Motown bought out Thelma Records in 1966, though
none of the artists’ contracts were taken up,
which left Emanuel Laskey in limbo.“Mike Hanks
called me with a song he wanted me to do, so we
recorded ‘I love you madly’ at Tera Shirma.
James Epps was in the studio listening to me
sing it. Then Mr. Wingate decided he wanted it
for the Fantastic Four as the follow up to ‘The
whole world is a stage’ and I had to take the
tape to James for him to learn. Man that was
tough, especially when it became a hit.”
If
every cloud does indeed have a silver lining
Laskey found his in another song provided by
Mike Hanks. Hanks had struck a deal with Armen
Boladian’s Westbound set up to release two songs
he had recorded on Laskey, ‘More love (where
this came from)’ b/w ‘Letter from Vietnam’.
‘More love’ became his biggest selling single
mainly due to the national distribution
Westbound was able to provide.
Large sales didn’t necessarily mean great
returns for the vocalist however, “…we got 3
cents per copy sold or a percentage. The reason
why artists didn’t make that much was that if a
record was a hit, the artist would be charged
for studio time, musicians and producers fees
and some distribution costs against royalties.
That didn’t leave much.”
As
a result of the record’s success, Laskey
embarked on several national and regional tours
to support and promote it, but faltered when the
follow up, ‘Never my love’, failed to
capitalize on ‘More love’s momentum. Which is a
pity, because he managed to inject his own
unique and truly soulful identity on a song that
would usually be confined to lifts and
supermarket aisles.
Although he never recorded for Westbound again,
the Laskey name would surface on several small
labels well into the 1970s with such songs as
‘Remember me always’ for Stag, 'Just the
way (I want her to be)’ for Music Now and ‘I’d
rather leave on my feet’ for Dennis Talley’s DT
label.
The latter saw him swept up in the disco fad of
the 1970s – surely the ultimate knackers yard
for the truly soulful spirits that preceded it.
music: "A
Letter From Vietnam" - Emanuel Lasky (Westbound
143b)
[note this is the final minute of the song]
Continued
