On the 8th January
1958, in another Brunswick session at Pythian
Temple, Jackie Wilson recorded one of the great
Gordy/Davis collaborations, “To be Loved”. It
reached #22 in the Pop charts and #7 in the R&B
charts. This time another quality arranger was
involved, Milton Delugg. This was their best
effort to date in the Pop charts.
In April, Chess Records began
to show interest, perhaps as a result of their
distribution deal with End Records. Regardless
their Argo subsidiary released songs by Penny
and the EKO’s with “Share Our Love” and The
Moonglows with “Soda Pop”, the latter being in
the middle of a successful run in the R&B charts
at that time.
Two months later, local
record man Robert West released 45’s by Nancy
Peters, The Falcons and Marv Johnson on his Kudo
label. The Falcons release also came out on
Chess. All songs were produced by Berry Gordy at
Special Studios on Duffield, but West and his
two partners Bill Lane and James Higgins held
the publishing rights.
There appeared to be twelve
week gaps between Jackie Wilson’s Brunswick
releases but Tarnopol’s patience paid off, when
in October 1958 Wilson had his greatest success
to date in “Lonely Teardrops”, which went #7 Pop
and #1 R&B. Dick Jacobs did another fantastic
job on arrangements, but it remains a mystery
why Brunswick would forego the top class
studios of Manhattan for United Sound Studios in
Detroit. Perhaps Detroit did have some studio
quality on it’s doorstep after all.
Further songs recorded in
1958 were by Tony Spade “What’s Gwyne On” on
Backbeat (the Texas label would release a number
of Detroit 45’s over the years); The Miracles on
End with ”I Need Some
Money”/”I Cry”; Cortez Young on Gold with
“Everybody’s Going”; “Marry Me” by Tom Clay on
Chant; The Fidelitones (rumoured to be Freddie
Gorman and others) on Aladdin with “Pretty
Girl”/”The Game Of Love”; and Nick Forrest with
“Let Me Be”.
And one final release by Bob
Kayli came out on the Carlton label, called
“Everyone Was There”/”I Took A Dare”. Carlton
were renowned for their pristine recordings and
this was no different, but after it made a
healthy start in the charts it bombed when Bob
appeared on TV and was seen to be black. Bob was
Robert Gordy, Berry’s younger brother, and Kayli
was a name he plucked from a character in a
television horror show.
The fall of 1958 saw Berry
was being filed for divorce by Thelma, who had
walked out with their three kids.
And another woman had come
into Berry’s life.
Music : "To Be Loved" - Jackie Wilson (Brunswick55052a)
Continued
