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Jamie LePage (1953-2002)
http://www.spectropop.com/Jamie.htm
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There are 12 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Are you a boy? Or are you a girl?
From: Warren
2. Re: The Poppy Family
From: Ian Slater
3. Re: The (Chicago) Lovelites
From: Ian Slater
4. Re: Al Gorgoni
From: Peter Lerner
5. Re: Spiral Starecase
From: Doug
6. Re: Spiral Starecase/Shocking Blue
From: Stephanie Campbell
7. Helter Skelter
From: Ian Chippett
9. Re: Are you a boy? Or are you a girl?
From: Phil Milstein
10. Re: Are you a boy? Or are you a girl?
From: Jan Kristensen
11. Re: Are you a boy? Or are you a girl?
From: Stephanie Campbell
12. DEL SHANNON'S BACK-UP GIRLS
From: Mick Patrick
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Message: 1
Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 09:35:46 -0400
From: Warren
Subject: Re: Are you a boy? Or are you a girl?
Stewart Mason wrote:
> ... the Spiral Starecase ... "No One For Me To Turn To" ... I have fond
> memories of this song reaching back as far as hearing my sister play the 45
> on her Dansette ... And it's somehow taken me until JUST ABOUT FIFTEEN
> MINUTES AGO to realize that the lead singer isn't a woman!
I was that way with Air Supply also when they 1st came out......... And
I was born in 1950..... during the day (not night)
W
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Message: 2
Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 14:07:50 -0000
From: Ian Slater
Subject: Re: The Poppy Family
As promised in Digest 502, I've uploaded to Musica one of the group's
tracks that isn't on their CD compilation.
"Someone Must Have Jumped" is from their second album - "Poppy Seeds"
(Decca SKL 5114 in the UK), self-penned like most of their songs and
featuring Terry Jacks as vocalist.
I chose this because it represents the psych aspect of their output
rather than the pop-folk of their big hit, "Which Way You Goin'
Billy".
I've compared the tracks on the CD and the LPs. Only 2 of those
on "Which Way You Goin' Billy" are not on the CD - "For Runnin' Wils"
and "Of Cities and Escapes".
Half (6) of the "Poppy Seeds" tracks are not on the CD - "No Good to
Cry", "Livin' Too Close to the Ground", "Someone Must Have Jumped", "So
Used to Loving You" and "Remember the Rain".
From the Amazon listing (I've not bought the CD yet) the CD has 4
tracks not on the LPs - "You Don't Know What Love Is", "I Thought of You
Again", "Another year, Another Day" and "Evil Overshadows Joe".
The CD is easy enough to find on American web sites - for example
both CDNow and Amazon.com stock it. It's nice to read the customers'
rave reviews on Amazon.
Ian Slater
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Message: 3
Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 14:20:22 -0000
From: Ian Slater
Subject: Re: The (Chicago) Lovelites
Further to discussions on this late 60s / early 70s soul trio
(Digests 579 and 580), I've uploaded to Musica the first track off
their UNI LP "Oh My Love".
Written by group leader Patti Hamilton, it also appeared on a single
(Lovelite 1008) with "Love So Strong". However, it isn't on their
CD "The Lovelite Years".
Ian Slater
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Message: 4
Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 15:24:02 +0100
From: Peter Lerner
Subject: Re: Al Gorgoni
Just back from holiday and catching up. Al Gorgoni's name I
associate with just about all of those brilliant early records
that Evie Sands made in association with Chip Taylor and others.
Norman mentions the Gorgoni, Martin and Taylor recording act,
and on the strength of the Evie Sands work I was pleased to
find a 45 by them recently (Sweet Dream Woman / Got the Feeling
Something Got Away - Buddah 2011-102). It's on the UK Polydor-
distributed label and has the date 1971. Unfortunately it's not
very good - well not to my taste anyway.
Peter
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Message: 5
Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 17:06:19 -0000
From: Doug
Subject: Re: Spiral Starecase
Stewart Mason wrote:
> And it's somehow taken me until JUST ABOUT FIFTEEN MINUTES
> AGO to realize that the lead singer isn't a woman!
I had just about the opposite experience. I was shocked (pun
intended) to find out that the singer on "Venus" by Shocking
Blue was a female (and a pretty good looking one at that). I
didn't find out until several years after the song was a hit,
when Bomp! magazine did a feature on Dutch rock (I didn't know
they were Dutch until then either).
Doug
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Message: 6
Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 16:03:16 -0700
From: Stephanie Campbell
Subject: Re: Spiral Starecase/Shocking Blue
Stewart Mason:
> And it's somehow taken me until JUST ABOUT FIFTEEN MINUTES
> AGO to realize that the lead singer isn't a woman!
Doug:
> I had just about the opposite experience. I was shocked (pun
> intended) to find out that the singer on "Venus" by Shocking
> Blue was a female (and a pretty good looking one at that). I
> didn't find out until several years after the song was a hit,
> when Bomp! magazine did a feature on Dutch rock (I didn't know
> they were Dutch until then either).
I have seen pics of that group and the girl and this is the
first time I have heard that was her singing..are you sure?
Steph
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Message: 7
Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 15:48:00 EDT
From: Ian Chippett
Subject: Helter Skelter
Kingsley wrote:
> Helter Skelter full and varied catalogue can be viewed at
> http://www.helter.skelter.demon.co.uk
Not quite! Try http://www.skelter.demon.co.uk for better results.
Ian Chippett
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Message: 9
Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 18:37:13 +0000
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Re: Are you a boy? Or are you a girl?
> I have seen pics of that group and the girl and this is the
> first time I have heard that was her singing..are you sure?
Mariska Veres (the girl) was definitely the singer in
Shocking Blue.
--Phil M.
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Message: 10
Date: Mon, 02 Sep 2002 00:37:00 +0200
From: Jan Kristensen
Subject: Re: Are you a boy? Or are you a girl?
Mariska Veres was the lead singer of Shocking Blue - Just think about it -
would a male singer try to have hits with songs like "Never Marry A Railroad
Man" or "I'm A Woman".
Jan K - a male
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Message: 11
Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 19:53:10 -0700
From: Stephanie Campbell
Subject: Re: Are you a boy? Or are you a girl?
Jan K (a male) wrote:
> Mariska Veres was the lead singer of Shocking Blue - Just think about it -
> would a male singer try to have hits with songs like "Never Marry A Railroad
> Man" or "I'm A Woman".
I swear she sounds like a man in that record!! Thanks for the information I
wonder what they are doing now?
Phil Milstein wrote:
> Mariska Veres (the girl) was definitely the singer in Shocking Blue.
Oh well, I guess I was wrong. Thanks for informing me. I'm glad I'm on this
list. This is what being a Spectropopper is all about, sharing the knowledge.
Stephanie
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Message: 12
Date: Mon, 02 Sep 2002 01:32:32 +0100
From: Mick Patrick
Subject: DEL SHANNON'S BACK-UP GIRLS
Back in November 2001, Ron Buono wrote:
> Now, can anyone tell us who the girl group was on Del Shannon's
> "Little Town Flirt", "Too Many Teardrops" and other tracks?
> They were as good or better than many of the gal groups of that
> time. Dont'cha think?
Hello,
Such are the things that keep me awake at night!
Ron was on the button with the above observation, that's for sure.
Those chick back-ups on such great Del Shannon tracks as "Little
Town Flirt" (Here she comes . . . foolin' around . . . doot de do
waah), "Two Kinds Of Teardrops" (made you cry . . . bop do-do wah
nah), "Kelly" (that I'm in love with yee-oo . . . sha la la) and
"Two Silhouettes" are among the best background girl group vignettes
ever caught on magnetic tape. Even all you devotees of Lou Christie
and the Tammys agree with me, right? (Unless, of course, my friend
Harry Young is reading this).
Whoever those back-up babes were, they deserved a recording career
of their own, surely?! Well, fellow girl group obsessives will be
delighted to learn that a recently published book reveals the
identity of that group. And it transpires that they did, indeed,
have their own career. They were from Detroit, the Motor City, and
had several releases under their own name, one even gaining release
in the UK. Any guesses? No, dingbats, not the Supremes!
The book in question is "Guitars, Bars & Motown Superstars", the
autobiography of legendary Detroit guitarist Dennis Coffey. Here's
a bit of the blurb from the back cover:
"...honorary member of Motown's elite rhythm section, the Funk
Brothers...playing on hits for Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, the
Temptations...as well as recording his own million-selling smash,
the much-sampled slab of funk, "Scorpio"..."
Mr Coffey was the guitarist on Freda Payne's immortal "Band Of Gold",
for which we should all be eternally grateful. Back in the early 60s
he joined the Royaltones, a group managed by Irving Micahnik and
Harry Balk, owners of the Embee Production Company and such Detroit
record labels as Twirl and Volume. Embee's most famous act was Del
Shannon, whose discs were leased to Big Top in New York. The
Royaltones played on very many Embee productions, including several
for Shannon.
"When the members of the Royaltones and me recorded behind Del
Shannon, Harry Balk flew us in to New York after we rehearsed the
songs in Detroit, so we could record them at Bell Sound in midtown
Manhattan", says Coffey in the book. "I recorded with Del on many
projects including the big hit "Little Town Flirt". The back-up
vocals were performed by a girl group from Detroit known as the
Young Sisters who also had a record out that I played on.
The Young Sisters Discography (attempt):
Twirl 2001 ..... 1962 ..... Casanova Brown ................ My Guy
Twirl 2008 ..... 1962 ..... Playgirl ................. Hello, Baby
Mala 467 ....... 1963 ..... She Took His Love Away ..... Jerry Boy
"Casanova Brown", the Young Sisters' best-known recording, was also
issued in the UK on London HLU 9610. It's a rather tasty "Locomotion"
soundalike, musically very similar to Del's recordings of the period,
right down to what sounds like Shannon-sidekick Maximillian on
futuristic keyboards. "Playboy" is a kinda answer-record to the
Marvelettes' "Playboy". The girls' third single is pretty good, too.
All four of the Del Shannon songs mentioned in my opening paragraph
were written, or co-written, by one Maron McKenzie. The very same
songwriter's name also appears on all six of the Young Sisters'
released sides.
Coffey's scroll is brought to us by Bee Cool, who specialise in
publishing books on soul music. I bought my copy in Helter Skelter
in Denmark St, London WC2, the best music book shop in town, full of
stuff I can't afford. Not that I have the time to read books. I just
look at the pictures. No, there is no picture of the Young Sisters in
this book. Nor an index.
Helter Skelter have a website. According to the store's carrier bags,
but contrary to recent postings by other members, the correct URL is:
http://www.helter@skelter.demon.co.uk Bee Cool probably have one, too.
(but)
MICK PATRICK
(doesn't)
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