Everybody was singing on street corners in the North Side during the 1950s, including Gus Collins. But he was a bit more advanced than his 'hood harmonizers; by the age of eleven, he was singing second tenor with his first group, Sammy and the Belltones.
By the time 1960 rolled around, Gus was singing lead vocal for a local group called the Lateers. Signed to Lenny Martin's World Artist label, the Lateers had two singles that landed on the national R&B charts in 1962 and 1963, “Dance Party” and “Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac” featuring Collins on the lead. After a couple of years of national tours and one-night stands, the Lateers called it quits in 1965.
Collins began working with a four-piece group on the national college circuit, serving up R&B, Motown, and Soul sounds to the frat rats as JC and the Silver Strings. He was their front man until 1978, when he retired from show business to take care of his ailing wife.
He rejoined the music-making biz in 1995, singing tenor for The Marcels, as he reunited with old friends Fred Johnson, Bingo Mundy, and Dick Knauss, who had all sung on those same North Side street corners as kids with Collins.
In 2003, Collins teamed up with Ron Griglia and the Elmonics, as the group transformed from an oldies act to an R&B show band. Now they perform as Elmoz Fire, switching names in 2005 as their music changed from the Flamingos to the Temptations.
And hey, Gus Collins isn't just part of an ensemble; he has some powerhouse chops of his own. Jeff Ingersoll's Bonedog Records, a soul and blues outfit based in Duquesne, released his solo album "Soul Social" (after all these years, his first solo work) with a R&B revue show at McKeesport's Palisades Ballroom a few weeks ago.
The album features eleven songs written by Mike Sweeney with a couple of covers thrown in, and a local All-Star band that includes Stevee Wellons, Dave Avery, Zack Weisinger, Jimmy Britton, Robbie Klein, Steve Delach, Robert Peckman and Sweeney.
And if you're looking for some sweet Motown sounds coming from this slab of wax, look again - this is Stax stuff, all brawn and brass, torch and scorch, funk and junk. It's just what you'd expect from a Pittsburgh player with roots in the 50's and 60's, when the town's two finest products were steel and soul.
Hey, since we've zeroed in on Canonsburg's finest, we thought we'd head forty or so miles west to the "Burb of the Burgh" Steubenville and their claim to oldies fame, the Stereos, an Ohio R&B group that epitomized The Pittsburgh Sound.
It started at Williams pool hall, where a few buds polished cue tips and did a little singing. They soon discovered that they sang better than shot pool, and formed a group in 1954, the Montereys.
The band members were Bruce Robinson (first tenor and lead), Tom "Tex" Williams (first tenor & originally from Fort Worth, hence the nickname), Leroy Swearingen (baritone), and Ronnie Collins (bass).
In 1955, the Montereys were booked into a show in Pittsburgh put together by DJ Bill Powell of WILY. However, they found out that they shared a stage name with another group that was appearing, the New-Jersey based Montereys. So to keep the gig, they became the Hi-Fis; not very original but it kept them on the playbill.
The Hi-Fi's became fixtures on Stan Scott's "9 Teentime" TV show aired on Steubenville's WSTV, which reached into Pittsburgh. And like many groups of the era, especially ones who earned their paycheck by gigging instead of record royalties, the turnover in personnel was sometimes dizzying.
In 1955, Williams went back to Texas and was replaced by baritone George Otis. But Otis was quickly drafted and his spot was taken by second tenor Samuel Profit. Then they added two new members, tenor Ray Manson and Esther Thompson, a girl whose vocal range covered first tenor to baritone. They were all neighborhood buds.
Then, in 1956, Profit left to join the army. Scorecard, anyone?
In the fall of 1956, Athena Dallas, their manager and local dress shop owner, got the group an audition with Atlantic Records. They went to New York and sang for the label's president, Ahmet Ertegun. He inked the Hi Fi's to a contract, but recommended they find a new lead singer.
They went home and enlisted Howard Alsbrooks of Earl Brown's Orchestra, a local band that backed up the national acts that hit town, to fill that request. The lineup was now Bruce Robinson, Leroy Swearingen, Ronnie Collins, Ray Manson, Esther Thompson, and Alsbrooks.
New lead in tow, they headed back to the Big Apple, and to their surprise, found out that Atlantic decided not to honor their contract. Welcome to show biz.
They headed to King Records, and had the fortune to run into an A&R man, Henry Glover, who hailed from nearby Zanesville. He gave them a two-year deal, and had them record at Regency Studios.
In November, they cut four songs with Alsbrooks on the lead. And while they were at it, Glover decided to rename them again, and presto, they were now the Buckeyes, in honor of their home state.
As soon as the session was over, the group lost its lead. Alsbrooks was a bit of an outsider for the 'hood gang that formed the band, and as the vocalist/pianist for the Earl Brown Orchestra, the Buckeyes were second fiddle to him. He cast his lot with Brown, having never made a live appearance with the Buckeyes.
In January 1957, "Since I Fell For You" b/w "By Only You" (Deluxe 6110) was released on King's Deluxe subsidiary, based in Cincinnati.
The record was played on local radio station WSTV (the TV station lost its call letters to radio by now) by DJ George Wilson, and on Pittsburgh's WILY by Bill Powell. In April, they followed with their other two cuts, "Dottie Baby" b/w "Begging You Please" (Deluxe 6126). The platters got little airplay nationally, but did help the Buckeyes gain a solid local rep and bookings around the region.
In early 1957, Manson left the group, to be replaced by Profit, who was booted out of the service for being underage. Thompson took a powder in 1958, and Otis returned after doing his military time. Now the Buckeyes were Bruce Robinson, Leroy Swearingen, Ronnie Collins, George Otis, and Samuel Profit.
Deluxe let the contract lapse, and the Buckeyes didn't record again until mid-1959. They trooped back to New York, sleeping in the car and looking for a label. They pitched a demo, and finally Newark's Gibraltar Records set up a studio session for them.
And with a new label came a new name, the Stereos. Gibraltar thought the Buckeyes were too jockish a name for a musical group; it conjured up linebackers instead of soulmen.
In July, Gibraltar released "A Love For Only You" b/w "Sweetpea's In Love" (Gibraltar 105) doing well locally in their hometown and Pittsburgh ("Sweetpea" was reissued on Ideal 1110 in 1965 and was covered by several groups), and again their area presence took off; they played Pittsburgh enough to make it their second hometown.
In late 1959, Swearingen called it quits, frustrated by the group's inability to chart, and his slot was taken by Richard Albritton, a tenor and guitarist, who was then quickly replaced by Nathaniel Hicks in 1960. The Stereos were now Bruce Robinson, Ronnie Collins, George Otis, Samuel Profit, and Nathaniel Hicks.
In 1960, Gibraltar went out of business, and Otis Blackwell, their A&R man, moved to Cub Records (a MGM sub) and took the Stereos with him.
The next year, Cub released the uptempo, foot-stomping "I Really Love You" b/w "Please Come Back To Me" (Cub 9095, reissued as Arista 1032). "Love You" became the breakout song they were looking for, hitting #15 on the R&B charts and #29 on Billboard. Ironically, it was penned by original member Swearingen, who left because of the Stereo's lack of national success.
The tune is still a highly sought Northern Soul collector record, and was covered by George Harrison on his 1982 album "Gone Troppo." And it took them off the regional circuit to the big-time black venues.
They played the Apollo and other stops on the Chitlin' Cicuit, like the Howard (D.C.), the Royal (Baltimore), the Uptown (Philadelphia), and the Regal (Chicago).
But that was their high water mark. They released eight more 45's on six different labels, but they were never again to chart.
The Stereos did release a couple of local tracks on Pittsburgh labels. In October, 1963, Lou Guarino's World Artist label, with bloodlines back to Robbee, released "Mumbling Word" b/w "Good News" (WA 1012). "Word" is still a hot Pittsburgh oldie, and is a track on Itzy's "Pittsburgh's Greatest Hits V-5".
In 1965, "Don't Let It Happen To You" b/w "The Best Thing To Be Is A Person" (Val 2) was released on Val Records, a City label operated by local florist Augie Bernardi.
They had moderate success in 1967 with "Stereo Freeze, Parts 1&2" (Hyde 101, reissued as Cadet 5577), which got them another invite to the Apollo.
But in 1970, the group folded; all the personnel changes and label jumping couldn't get them back in the national limelight. In 1981, the "Stereo Freeze" group reunited for an oldies show in Pittsburgh, and that was their final bow.
(Marv Goldberg has everything you need to know about the Stereos on his R&B site, and if he missed anything, Andrew Hamilton of the All Music Guide has it.)
OK, gang, who is he: He was selected as Pittsburgh's 1995 R & B Singer of the Year by the Blues Society, repeated in 1996, and won yet again in 1997. He was rated by the City Paper's readers to be among the area's top three bluesmen in 2004 & 2006.
He's played about every blues festival and club in the City from the Decade to the The Inn'Termission in his five decade and counting career. He's a recorded artist. Oh, he's also a member of the Pittsburgh Music Hall of Fame. He's known widely as "Pittsburgh’s Senior Statesman of the Blues" (although we prefer "Godfather of Pittsburgh Soul").
Give up? It's "Chizmo Charles" Anderson, still going strong after eighty plus years.
Anderson was born on the Allegheny River slopes between Polish Hill and Lawrenceville, weaned on the classic tunes of Billy Eckstine, Joe Williams, Lena Horne, Nancy Wilson, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Ray Charles.
But he wasn't interested in crooning like them; Anderson spent his early years as a hoofer, and was a renowned local jitterbug dancer into his late twenties. Though dancing was his raison d'etre, he would also sing along as he flashed his feet.
And pretty dang well, too. Guys would try to get him to join their bands, but he held off, unsure of his ability, until his bud, drummer Eugene Betts, got him on a Northside stage with his group. His first tune was the blues standard popularized by Joe Williams in 1952, "Everyday I Have the Blues." Chizmo never looked back.
Of course, he had a little learning to do; he didn't even know what key he wanted his songs played in. Heck, at first, he didn't even know what "key" meant. No problem; the musicians followed his lead, and Anderson carried on.
He said that he's sat in with every player in town, and at one point early in his career, he even sang for a country and polka band - there's a combo for ya - named Unity before finally making a name for himself in the blues and R&B scene.
He made the rounds on the local circuit, playing regularly at the Station Square Crawford Grill and the Blues Cafe and gigging everywhere from the Panther Room to the James Street to Paparazzis.
Chizmo has worked with Gene Ludwig, Bubs McKeg, Johnny Smoothe, Rodney McCoy, and Randall Troy among many others, and played with the Blues Orphans and the Mystic Knights.
His recording debut was in 1991, on the CD "Live Blues Breakout" with the Mystic Knights. That work included the song, "Spread Yourself Around," with a popular video of Anderson and the band in an Iron City Beer commercial featuring the tune. His first release as the star artist would come a few years later.
That was for Blue Leaf Records in January 1998, when he fronted the "Up All Night" CD, at the tender age of 70. It was reissued in 2003 by Dom DiSilvio on his Decade Records imprint.
You want to talk about some studio personnel who help pump out the sounds on that record? How about Ron "Byrd" Foster (vocals, drums); Dr. James Johnson (piano): the four-piece Midnight Horns, featuring Kenny Blake (alto & tenor sax) and Robbie Klein (tenor & baritone sax), and his Mystic Knight buds: Gil Snyder (keyboards), Jim "Doc" Dougherty (guitarist who wrote half of the songs & produced the album), Jimmy "The Penguin" King (harp), and Tom Garner (drums)?
Other players were bassists Bobby Boswell and Del Rey Reynolds, the late James King on harp, sax man Rick Modery, trumpeteer Danny Donohoe and background vocalists Chuck Beatty and Michelle Michelle.
"Bed Bug Boogie" was the hot track. It won high praise from Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records and Blues Revue magazine. The National Association of R&B DJ's selected the tune as one of the Top 50 Rhythm & Blues Dance Songs of 1999 (#33, actually).
Following the CD reissue, Anderson toured the northeast and got to open some nights for B.B. King. Hey, during one 2004 show in New England, the fans baked him a 75th birthday cake. He even got a small sip of radio love from WYEP’s Saturday evening blues shows and on "Nightflight: The Original Quiet Storm," aired on WLSW.
Chizmo's on a few other disks, too. He's got a couple of tracks on 2001's Blue Leaf "Leaflets V-1" compilation along with Gene Ludwig, and the 2003 BSWPA’s CD, “Blues from the Burg.” He even did a little work on Guitar Zack Wiesinger's initial album. Still, he's a vastly under-recorded artist, a familiar Pittsburgh tale.
Though you'd never know it from the fun-loving, wisecracking Anderson, life hasn't always been one big party. He was assaulted at the age of 75 during a home invasion and robbery in Homewood in 2004.
But Pittsburgh watches after its own. The Blues Society put together a concert for Chizmo, and what was initially planned as a benefit show turned into a night of tribute. Warren King and the Mystic Knights, Norman Nardini, Wil E. Tri and the Bluescasters, and The West End Project performed for Anderson.
It was only fair; not only has Chizmo paid his dues many times over, but he's been a mentor and friend to a huge cast running the gamut of local talent, people like Pittsburgh Bluesbiz.com and guitarist Jim Hamel, blues diva Jill West, R&B man Billy Price, rockers Norm Nardini and Hermie Granati, plus countless more.
To understand the man, you have to catch him live. Virtually his entire career has been spent at clubs, not stadiums, and he has a presence the audience loves. To him, the stage isn't a destination, just a jumping-off point.
Sporting a trademark cap, Chizmo will wander along the bar, and stop at all the tables, singing ballads to lovestruck couples and then some R&B for the single girls (hey, he may be eighty something, but he ain't dead). All eyes are on him, and he has a rap that endears him to the crowd, slappin' skin as he makes the rounds. He owns the house.
Now he plays regularly with The Rhythm Aces at The Inn'Termission Lounge in South Side and with the Soul Merchants at the Rhythm House in Bridgeville, with gigs in between. And if you think it's hard for an old act to get a booking, try googling Chizmo; Old Mon got thirteen pages of hits, and 12-1/2 were announcing his showtimes.
(Old Mon thanks Julie Toye of the Herald-Standard, whose 2005 article on Chizmo is the definitive work on his career, and was heavily leaned on in this post)
Chizmo Charles - Angel Eyes
(Not Curtis Lee's pretty little, but the 1962 Dave Bruback tune)
Richie Merritt is on the short list of local doo-woppers and soulmen that no one outside the industry has ever heard of.
He still sings occasionally with The Marcels, and has performed with The Clovers, The Memories, and The Drifters.
Since moving to Florida, he's put together his own show for the Sunshine State region audiences, hitting the stage as "Richie Merritt Solo" or as “Richie Merritt & The Gems,” featuring a revue that salutes Little Anthony, Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson, served along with classic R&B, soul, and some oldies' tunes.
Merritt got his start in his native river town of Donora, where he sang in his father's Pentecostal Church as a three-year old. Better know for churning out baseball players like Stan Musial and Ken Griffey, father and son, than singers, Donora still proved to be a fruitful launching pad for Merritt.
He formed his first group there while a grade-school kid, the El Qunitones. In 1960 and attending junior high, Merritt put together The Dragons, named after the DHS mascot. The group included Ted "Reno" Smith, still a Marcel's band-mate, and they stayed together until graduation day.
After earning his sheepskin in 1966, Merritt enrolled in the Army and sang on a USO tour in Germany, where he got the chance to perform with another GI on his way to bigger and better things, Aaron Neville.
After his discharge in 1968, Merritt joined The Electrons as lead singer (after "It Ain't No Big Thing"), remaining with the group for five years. Throughout the following decades, Merritt sang with a "Who's Who" of local groups.
After the Electrons, he moved to the Vibrators, a hot local act during the seventies. They broke up in 1979, and Merritt went on to sing for High Society, primarily a standards band, and The Laurels and The Memories, which were show bands with an emphasis on Motown and slick choreography. He also found time to open a short-lived night club.
He got a little solo love too, when in 1990 "Where Did I Go Wrong?", a song Merritt wrote and recorded, landed in the Top 10 of the Northern Soul-crazed United Kingdom. (It was later released on the 1998 CD "Richie Merritt - Then & Now").
In 1992, Merritt, then with the Memories, was approached by Johnny Mason about joining The Clovers. The wooing eventually worked when in the fall of 1993, he signed on with the band as lead tenor.
The Clovers were booked for Atlantic City six months a year, were regulars on the Carolina "shag circuit," appeared regularly in Vegas, and played in venues across the country.
The group performed on the PBS special, "Doo Wop 51," in 2000. The Clovers were inducted to the Doo Wop Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002. The VGHOF induction performance was Merritt's last as a Clover.
But Merritt didn't have to worry about filing for unemployment after he left. Walt Maddox had a spot saved for him with The Marcels, which Merritt had appeared with during prior performances as a fill-in tenor.
Now, nearly a decade later, he still does special performances with The Marcels (they just did an Erie gig in January at the Presque Isle Track & Casino), and does his own Gulf Coast thing out of his home base of Tampa.
And hey, it doesn't get much better for a sixty-ish Pittsburgh doo-wopper. A resume that runs from the Electrons to the Clovers, a regular schedule of bookings, enough to keep you busy without competing with your tee-times, and a home in the Golden State.
Chuck Corby was born Charles Anthony Ciorra to immigrant Italian parents during the baby boom in Hays, tucked between Glenwood and Lincoln Place.
He started singing at the age of 8 with his third grade buddies on the street corner, and by the time he hit 13, he was on "Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour" show, an early version of "Star Search."
He didn't have a smooth pop voice, but a soul-man, street corner sound, and that served him well in Pittsburgh's doo-wop and early R&B era. Ciorra was a fan of Porky Chedwick, and in return, the Daddio of the Radio would launch him on his road.
Impresario Joe Averbach signed him to Fee Bee Music at the age of 15, on the recommendation of Porky. Ciorra then worked the local clubs and hops, and three years later, he cut "Man Loves Two" b/w "Happy Go Lucky" in 1966.
Averbach had the record released by Original Sound Records in Los Angeles, and that's when he became Chuck Corby. He protested the move, but was told that if he wanted the record to be released that he would do as he was told. End of debate.
The suits thought Ciorra's sound was black and his given name was too white, so that's what prompted the change. The marketing switcheroo was reportedly pulled off at Averbach's urging.
It was a regional hit (like the Contrails found with "Someone," a California label added a little panache that the Pittsburgh studios couldn't match), and to this day the disk's flip side, "Happy Go Lucky" is a hot item in the English Northern Soul marketplace.
The much larger Veep label picked up the record, and soon Chess Records had their artist, Little Milton, cover it, and his version of the song charted.
Though Ciorra/Corby wrote the lyrics, he never got credit for it - or the royalties. They went to fake dudes named Crosby and Brancho, a common ploy used by managers back in the day to make sure the song's payback landed in their pockets, not the artist's. It would be a career-long curse.
Corby and his band then bounced around between a couple of labels, Sonic and United Artists, and came back to Averbach. During that time, Corby released "City of Strangers" on the Sonic label and then "Honey, Let Me Stay" and "Lonely Nights" on Fee Bee.
Porky landed the band, Chuck Corby and the Entrees, a gig opening a concert for Eddie Holman, Sonny & the Premiers, and the Intruders. The act worked clubs, opening for David Ruffin and J.J. Jackson, and the chitlin' circuit. They made stops at both the Chess ("Complete Opposites" - 1969) and Cadillac labels for awhile.
In the seventies and eighties, Corby tried to led the day job/night gig career track, being a construction worker when the sun was up and a soulman when it sank.
He briefly formed Chuck Corby & Company, then was a member of the Dell Vikings from 1972- 1977, with whom he wrote and recorded the last record they made on Fee Bee, 1977's funky "Welfare Blues."
Corby co-owned the Vegas Show Bar with Hammond killer John Papi. It was a fruitful period, and they recorded "Love Is A Hurting Thing," "Boogie Woogie Big Daddy," "Dude," and "One More Time."
Then he put together Quiet Storm with childhood bud Tom DeJohn, Walt Laughlin, and Lennie Santoro, along with current members Billy Cotter and Bill George.
They did the Holiday Inn rounds and what they call the "mob circuit" of Youngstown, Atlantic City, and Miami, along with various casinos and resorts.
It was interesting, but for the past two decades, Corby has stuck to his music to earn his daily bread. The day job was driving him to speed and booze, and hey, a guy needs more than two hours sleep per night, anyway, so he chose performing 24/7 and left the day job in the late eighties.
In 1989 Walt Maddox and Dave Justice scored Quiet Storm a deal with Laurie Records, Dion's old label, and released "See You When I Get There." Later they signed with Dore Records, and finally Corby hooked up with childhood friend Joe Tobasco and formed Ciorra Records and Publishing.
Now Quiet Storm does a cover act of ballads, pop, and soul classics in places like the Living Room and Valley Hotel. Corby dresses like a wise guy, in a suit and heavy gold chain, but his act is relaxed and interacts playfully with the audience.
He's another classic example of the Pittsburgh Syndrome - a good musician, but without local industry support, from labels to radio play. His career may have taken a completely different turn if Corby was based out of Chicago or Philly. Corby never left Pittsburgh to find out, but hey, it's been a pretty good run.
Corby has worked for acts like The O'Jays, The Spinners, The Jive Five, The Drifters, George Benson, The Platters, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Eddie Holman, JJ Jackson, Jimmy Ruffin, Gary Puckett, Little Anthony and the Imperials, The Chiffons, Chubby Checker, Gary "U.S." Bonds, Edwin Starr, Joey Dee and the Starlighters, Lou Rawls, Sonny and the Premiers, The Intruders, David Ruffin, Major Harris, The Marcells, The Del Vikings, The Holidays, James Brown, The Jaggerz, Keely Smith and his idol, Jimmy Beaumont.
His songs may be oldies fodder in the Steel City, but in other places, his stuff is pure gold. Recorded under the name The Soul Communicators - Lead Vocals: Chuck Corby, "Those Lonely Nights," is a Northern Soul classic, selling for up to a grand. Other songs of his still getting Brit love are "Dude," "One More Night," "Happy Go Lucky," "See You When I Get There," and "I Need Love."
"City of Strangers" and "Please Don't Go " are a part of the West Coast Low Rider Latino scene. Over his career, Corby released dozens of singles, but you pretty much have to haunt E-Bay to find them now.
And let's not forget about his cottage film industry work. He and Quiet Storm have several movies to their credit. John Russo, of "The Night Of The Living Dead" fame, wrote and directed their first indy movie, 2007's "Saloonatics" with Bruno Sammartino. And they're currently working on another Russo film "Song Of The Dead."
Other movies they appeared in are "10th and Wolf," "Children Of The Dead," and "Big Fat Italian Wedding."
Chuck Corby may be the master of the sad song, but you'll hear few complaints from him (except for that royalties thing!) about his career.
"Those Lonely Nights" - Chuck Corby and the Soul Communicators (1968)
Few bassists have played on as many hits as Funk Brother Bob Babbitt. Over a career spanning five decades, the 6'2" Mt. Washington native with the offensive lineman’s build has earned 25 gold and platinum records and has played on more than 200 top Forty hits.
Oddly, none of his 25 gold and platinum records were from his Motown body of work, because the label didn’t give out gold records. Berry Gordy, Jr. believed his corporate structure, not the artists, created the hits. Who knows what his count would be with those tunes to his credit?
Born Robert Kreiner to Hungarian parents in Pittsburgh, Babbitt was heavily influenced by the gypsy music he heard in his home.
He started his career when he received classical training on upright bass. His seventh grade choir teacher got him started on the instrument, and Babbitt played for three years in the Pittsburgh Symphony's Junior Orchestra.
Babbitt began performing at age 15, and after hearing an electric bass live at a nightclub for the first time two years later, he saw the light and traded in his upright for a Fender.
Like most local players, he was inspired by the R&B sounds throbbing from Pittsburgh jocks like Porky with music like Bill Doggett's "Honky Tonk" and Red Prysock's "Hand Clappin'."
His father died during his senior year in high school, and the family moved to the Glen Hazel projects. Babbitt passed up a music scholarship to Pitt to look for a job. But his 9-5 gigs didn't pay much, and he didn't want to end up in the steel mills.
An uncle in Detroit offered to help him find work. Babbitt moved there in the mid-1950s, and worked for an aluminum plant and a construction outfit.
A year or so after arriving, he hooked up with the Royaltones, a gritty instrumental combo that made waves in the Motor City club scene, charting a handful of records including a Top Ten hit, "Flamingo Express."
They caught the attention of Del Shannon, who hired the Royaltones as his touring and recording band through 1965. They backed Shannon's smash "Little Town Flirt."
Babbitt began to make a name for himself. He first met some of Motown’s Funk Brothers, including bass legend James Jamerson, who he would later replace, while working at Golden World studio.
He sat in at nearly every Detroit studio except Motown's Hitsville, backing songs like “I Just Wanna Testify” (Parliaments), “Love Makes the World Go Round” (Dion Jackson), "Agent Double 0 Soul" (Edwin Starr), "With This Ring" (Platters); and “Cool Jerk” (Capitols).
Live dates with Stevie Wonder finally brought Babbitt into Motown’s Hitsville studio in 1967 (it helped that Motown bought Golden World studios); his first session for the label was Wonder’s cover of the Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out.”
He went on to back “Touch Me in the Morning,” (Diana Ross) “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” (Stevie Wonder); “Smiling Faces” & "Ball of Confusion" (Temptations); “War” (Edwin Starr); “Tears of a Clown” (Smokey Robinson); Gladys Knight & The
Pips' “Midnight Train To Georgia” and many other Motown hits. Most famously, Babbitt laid the bass lines for “Mercy Mercy Me” and “Inner City Blues” for Marvin Gaye’s 1971 masterpiece "What’s Goin’ On."
His stay with the Funk Brothers was sometimes rocky. Babbitt often replaced James Jamerson, the band's troubled but brilliant bassist. Occasionally, Jamerson would stop by the studio to watch Babbitt play in his spot; once with a gun stuck in his waistband.
But they ended up getting along just fine, and the Funk Brother's came to accept him as, well, a brother. But the band and Motown always had a contentious relationship, and when the label decided to do most of its studio work in LA, the Funk Brothers gave it up and scattered with the wind.
Babbitt moved to New York in 1973 and did dates and sessions with artists such as Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, Jim Croce, Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, Engelbert Humperdink, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Sinatra and Gladys Knight & the Pips. Songs he backed were “I Got a Name” (Jim Croce); "Indiana Wants Me" (R. Dean Taylor); and “Midnight Train to Georgia” (Gladys Knight & the Pips).
It expanded his music world. He said "Playing in New York forced me to learn a lot of different styles, because there was so much going on there. I started checking out rock bands like Aerosmith, Edgar Winter, and The Who, particularly what John Entwistle did on 'My Generation' and 'Magic Bus,' which knocked me out."
The variety of acts he supported didn't just widen his repertoire; it made him slightly nuts. "I was recording with so many different artists in so many different styles, I didn't know which end was up. I remember cutting three complete albums in three weeks at one point. The first was with the Spinners out in L.A.; then came an Alice Cooper record in Toronto; then I did Sinatra in New York."
He also worked in Philadelphia during this period, playing on Spinners classics such as “Then Came You,” “Games People Play,” and “Rubberband Man" at the City of Brotherly Love's famous Sigma Sound Studio. Babbitt also backed Deniece Williams on her hit "It's Gonna Take A Miracle," produced by Thom Bell.
But the heyday of the star session man had peaked. In the early 1980s, Babbitt gave up album work in favor of commercial jingles and a jaunt into jazz, touring and recording with Herbie Mann and the Hill District's Stanley Turrentine.
He moved on to Nashville, with its R&B, country, and gospel markets. He did a few sessions with Louise Mandrell, Carlene Carter, and other country artists, plus some demo jobs.
Babbitt toured with Joan Baez and Brenda Lee. When he's not on the road, he plays with a local R&B band called Lost In Detroit, featuring Dennis Locorriere, who was the lead singer for Dr. Hook. He was in Philly, doing a Bobby Rydell compilation. Babbitt backed Elton John's 2009 album, "Are You Ready For Love?"
He also appears with the Funk Brothers when they gig, including during their 2007 North American tour. The musicians got a huge boost in 2002 from producer Paul Justman's documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," based on Allan Slutsky's book.
Supported by a dynamite two-CD soundtrack and DVD version, it took off, along with the cred of the Funk Brothers. Babbitt was interviewed and featured prominently in the film. In 2004, the FBs were awarded a Life Time Achievement Grammy.
And as an acknowledged master of his instrument, Babbitt is in constant demand in the industry for his technical skills; he's maybe the top teacher in the bass biz.
The seventy-something Babbitt's last visit to his hometown was on October 31st, for "A Pittsburgh Tribute to Motown Records' 50th Anniversary," at the August Wilson Center. Before that, Babbitt visited on July 23, 2008, at Duquesne University's "Summertime Jazz With Soul" where he played and spoke at a seminar.
He also participated in the annual Rockin’ Christmas Fund charity fund-raiser, a holiday concert that benefited needy children.
Babbitt was diagnosed in early 2011 with an inoperable brain tumor, on on February 4th, 2013, he passed away in Nashville at the age of 74.
But his music lives on. Every time you hear the classic bass lines of later Motown that a guy from Mt. Washington was probably laying them down.
Jerry Mellix was born in the Lower Hill, and went to Soho and Forbes schools. He got his start in music in 1961 at the age of fourteen, blowing a sax for the Fifth Avenue High School band and with his Hill District community players, the Hill City Marching Band.
But his muse was his brother Ron, looking sharp while marching in the Saturday morning parades with the HCMB. Ron would then spend his Saturday nights with Clairton's Shirley and The Splendors, coming home after a gig with his cut of the pot - $15. Jerry wanted to get a piece of that action.
Not that there weren't other influences over his career. "Sax players like Art Nance, the late great J.C. Gordon, Stanley Turrentine, Hammond B-3 player John Papi, guitar player Larry "Butch" McGhee, vocalist Hattie Taylor, members of These Gents, the late Johnny Jack and Jerry Betters, and of course everyone from the group The Memories, inspired and encouraged me," he said.
"A lot of those players, too many to name, were cats who only got to play in those hole in the wall joints. They never got recorded or will never be known outside their neighborhoods, but I appreciate them all."
When he was sixteen, Mellix hooked up with his first professional band, Little Willie Beck & The Crossfires (Beck forged Mellix's folks signatures on the work permit papers). Mainly a club band, they never recorded, though they did perform at the Stanley Theater for a 1963 show headlined by Lee Dorsey and Derek Martin of "You Better Go" fame. In fact, the Stanley performance was Mellix's first gig.
The Crossfires rode the circuit of the local venues - The Holiday House, Twin Coaches, and the other supper clubs that once dotted the region. They got to open for groups like The Miracles, Brook Benton, the Coasters, and ‘Wicked’ Wilson Pickett.
While the band may have never cut wax, they did get on radio, doing live commercials for WAMO DJ Bill Powell.
Like the other young males of the day, Mellix spent his year in 'Nam, joining Uncle Sam's crew in 1965. Then he came back home to a long run with the Memories.
He spent the next twenty plus years as a member of the band. They started out as an acapella doo-wop group the first year, then changed some personnel and added musicians, putting together a sweet show act. The Memories did an album worth of recordings in the mid 70’s for Terry Lee, but the DJ never released the cuts.
But the Memories did record again, on their MEMCO Label, and released their first wax, "Can I" b/w “Lovey Dovey” in 1976, followed in 1978 by "Sha-Boom" b/w "Once And Awhile." They later recorded and released a 4-song mini LP on cassette, a hot medium in 1981.
The band based their later choreography ala The Temptations, as they found themselves opening for a number of Motown acts playing the area like the Temptations (who were duly impressed by the Memories' show; imitation is the greatest form of flattery, no matter what biz you're in) and the O'Jays.
By the late 80’s, the members of the group were being raided by The Vogues, who took Keith Dix & Dave Wingo, The Marcels, who lured Jules Hopson, and The Clovers, who added Richie Merritt. The Memories became a memory. Mellix cast his lot with The Laurels.
He spent a few years performing with them, and decided to strike out on his own. His first gig was as a member of a South Side blues house band. The leader had trouble pronouncing Mellix during the group intros, and so "Southside Jerry" was born.
In 1997, he taped his first solo effort under his new stage name. That recording, released on cassette by RAM, was titled "Blues 'N' At" and won Pittsburgh's EXCEL Award for best independently produced Jazz/Blues record. Southside Jerry reissued it on CD in 2000 on his own impress, the Jermel label.
Now on his own, Mellix expanded beyond his Motown roots, and added blues and jazz to his R&B and doo-wop repertoire. He also expanded his stage, performing in places like Buffalo, Rochester, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Atlanta.
His favorite gig was at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. There, Mellix got to perform with The Clovers, which included his old band mate from The Memories, Richie Merritt, who sang for a host of local groups, including the Electrons and the Marcels.
He joined forces with Morgantown's oldies/shag act, the Subway Band, which toured the east, and in 2005 cut the album "Black, White, & Blues" on their own label. His playing is also heard on albums with Pittsburgh's Stingers, Memphis Mike, and Kari Throm.
Heck, in 2006 he even played a gig with Gary Racan and the Studio E Band for the opening night gala after Matthew McConaughey's and Matthew Fox's "We Are Marshall" movie premier in Huntington, West Virginia.
The Subway job landed him an opportunity to play with Chicago's "Daughter of the Blues," B.B. King's girl Shirley, as a member of the R&B Station. His last performance with her was in Toronto, where Mellix parted ways to work in the Reno and Carson City casinos with a R&B show band called Musicole w/Michael Coleman.
But when the economy went south, so did the casino budgets. Mellix returned to his old stomping grounds in 2007 to earn his daily bread, and has been doing nicely ever since.
Here, he's back on the oldies circuit, backing The New Holidays, The Four Townsmen, and the Soul Merchants; he was with the El Monics before they broke up. He also performed with his own band, the Blues 'N' At Band, under his Southside Jerry persona.
Mellix plays the tenor sax, but also has been known to blow on a alto, bari and flute when it's called for and still is a pretty fair vocalist.
Forty-five years in the show, traveled the country, and yet got to come home again, to Wilkinsburg. Oh, and made enough of the long green to send his daughter through medical school (a day job with the Post Office helped that cause).
Southside Jerry is one of the unsung blue-collar success stories of the Pittsburgh music scene, and we hope he's back to stay.
Soul shouter and early local guitar hero Chuck Edwards was born Charles Edward Edwins in Pittsburgh (although there is some debate about whether he was born here or in Philly) on November 29, 1927.
He started playing guitar professionally in the late 40’s, eventually heading south and joining up with the popular Sonny Thompson Band. He cut his first piece of wax with them on the be-bop "Harlem Rug Cutter" around 1950.
Edwards struck out on his own, recording for Memphis' Duke Records, home of Bobby "Blue" Bland. As Charles Edwins, he released "Bong Gone" b/w "I Got Loose" (Duke 124) in 1954.
Dumping his given last name in favor of Chuck Edwards, he produced three more singles for Duke. The records were "If You Love Me (Like You Say You Do)" b/w "You Move Me" (Duke 159) in 1956, and and another pair in 1957, "Let's Rock" b/w "I'm Wondering" (Duke 163), followed by "Morning Train" b/w "Warm My Heart" (Duke 174).
Though none of them exactly flew off the shelves, they showed Edwards steady progression from a blues player to a rowdier R&B artist, where he would find his niche.
He switched labels to Apollo in late 1956, and released the doo-wop ballad "Just for a Day" b/w "She Carried Me All Over Town" (Apollo 495), and disappeared for a couple of years.
In 1959, Edwards cut the Alanna single "If I Were King " b/w "Lucy and Jimmy Got Married" (Alanna 577), backed on the latter by the Five Crowns, allegedly featuring budding soul master Ben E. King. The B side, as was commonplace back in the day, was the side the DJs decided to spill some radio love on, but it didn't chart.
Possessed of several dust-collecting disks and a better half, he moved back to the Steel City 'burb of Canonsburg, working a day job in a steel mill to pay the bills. Being a fair-sized fish in a small pond, he picked up a lot of local session work and was a regular on the hops circuit.
Edwards may not have slept much, but he saved up enough money to front his own label, Rene, named for his wife, Irene. He recorded a couple of other artists, but by and large, the Hill District label and its subsidiary, Punch, were Edwards' domain. Here's his personal discography on the Rene/Punch label:
Rene 1151 - Phil Lipari and the Chuck Edwards Band (1962)
"Please Come Back" b/w "Later for You Darling"
Rene 20013 Chuck Edwards (1966)
"Bullfight #2" b/w "Pick It Up Baby (Your Love’s Slowing Down)"
Punch 11001 Chuck Edwards (1968)
"Downtown Soulville" b/w "I Need You"
He also had one other release during that span, for the national Kapp Records. It was 1967's "Sweet Sweet Love" b/w "You Got What I Need" (Kapp 2052). Like the rest of his major label vinyl, it went nowhere on the charts.
"Shake Baby Shake" and "I Don't Want No Company" were garage-style rockers, featuring Edwards' raucous vocals, and were popular at the dances in the region. But his claim to Tri-State fame was the instrumental "Bullfight."
"Bullfight" was a show-stopper for Edwards' live act for years, but was never etched in wax. The story goes that Travis Klein, of Itzy Record fame, prodded Edwards to record it. Klein booked some time at the old Gateway Studios for Edwards, who released the song on his own Rene label. The rest is Pittsburgh rock history.
The song became a monster regional hit, and was picked up for national distribution by Roulette (R-4705). It remains a Pittsburgh oldies radio fav to this day. In fact, George Benson was a fan, and he recorded it himself on his 2001 "It's Uptown" album.
"Bullfight No. 2," issued later in the year, added a Hammond organ to the original guitar, bass, and drum tune. Hey, gotta strike while the iron's hot, right?
While "Bullfight" cemented Edwards' name in Pittsburgh circles, his last local release, 1968's "Downtown Soulville," put him on the international map. The soul/funk title tune, backed with the ballad "I Need You," became a Northern Soul must-have across the pond.
The record never charted nationally, but UK soul impressario Dave Godin reissued it on his own Soul City label (SC 104) the following year, and included it on the compilation LP, "Soul From The City."
Edwards dropped from the radar recording-wise for a spell afterward, performing live. In 1972 he packed up his family - he had two sons, Les and Jeff - and moved to the San Francisco Bay area, living in a motel for several months. It was there that the Edwards family became the band The Edwards Generation.
They released a 45, "School Is In" b/w "Someone Like You" on Ghetto records (61?), and a LP in 1976, "The Street Thang" on Tight records. The group also appeared on television a few times, including the Mike Douglas Show.
Edwards performed locally, and released "Back Again" (Tight) in 1994, which has a mix of new and past material. His sons went on to form their own band, Movin’, and perform in the Bay Area.
Edwards and his wife retired to the San Jose suburb of Pittsburg, California, where he passed away in 2001.
Some of Edwards’ cuts are still available on compilations. "Bullfight" is on Itzy Records PGH I and Crypt Records "Pass The Soul." PGH IX features "She Carried Me All Over Town."
There is also the split-side CD "Billy Lamont Meets Chuck Edwards" (Official 5678) which features 13 of Edwards' early sides, including recordings from the Duke, Apollo and Alanna labels, some backed by Little Richard's band.
And his records go for a king's ransom overseas. Chuck Edwards may be gone, but his music rocks on across the continents.
Born on June 18th, 1933, to Georgianna Derico, Tommy Hunt started out life as Charles James Hunt. He become Tommy thanks to his school mates, who didn’t think he looked like a Charles, and started calling him Tommy. It's stuck to him to this day.
He grew up in the northern suburb of Perrysville, where he sang for the Peace and Heaven Baptist Church as the youngest member of the choir. Hunt began singing for his family and his mothers’ friends at the age of 7, and entered some talent shows.
Despite his choirboy experience, Hunt was no little angel. He was sent to reform school after spending his school hours practicing his singing instead of attending his classes (school was a little more strict back in the Depression era). He was released when he was 10.
He and his mom moved to the Hill when he was a teen, and Hunt tuned in to WHOD DJ Mary Dee's "Movin' Around" on the radio and the harmonies of his favorite singers, renowned gospel group The Dixie Hummingbirds. He never missed a live performance of theirs at the Roosevelt Theater on Centre Avenue, even though he had to listen from the back door because he couldn't afford a ticket.
His mother relocated to Chicago in the early 50s, and he went with her. Hunt wasted no time finding a group to sing with - and getting in more trouble.
He joined the Flames in 1952, and they morphed into the Five Echoes in 1953, with soul superstar Johnnie Taylor and doo-wop legend Earl Lewis as members of the group. Uncle Sam intervened; Hunt was drafted into the Air Force - and went AWOL.
Hunt rejoined The Five Echoes while on the lam, and they recorded for the Sabre and Vee-Jay labels in the Windy City. But eventually, the law found him, and it was off to the stockade, or wherever it is they ship airmen gone astray. The Five Echoes disbanded in 1954, after he was hauled away and their label folded.
As for hard time, it appears Hunt didn't spend much time breaking rocks in the hot sun. It's said that he sang his way out of the hoosegow and was shortly back to singing for his dinner instead.
While performing later in a Chicago club, he was approached by Zeke Carey of the Flamingos to temporarily take his place with the group while he served his time in the Army. (They were once label mates for Chicago's Chance Records.)
So in 1957, Hunt became a Flamingo, and stayed one even after Carey's return. They moved to New York after signing with End Records, and released their biggest hit, the million-selling "I Only Have Eyes For You" (#1046) in 1958. Other strong songs for End were “Lovers Never Say Goodbye” (#1035) and “Mio Amore” (#1065)
After he had a falling out with the Flamingos in 1960, supposedly over religion - The Flamingos formed in 1952 in Chicago, where they sang together in the choir of the black Jewish Church of God and Saints of Christ - he went solo.
A&R man Luther Dixon of Scepter Records promptly offered Hunt a contract (the same dude and label that signed Chuck Jackson). He went on to have his most successful solo 45 for Scepter, “Human” (Scepter 1219), which charted (#5 R&B, #48 pop) in 1961. It became his signature song.
The song's lore has a twist to it. The record was slow to be picked up by the radio stations until a New York DJ accidentally flipped the wax to the B side - "Human." The phones rang off the hook after it was spun, and a hit was launched.
And a follow up, the Burt Bacharach composition, “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” (Scepter 1231), released the following year, did well on the charts, too. Hunt became a fixture on many of the R&B caravans of the era and was a regular on the Chitlin’ Circuit. He was a fixture at the Apollo, which sports photos of him in the lobby both as a solo act and as a member of the Flamingos.
Hunt sang his uptown soul on stage with R&B acts like Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Shirelles, Dionne Warwick, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley & Sam and Dave.
Later in the 60s, he recorded for the Capitol and Dynamo labels without any major success. In 1969, he went on a USO tour of Germany (funny place for an old AWOL flyboy to end up, hey?) and found a new home.
Hunt decided to stay in Europe to take advantage of the Northern Soul craze which was sweeping the continent, and is still going strong. It also gave him a chance to get away from the now well-established British Invasion and the Motown Sound, both of which were making uptown soul a losing battle in America.
After hitting the UK club circuit, Hunt recorded for Polydor in 1972 and Pye in 1974. He was then approached by Russ Winstanly and Mike Walker of Wigan Casino fame and released a string of hits on Spark. They led to Hunt becoming the Brit's 1982-83 Male Vocalist Of The Year, presented by the Club Mirror Award.
He moved to Amsterdam in 1986 and traveled the world with his cabaret shows, where he was famous for his dapper, old-school outfits and pre-song patter. Then, the rewards for him and the Flamingos began to roll in.
In 1996, he won The Rhythm and Blues Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award with the Flamingos. Hunt joined the Flamingos in the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000, followed by the Doo-Wop Hall of Fame in 2001. The Flamingos were then inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland that year, too.
Hunt now resides in England, and still performs with the Flamingos and as a solo artist while working on his autobiography. Not a bad little life for a reform school graduate from Perrysville, hey?
The Diadems got together as a gang of ten Homewood pre-teens in 1953, organized by Cleveland "Butch" Martin (who was blind, though it never hindered his ability to sing or write a song) and Earl Thompson. They called themselves the El Moroccos.
In 1956, the core of the act formed up. Martin was the lead, and was backed by Thompson (first tenor), Jerry Hill (baritone), Alvin Allsberry, Gerald Johnson and Arlene Gore. Allsberry and Johnson left in 1958, and Gore in 1959.
They were replaced in the lineup by bass Jerry Mitchell and Earl's brother Robert, a second tenor that was singing with the LaRells. The revamped group renamed themselves the Countdowns.
They didn't find any angel to back them in Pittsburgh as far as a recording deal went, so they motored to the Big Apple in 1960 and met up with Teacho Wiltshire, of the Tin Pan Alley label. They did a demo of a Top Notes song called "Shake It Up Baby," and Wiltshire wanted them to stay in NYC to record it.
But the boys were grown up now, and headed back to Pittsburgh, where their girls were. Can't beat that home cookin'! They became the Diadems, and recorded "What More Is There To Say" b/w "Ala Vevo" in 1961 on LaVerve #187.
Wiltshire didn't forget about them. He called and asked them to come back to New York to cover "Shake It Up Baby," but they were under contract to LaVerve and passed. The Isley Brothers didn't; they recorded the tune as "Twist And Shout." They were that close.
The following year, they signed on with Joe Averbach's Fee Bee label, and released some wax for his affiliates. "Why Don't You Believe Me?" b/w "Yes I Love You Baby," (Star #514), written by the group, was released in 1963, and "Dancing On Moonbeams" b/w "My Little Darling," was issued on Goodie #207 in 1964, with Jerry Hilton on lead.
The Diadems quickly followed with the doo-wop Martin-Thompson song "I'll Do Anything" b/w "Goodnight Irene" (Goodie #715) the same year. Buddy Sharpe and the Shakers, local rockabilly legends, provided the musical track behind them.
That was the last hurrah for the Diadems. Mitchell took ill, and the group disbanded for a bit. They came back as the Torches in 1965, and became the Rhythm Rascals in 1966, cutting the ballad "Why Do You Have To Go" b/w "Girl By My Side" on Sonic #117 that still receives some love from oldie compilation albums. And like many soul groups from back in the day, their wax still spins for Northern Soul fans in England.
Their trail ends in the seventies, and so goes the tale of the Diadems. Their leader, Butch Martin, died in Wilkinsburg of cancer in 2002 at the age of 63.
(Old Mon thanks Mitch Rosalsky and his book "Encyclopedia of Rhythm and Blues and Doo Wop Vocal Groups" for filling in much of the story. Travis Klein's liner notes with "Pittsburgh's Greatest Hits" were quite helpful too.)
"Why Don't You Believe Me?" - Diadems 1963 (Don't let the label fool ya!)
The Electrons of the late 1960's, from Richie Merritt's collection
One of the hot Pittsburgh songs of 1967-68 was "It Ain't No Big Thing," a midtempo soul tune done by the Electrons.
The song was originally done as a beach music tune by the Radiants. It would eventually be covered by 22 different artists, with better known versions done by the Tempests and Jimmie James & the Vagabonds.
The Electrons were seniors from Penn Hills High when they recorded the song in 1967 at Gateway Studios (above the National Record Mart store on Forbes Avenue near Market Square) on their own Shock Label (#289), b/w Wilson Pickett's soul shaker "In The Midnight Hour."
The Electron lineup consisted of former Fi-Dels lead singer Steve Sopko, drummer Cliff Abromats, rhythm guitarist Jimmy Widman, bass guitarist Jim Blinkhorn, Reed Donelli on brass, and lead guitarist and keyboardist Mike Colaizzi.
Abromats founded the band, and kept the business a family affair - his mom and dad (a former WAMO jock) were the de facto managers.
The song was a big thing in the Pittsburgh region - it was a Top Ten tune on WAMO, and made KDKA's Top Twenty - and created vibes in some other eastern and midwest markets. "It Ain't No Big Thing" moved enough wax locally that the Date Label (#2-1575), Columbia Record's soul subsidiary that included Peaches and Herb on its roster, picked it and the band up later in the year.
It was strong enough in the local market to keep the Electrons in business for awhile. They did the Tri-State club and hop circuit, and were regulars on Terry Lee's TV dance show "Come Alive."
And they had to work the circuit hard. The group found their contract with Date was more of a burden than blessing; the label made no effort to promote them or cut any more wax. As soon as the deal was done, they went back to the recording studio.
They put out another 45, "Turn On Your Love Light" b/w "I Who Have Nothing" (Shock #290) in the fall of 1968 with Richie Merritt on lead. He had replaced Sopko, who had left the band in the spring. (A Donora native, Merritt sang for the Mon Valley acts El Qunitones and The Dragons). But "Love Light" never took off the way "Big Thing" did.
"It Ain't No Big Thing" to this day is a popular slab of vinyl in Europe, where the Northern Soul collectors still argue over who turned out the best version.
The Electrons played the region until 1970, when the gang broke up and drifted off to college and the real world. But a couple of the members carried on in the business.
Sopko, now performing as Steve Tori, joined the Exceptions after he left the Electrons, which evolved into an eight-piece show band. He spent three years with them, and then switched gears and formed a trio that played the clubs.
After another three year stint, he went solo. Tori performs in the Pittsburgh and the near Tri-State, taking his act to clubs, restaurants, private functions, and parties. He also does gospel music, singing in area churches.
Richie Merritt opened a night club following the Electrons break-up, but carved out a sweet career on the stage instead of behind it. He sang with High Society, The Vibrators, The Laurels and The Memories.
Then, in 1993, Merritt became the lead tenor for The Clovers and was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon with them in 2002.
They dissolved shortly after, and he joined the Marcels in 2003, with whom he still performs nationally on occasion. Now he's based near Tampa, and does southland R&B gigs both as a solo artist and with his backup group, the Gems.
He also wrote and performed "Where Did I Go Wrong" (RAM Records), a song that made the Top 10 in the United Kingdom in 1990. It's on the self-released 1998 CD "Then And Now". Merritt released a CD collection of crossover hits in 2005, titled "Now."
(Old Mon is grateful to Sonny Derdock of the Penn Hills People website for his help in uncovering the Electrons info, Audrey Monaco Danovich, who provided us with the Electrons players, Mike Colaizzi, and Richie Merritt for his help. Without their kind assistance, there'd be no post. Thanks, guys, we appreciate it.)
Chuck Jackson was born July 22, 1937 in Latta, South Carolina, one of seven Jackson kids. And if ever a guy had the right to sing the blues, it was Chuck Jackson.
As a child, he never knew his father. When Jackson was eighteen months old, his mom gave him to her parents to raise in South Carolina and then moved to Pittsburgh to get a job in the mills. She never called home for her boy, and was pretty much a non-entity in his life after that.
Jackson had a home with his grandparents, but had to earn his keep. Almost from the time he could walk, his job was to pick cotton, and his only respite from the grueling, back-breaking labor was music.
Grandma made sure he attended church regularly, and he began to sing in the choir at age six. By the time he was eight, Jackson had his own fifteen-minute radio show on Sunday mornings, playing the piano and singing between the obituaries and church news. When he was twelve, his church choir represented Dillon County in a statewide competition.
Their finale was the old hymn “The Holy City,” and he wowed the crowd and judges as the featured soloist, winning a scholarship to South Carolina State College in the process.
It was his way out of the cotton fields, much like football was a way out of Western Pennsylvania's mills and mines. But there was the small matter of him being only twelve years old. The scholarship would wait for him, but college was a long way down the road.
But when he was fourteen, his black school failed to open. Instead of being behind a desk learning the three Rs, he was back in the fields when a school bus full of white kids sped by on the way to class at their school. He had enough, and like his mom before him, ran away from Latta to Pittsburgh.
He stayed with his aunt until he was sixteen, when he went back to South Carolina to finish high school, a prerequisite to collecting that scholarship at SCSC.
Now Pittsburgh was never the textbook example for race relations, but it sure seemed like it compared to the Jim Crow south of the mid-fifties. Jackson lasted in his home state until 1957, when he returned to the Steel City.
Jackson hooked up with the Ray Raspberry Gospel Singers, a group with a national reputation on the gospel circuit.
When two members of the Del Vikings, one of the hottest doo-wop/R&B acts to come out of Pittsburgh, were shipped overseas by the Air Force just as their biggest record, “Come Go With Me” was climbing up the charts, Jackson auditioned for the group and landed a replacement gig.
Jackson sang with the Kripp Johnson, Dot Records version of the Dell Vikings, later becoming Chuck Jackson and the Versatiles after Johnson left to rejoin the original act. (Don't ask - at one time there were three versions of the Del Vikings; they kept industry lawyers rolling in royalties for years). He also recorded for Calico as Chuck Johnson and The Jaycees, releasing "Mister Sandman" b/w "Oh Baby Mine" in 1960.
Opening one night for Jackie Wilson and impressing him with his work, Jackson became part of Mr. Entertainment's Revue.
Wilson taught Jackson how to go out and slay an audience, as only Wilson could do. He also got a taste of the road, performing at The Regal in Chicago, the Uptown in Philadelphia, the Howard in Washington DC and the king of soul houses, The Apollo in New York, which would eventually become Jackson's home stage.
It was at the famous Harlem venue that Chuck got his big break when Scepter A&R man Luther Dixon saw him perform. Other labels such as Brunswick (Wilson's longtime recording home), RCA and Columbia got into a bidding war for his services, but Jackson decided to go with Scepter/Wand.
Along with Scepter acts like Dionne Warwick and the Shirelles, Jackson's early 1960s arrangements blended pop, "uptown" R&B, and New York-session professionalism. The songs featured brass, strings, and female backup vocalists. He scored three hits as a duet act with Maxine Waters: “Something You Got” (Wand 181), “Hold On I’m Comin’” (Wand 1148), and “Daddy’s Home” (Wand 1155).
His raspy vocals stirred in some soul, but he never captured the growl of Wilson Pickett or James Brown, the Stax and King benchmarks. He offered up cool soul, not country clay; after all, his idol was the Count Basie Orchestra’s Joe Williams. His smooth sound made him a tough man top pigeon hole musically.
His stuff is so universal that several later became successful hits for other artists. C&W's Ronnie Milsap covered "Any Day Now" in 1982, and it reached #1 on the Country and Adult Contemporary charts. R&B/pop artist Michael McDonald had a huge hit with his cover of Jackson's "I Keep Forgettin'".
In fact, Tom Jones made his mark in America with a song that was originally written for Jackson, "It's Not Unusual."
His first Scepter/Wand single, 1961's "I Don't Want to Cry", which he co-wrote, charted on both the R&B (#5) and the top-forty pop charts. He followed it with “I Wake Up Crying,” #13 on R&B charts, and #59 on the pop listings. With that song, Jackson became the first black artist to chart a Hal David and Burt Bacharach song.
1962's "Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird)" was next, the Burt Bacharach-Bob Hilliard classic, which would go on to become one of the great crossover records of the era. It topped out at #2 on the R&B lists and #23 on the pop charts.
One of his better known singles, "I Keep Forgettin'" (1962), was written and produced by Leiber-Stoller, and 1964's "Beg Me." In all, Jackson would go on to release twenty-one singles that charted for Scepter/Wand, most of them minor r&b hits.
The highlight of the mid-sixties were his duets with Maxine Brown, titles like “Beg Me,” "Something You Got," Shep and the Limelites' "Daddy's Home," or “Hold On, I’m Comin’,” a cover of the Sam and Dave hit. But he would never have another Top 40 song.
In 1967, Jackson finally took up Smokey Robinson on a long-standing offer to join Motown, which seemed a natural for his pop/soul sound, and bought out his final years at Scepter.
His debut single, the Smokey song “(You Can’t Let the Boy Overpower) The Man in You,” only charted at #94. The flip side, “Girls, Girls, Girls,” was a hit in the U.K., which would eventually lead him to joining the Brit Northern Soul circuit, but didn't do much to embellish his Motor City cred.
Jackson’s three LPs for Motown were considered by critics to be the best of his career, but none sold. His cold streak buried at least two more albums’ worth of music that was left for dead in the Motown vaults. (The three released albums and their 48 tracks were combined as "Chuck Jackson - The Motown Anthology, Motown #983 293-1).
In 1970, Jackson left Motown for ABC and cut "I Only Get This Feeling” that had the sound of a hit, but wasn’t. ABC didn’t promote him, and probably with good reason; they went under shortly afterwards. Jackson then signed on with EMI, where he got even less love.
Jackson teamed with old friend Dionne Warwick (they consider each other to be brother and sister) for the 1997 "If I Let Myself Go," nominated for a Grammy as the Best Duet. It was the 23rd charted song of his long career.
But hey, he's still rollin' on. Jackson has continued to record on small labels like All Platinum and Carolina, and still performs, often abroad. In 1990, he headlined the Northern Soul Festival in Great Yarmouth, England, and he has been a huge favorite on the Northern Soul circuit ever since.
He’s headlined at the Apollo Theater more than any other artist in history, and he produces shows there, too. Not too surprisingly, he's a winner of the Apollo Theatre's Hall of Fame Award. Jackson's been on The Tonight Show, Soul Train and American Bandstand.
Now he works mainly weekend gigs, and spends a lot of time on inner-city projects. Jackson's even a member of New York's Friars Club.
From the gospel of South Carolina to the doo-wop of Pittsburgh, Chuck Jackson has evolved into the king of cool soul.
The El Capris first got together in the city's Hill District in 1954. It seemed like half the Hill's junior high population was singing for them - there were seven members, all either 13 or 14 years old.
They were Eddie Jackson (lead tenor), James Scott (first tenor), Theodore McCrary (second tenor), Leon Gray (baritone), William Germany (baritone and conga drums), Larry Hill (bass), and James Ward (bass and bongos). They modeled their style after the Five Royales, Ravens, Clovers, and Ink Spots, more R&B than doo-wop.
They called themselves the El Capris because they thought it was the sexy Spanish version of "The Bluebirds," their original choice. Actually, "Capri" isn't even a Spanish word. We checked the dictionary; the Bluebirds translate as "Los Azulejo", a terribly tongue-twisting title for a Pittsburgh act.
But hey, El Capris it was, and it worked fine for them, even if it drove their Spanish teacher into fits of apoplexy.
The group broke out when they won a school talent contest on July 4th, 1955, earning a singing session with Bullseye Records owner Woody Henderling in New York City.
Henderling signed the El Capris on the spot, and they returned to Pittsburgh to cut their first single, "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Wop," b/w "Oh, But She Did" (Bullseye 102) at Porky's WHOD Studio. They wrote the A side, and the B side was a cover of an Opals tune.
Released in March of 1956, the record flopped nationally, though it did score locally on both sides of the vinyl. Pittsburgh jocks did love B sides, and were never shy about turning a record over.
The group skipped to Joe Averbach's local label Fee Bee for their follow-up, 1957's "Your Star" b/w "Dance All Night" and "To Live Again" (there were alternate pressings with different flip sides, with both versions issued as Fee Bee 216).
Averbach pushed the disc hard, and had the El Capris appear at the Apollo Theatre, the Uptown, and the Trianon, along with all the local spots, but the record went belly-up.
After a third single, "Safari" b/w "Quit Pulling My Woman" - which wasn't even performed by the group, although it was credited to them on the label - (Ring-O 308, a Fee Bee affiliate), they left Averbach.
The El Capris began to spin apart. The problem wasn't local fame. They were a hot draw at the area clubs, and popular on the eastern tours. But between no hit recordings and coming of age, the wheels began to fall off the El Capris.
By 1958 only McCrary, Gray, and Germany remained from the original seven, but they soldiered on, adding first tenor Percy Wharton and bass Sam Askue to cut "Ivy League Clean" b/w "They're Always Laughing At Me" (Paris 525). Like the other records, it went nowhere fast, though the B side did get some Tri-State love.
The El Capris never recorded after that (not from lack of effort; apparently they couldn't sweet talk any labels into giving them studio time), but the group continued playing the East Coast nightclub circuit until they finally broke up in 1970.
Eddie Jackson went on to Philly, where he sang with Brenda and the Tabulations ("Dry Your Eyes"). Larry Hill became a craftsman and sculptor, and passed away in 2004. The rest scattered with the wind so far as Old Mon can tell.
A quarter century later, co-founders Germany and Jackson played a series of revival showcases launched by a come-back concert at Donna's Carousel Lounge on May 14, 1994. They were back.
The El Capris revamped the roster with second tenor Shane Plummer (who is active in the SOUL - Save Our Unique Legacy - club, whose members are trying to preserve the history of black music) and bass Doc Battle. They're still making music, performing the occasional local gig on the Pittsburgh oldies circuit.
Dakota Staton (Stay-ton, not Staten, please!) was born in Homewood on June 3, 1930. She began singing and dancing as a child, emulating screen star Shirley Temple. She learned the basics of her craft at the Filion School of Music.
Staton went to Westinghouse HS and belonged to the renowned Kadets, a swing band that played music ranging from Glenn Miller's "String of Pearls" to Coleman Hawkins' "Body and Soul."
Carl McVicker Sr., a trumpet player, music teacher, and legend at Westinghouse since the 1920s, led the band and taught local greats like Earl Garner, Billy Strayhorn, Ahmad Jamal, Nelson Harrison, Frank Cunimondo - and Dakota Staton.
And along with them, she's memorialized as a member of the Bulldog's Wall of Fame.
When Staton was sixteen, she was in a stage revue called Fantastic Rhythm. Thanks to her show-stopping performance, she was chosen to be a vocalist with Joe Westray and his orchestra, a popular band that made the rounds of Hill District nightspots.
She graduated in 1948, and Staton started singing with other show bands. Staton followed her muse to Detroit, where she headlined a regular gig at the Flame Show Bar. She was a rider on the Midwest club circuit, doing shows in Indianapolis, Minnesota, St. Louis, and even Canada before moving to New York City.
While singing in a Harlem nightclub called the Baby Grand, Capitol Records producer Dave Cavanaugh caught Staton's act and signed her to the label.
In 1954, Staton recorded the single "What Do You Know about Love?" b/w "You’re My Heart’s Delight" for Capitol (Cap #T1170) and toured the East Coast. In 1955, Down Beat magazine voted her "the most promising jazz vocalist of the year."
Never strictly a jazz act, she was also a rollicking R&B singer and performed alongside Big Joe Turner and Fats Domino at Cleveland DJ Alan Freed's early Rock 'n' Roll Party showcases.
Freed regularly played Staton's "My Heart's Delight" on his daily WINS show, and when her long-awaited debut album "The Late, Late Show" hit the shelves in 1957, it became a huge crossover hit, charting at #4.
The title track became her most famous number. Other hits on the LP were “Broadway” and “My Funny Valentine.”
Staton’s next album was “Dynamic!” (Capitol, 1958), which charted at #22 and featured "Anything Goes" and "Too Close For Comfort." They were to be her two best sellers off the LP.
In all, she recorded 29 albums and was loved by the critics. Staton worked with the cream, pianist George Shearing and arrangers Nelson Riddle and Sid Feller. She was a brilliant jazz and blues singer, known for her bright, trumpetlike sound and tough, sassy style.
But Staton never reached the fame of singers like Dinah Washington, whom she cited as a model, and Sarah Vaughan. First, she was tough to pin down stylistically, slipping into pop, R&B, standards, jazz, gospel, and the blues effortlessly, and every genre had its own separate audience to sell.
Secondly, she was an album artist, and didn't really focus on cranking out hit singles, the new benchmark of her times. And finally, she was caught in a Black Muslim firefight.
She married trumpeter Talib Ahmad Dawud in 1958, converted to Islam, and for a time performed under the name Aliyah Rabia.
She became an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a moderate Islamic movement that ran counter to the radical stance of Elijah Muhammad. The Brotherhood found itself the eye of the storm when Muhammad claimed "they should be ashamed of trying to make fun of me and my followers while serving the devil in the theatrical world."
The resulting media flap hammered both sides, and put a serious hurting on Staton's commercial appeal. Islamic backlash wasn't unique to the George Bush era, and the black power struggle she was involved with lost her a portion of the record-buying public.
1959's "Crazy He Calls Me" still charted, but she never again enjoyed the crossover success of her previous discs, and her star began to dim.
1961's live "Dakota at Storyville," was her last Capitol session, and she jumped to United Artists for 1963's "From Dakota with Love." After two more UA albums, "Live and Swinging" and "Dakota Staton" with Strings," she left the label and didn't cut another record for eight years.
She moved to England in 1965 and worked hotels across the continent and cruise ship gigs. Staton was yesterday's news by the time she returned to the U.S. in 1971.
She signed with Groove Merchant and cut a 1972 comeback LP "Madame Foo Foo" with Richard "Groove" Holmes. Dates for Muse and Simitar followed, and in 1999 she signed with High Note for her final studio date, "A Packet of Love Letters."
She continued to perform live well into her 60s. Writing for The New York Times in 1998, Robert Sherman called Staton “one of America’s great vocal stylists.”
Over the years, Staton would periodically return to Pittsburgh for concerts, performing with pianist and brother Bulldog Frank Cunimondo at his old place, the Cunimondo Keyboard Club in Verona, and Per Favore restaurant in Oakland. Her last hometown appearance was in 1996, when she performed at the Hill House Auditorium as part of the Mellon Jazz Festival.
In 2001, Staton was inducted to the Gallery of Stars, hosted in the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater lobby, with a star block on the sidewalk in front of the theater. If you're ever passing the Kelly-Strayhorn on Penn Avenue, look down, and there it'll be. She's also a member of the Pittsburgh Jazz Society Hall of Fame, a pretty impressive group by any standards.
Dakota Staton died April 10, 2007 at the Isabella Geriatric Center in New York at the age of 76, and was buried at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. She had been going downhill ever since suffering a triple aneurysm in the 1990s.
Caffe Jazz, a label out of Westlake Village, California, released a 14-song concert recording, "Dakota Staton Live at Milestones," a Buffalo nightclub, that was originally a 1986 radio broadcast. Among its highlights is one of Dakota’s few compositions, the upbeat blues tune “Play Your Hand,” and the old favorite “What Do You See in Her?” It came out a month before her passing.
Staton was one of the great vocalists of her era, belting out show tunes, R&B, jazz, blues and gospel with equal ease. Along with her ever-shifting musical identity, Staton got caught in the crosshairs of a political struggle. She had a sweet career, even though it never got the wind in its sails that it deserved. But if Dakota Staton isn't the best female vocalist from Pittsburgh, she's surely on the short list.
Eddie Johnson (now known as Bashir Ansari) had been singing since he was old enough to remember, and his voice was well known on the Hill from a young age.
One day in 1957, as he was walking along Whitehead Road in the Bedford Dwellings, he heard some sweet harmonies coming through a closed building door. He took a seat on the steps and listened.
“They need one more voice,” he thought. When the rehearsal broke up, one of the singers recognized Johnson and invited him to come back next week.
A week later, he returned, and this time the door was open. Johnson sang with the guys – Wayne Walker, Ronald Hill, Paul Brentley (Pittsburgh school board director Mark is his nephew), Daryl Gilmore, and Eddie Tyler – and soon was part of the group. The Fifth Avenue High classmates made a pretty soulful sound together.
They hit Pittsburgh’s music scene as the El Dupreys, a name thought up by Brentley when the Hill District group first formed in the mid-1950s.
Gilmore left, replaced by Johnson. Willie James was in and out, leaving to join Homewood's Capitols in 1958. Guitar man Leonard Goings, bongo player John Stubbs, and drummer Roosevelt “Donnell” Gloster joined Johnson (lead & keyboards), Walker (bass), Hill (lead & tenor), Brentley (baritone), and Tyler (tenor) to form the classic El Duprey lineup.
Even that roster was fluid. Lonnie Kurt eventually replaced Tyler, who went off to find his fame and fortune in Detroit. Hill left, too, and his spot was taken by LeRoy Grammer.
They joined the city's R&B circuit, gigging at the local clubs. The group did hops for WILY/WAMO’s Bill Powell (even making an appearance on his radio show), Porky Chedwick, and Sir Walter, the reigning triumvirate of Pittsburgh soul jocks.
They played at local venues such as Westray’s Plaza, Diamond Skating Rink, Union Hall, Ammon Center, North Side Elks and New Savoy.
They were a popular act south of the City, too, often doing shows in little Washington and McDonald. The El Dupreys even went on a month-long regional tour of local super groups, the “Cavalcade of Stars," a takeoff on Dick Clark’s national barnstormers.
From 1957-1960, they were front and center in the local scene. The El Dupreys shared the stage with local heavyweights like George Benson and the Altairs, the El Capris, & the La Rells, along with national acts such as the Dells and the Clovers.
Their name drew so well that Johnson’s sister, Delores, a singer and guitarist, had a group that gigged with them, the El Duprettes. They were pretty good, too. Delores is still in the business, and has a CD, “Central Park,” that she cut with Glen Dorsey and the Twilighters.
They covered the hit tunes of the day and did their own compositions, like “Evie.” But they never got that recording that would have cemented their reputation, thanks to a youthful business indiscretion.
Deciding to bypass the local route, they hopped in a car and drove off to New York and the bright lights of the Big Apple. The first studio they stopped at gave them an audition, and they did some of their original material. It was show-stopping stuff and sold the suits.
The El Dupreys were signed on the spot, and went home to wait on the call to come back to the city that never sleeps and cut some wax.
That call never came. They were under contract to a label that wouldn’t record them, and for good reason. The El Dupreys found out that the studio (they’ve forgotten its name after the decades) was actually placed under the name of the owner’s 15-year old nephew in an effort to evade taxes.
But the Feds weren’t fooled by the ploy (they seldom are). They shut the shop down, and with it, the group’s shot at pressing their own vinyl.
“We learned a lesson,” explained Ansari. “Never sign the first offer. Shop yourself around and see what’s available. But we were young at the time, and so was our manager.” It was a hard lesson to learn, and there were a lot of tough ones yet to be absorbed.
Ansari remembers one gig when “we were promised $100 and 25% of the gate. After the show, the promoter said there must be some misunderstanding. There was no guarantee, and the gate share was to be split among all the groups, not just ours.”
It was quite common, unfortunately, for misunderstandings like that to happen to the era’s teen singers. Bring in the money and then hitch a ride home.
In 1960, the group was invited to perform in West Virginia for transportation, room and board – but no guarantee of a fee. Johnson thought that they were beyond playing for free, and when the group voted to take the date for the exposure (and the truth be told, the post-gig party), he left, along with Kurt.
But he picked up another job soon enough. A week later, hanging out on Centre Avenue, he ran across George Benson. It was just after he had left the Altairs. They put their talents together, added drummer Bob Story, a brass section, and began to perform as the Counts.
But in 1961, Johnson “got religion,” changed his name to Bashir Ansari, and left the industry for decades. He’s back, and has been for the past 15 years, singing and tickling the keys with people like Rodney McCoy and Johnny Smooth, doing jazz and R&B now.
The El Dupreys kept on truckin' for awhile, too. Ron Hill came back, and they added Leon Harvard to replace Johnson and Kurt.
But the wheels soon began to come off the El Dupreys ride. As with virtually every group of the time, the money ended up in every pocket but theirs. There were family and other responsibilities that began to claim their energies. The final blow landed when Brentley, the group's high-energy glue guy, was called to gig with Uncle Sam.
After the breakup, Grammer started LeRoy and the Excitements, later becoming the Enchantments. Walker, Hill, and Brentley threw in with him, and second tenor Leon Howard was added. They sang at all the hot spots in Pittsburgh and even scored some New York gigs.
From what we understand, LeRoy wasn't very excited when his label decided ElRoy was a better name to front the band than LeRoy and flipped his name. Who knows, maybe it was just a typo. Maybe not. That's show biz, although in Pittsburgh they still went by LeRoy and the Excitements.
Instead, they got Joe Rock of the Skyliners to manage them, and in 1961 released the doo wop “My Love Will Never Die,” b/w “No One Knows” on Alanna Reords #188 (reissued in 1963 as Alanna #565), a local outfit that still pushes platters from its' Uptown Fifth Avenue HQ. In fact, both songs are still out there on “Alanna Records Presents - Pittsburgh Rhythm and Blues/Rock 1959-1963” (ACD #5551).
The Alanna contract ran its term, and they reformed as LeRoy and the Enchantments. They approached Motown about a contract, and played a soulful Walker ballad, “Lonely Hearts," for the suits. They were told that the times, they were a'changin' in the music world, and to come back with an upbeat song to go with the slow jam before being shown the door. Rebuffed, they decided to stay local.
They cut “Lonely Hearts” b/w “Popeye, the Dance To Do,” (Ro-Mac #1001) and “Jelly Roll,” also recorded by Ro-Mac Records. That impress was run by Bob Mack, WZUM jock and Liberty Avenue's Tri-State Record Shop owner, whose chief clerk was none other than Mad Mike Metro. Eventually the Enchantments wound down, too.
Walker stayed in the business, though, and was an original member of These Gents when it formed in 1964, with Grammer and a couple of the old Altairs, William Herndon and Richard Harris. Herndon and Harris went on to sing with Fred Johnson's Marcels, whose group they often opened for.
These Gents recorded once, cutting "Yesterday Standing By, Parts 1 & 2" for Walt Maddox's Carnegie-based Western World Records in 1974 (#WW55101).
Now Walker performs for a dynamite gospel group, Voices For Christ. Don’t miss them if you ever get a chance to catch a performance. They're all that.
The group stays in touch, having forged bonds in their youth that didn't dissolve over the years. Ansari and Stubbs live in the City, Walker in Wilkinsburg, Brentley in Monroeville, Hill in Tempe Hill (MD), Tyler in Detroit, and Gloster near Atlantic City.
The gang, and a lot of the remaining Steel City soul men of the era, got together this summer at Kingsley to celebrate Tyler’s birthday. And you know what? They still make beautiful music together.
(Old Mon would like to thank Bashir Ansari for all his time and patience in cobbling the group's history together, Wayne Walker for adding his remembrances & edits, and David Parr for acting as a tireless middleman in getting the story written.)
"My Love Will Never Die" - ElRoy and the Excitements 1961
