceberg!