Ya know, every so often Old Mon acts his age and spins an old doo-wop tune on his Kenwood. And one of the best, bar none, was a sixties ballad by George Goodman and the Fabulous Headliners called "Let Me Love You."
And hey, Old Mon's not alone in his admiration of the song. Paul Mawhinney, of Record Rama fame and vinyl collector extraordinaire, said this when he was asked what one song from his stacks of wax he would play for company:
"I would put a record on called 'Let Me Love You' by George Goodman & His Headliners, a wonderful ballad and a Number 1 record in Pittburgh and Baltimore. It’s the most released non-hit record in history!"
As far as we can figure, it was issued five times, twice on national labels. The record was first released in 1964 on Sharpsburg's Val label (#1), credited to George Goodman & His Headliners, and reissued a couple of times. (Val Records was local label operated by florist Augie Bernardi.)
It was released again on Warner Brothers in 1965 (#5632), and pressed again by A&M (#1011) in 1968 under The Headliners. It became a huge regional hit but never charted nationally.
In fact, the group had a little cottage industry going on with the label for a brief spell and was Val's big act; we suspect that it was Goodman's home base - he was also heavily into the industry side, producing, distributing, and promoting records - but we can't verify the Val connection. Their 45's from the Middle Street label were:
RECORD Val #1-1964
SIDE A: Let Me Love You (2:57)
SIDE B: Let Me Love You (instrumental - 2:57)
The song was written by Genne Salo and produced by George Goodman.
RECORD Val #3-1964
SIDE A: Starlight And Moonbeams (2:35)
SIDE B: I'm So Tired (2:40)
The song was written by Rodney Williams and George Goodman. Goodman also produced the session.
RECORD Val #5-1964
SIDE A: I'll Cherish Your Love (2:18)
SIDE B: Secret Love (2:20)
RECORD Val #6-1965
SIDE A: Need You (2:14)
SIDE B: Starlight And Moonbeams (2:18)
(Listing from Youngblood's Oldies Database)
And just who were these guys that had the doo-wop ballad down to an art form in a city that took its vocalists seriously? They were George Goodman (baritone), Rodney Williams (lead), and Melvin Peters (tenor).
The Hill's Goodman died young in the late 60s. Travis Klein, of Itzy label fame, filled us in on his bio: "George Goodman, from the Hill District, got his start in the mid 60's working for Herbie Cohen's Fenway Distributors on Fifth Avenue, Uptown. He was very involved in distributing and promoting R & B records for them and helped break Charlie and Inez Foxx's "Mockingbird" on Sue Records.
Melvin Peters started his career with The Five Mellows, and also worked with the Del Vikings and Marcels. In the early 1960's, he joined Chuck Jackson and the Motown group The Originals. Then it was back home as a Headliner. He spent the seventies working with Solid Gold, Flashback, and the Katch. Now he's with a Cleveland group called Mellow Class.
After Goodman's death, we've been told, the Headliners played and toured regionally for awhile, before eventually heading to Texas to harmonize, allegedly as faux-Marcels (at least until the real Marcels found out).
And that's all we could find out about the short-lived Headliners, other than they're not to be mistaken with Motown's Headliners of the same era, and they're on several compilation albums, such as Itzy's Pittsburgh's Greatest Hits series. If you can add to their tale, give us a yell. Meanwhile, enjoy "Let Me Love You."
George Goodman and the Headliners - "Let Me Love You"
