SIXTIES

A change had also taken place within the Brothers of Soul for this 45 when former Imperial, Ben Knight (no relation), replaced Richard Knight. "Ben took Richard's place when Richard was detained in New York on a minor charge." says Fred.

Other spin offs came from Fred's travels to Chicago.

One of Ric's buddies was a promotions man there. He was also managing a short and pretty light skinned Black girl called Sheryl Swope. Apparently Sheryl, who hailed from the Windy City, was a sister of the guy's girlfriend.

Fred recalls bringing Sheryl over to The Place on Linwood Street. "I remember we did 4 songs on Sheryl Swope. At least three of these were BKE songs and they were all released on the Duo label." says Fred. "The first on Duo7451 was 'Can't get him off my mind'. The other on Duo7453 was 'Ain't gonna do you right this time' b/w 'Run to me'."

scans courtesy of Graham Finch and Carl Pellegrino

Mike Terry also approached the team with an offer from Don Robey in Texas who had been releasing a number of quality Detroit productions on his excellent Backbeat label.

The artist was to be Little Carl Carlton who became a fixture at Backbeat between 1968 and 1973. Chicago Soul Queen Joshie Armstead was also involved, as were the Funk Brothers and other worthy musicians from Detroit.

The outcome was a string of excellent songs in 'Look at Mary wonder'(#42 R&B June 69)/'Drop by my place' and 'Two timer'(#12 R&B, #78 Pop June 70/ 'I can feel it' (#47 R&B January 1971).

1968-69 were peak years for Bridges, Knight and Eaton with something like 40 songs finding their way onto disc, all of which were high quality.

Williams was also creating new labels like Aquarius and Criss-Cross so the pressure was constant.

Aquarius appears to have been dedicated to Candace Love who had the bulk of the releases, and most noticeably an instant success with "Uh uh boy that's a no-no" which reached in the Billboard R&B charts in the fall of '69. This was not a BKE song but the flip was; another version of Ruby's 'Wonderful night'.

label scans Graham Finch

She would also appear on another Ric Williams' label called Shock. But this time as the mysteriously named, Woman.

"Candace was a school teacher in Chicago", says Fred, "How she met Ric I don't know. When I stayed in Chicago I would stay at her house. I did a lot of writing there for Candace, The Brothers Of Soul and others. Sadly she died of kidney failure. She was a very good friend of mine."

21st image courtesy WillieJones/label scan Graham Finch

other label called Joy, which was owned by Joe Terrell, featured a song by The 21st called 'The thought of me losing you'. It was a beautiful recording in the Brothers Of Soul mould. The 21st were led by Detroit legend Willie Jones, who had recently been with the Royal Jokers.

Then there was Epic who issued two songs by New York Soulstress, Maxine Brown. Both were recorded in Tera Shirma Studio B after Columbia commissioned Mike Terry to do an album on her.

label scans Carl Pellegrino

Brothers Of Soul had to also find time to perform in Detroit's vibrant club scene.

One of the most popular clubs was 'Phelps Lounge' which was up in Oakland on the near-East Side.

"I could walk to the end of my street and see the lights blinking outside the club. Everybody who came to the city played there and we got our chance too.

The arranger and bandleader, McKinley Jackson, whom we had worked with in the studio, usually backed us at Phelp's. I remember Ruby Andrews opening one of the shows for us. It was quite something.

We used to play the Chit-Chat too, Frantic Ernie's place up on Fenkell and all across town."

Continued