music: "Can't Stop Loving You Baby" - Barbara Mercer (Golden World 21b)

Ed and JoAnne's new studio was possibly opened in April/May 1965.

The front of the building sat on the north side of West Davison. Two large windows stood on either side of the main entrance.

Apparently, JoAnne could be seen in her office from the street in the left hand window. She was now President of Golden World.

Over the next few months she would put together a Talent Scout system involving amongst others, Major Reynolds, and an Artist Development Team along the lines of that at Motown.

Unfortunately it is difficult to establish what the first recordings were, but it could be that they were some of those early Wingate releases or material by Barbara Mercer or Carl Carlton.

Regardless, Detroit had a great new facility, and Berry Gordy would soon begin to feel like he had some serious competition.

detail for this map courtesy Ed Wolfrum

Don Mancha's name would crop up again, in July 1965, this time on  "Can't Stop Loving You Baby", which was the flip side to the equally excellent "Hey", by Barbara Mercer.

"Hey" is a classic sing-a-long Detroit number and was produced by the strangely named "Burg and Beans".

Apparently this was the name of a restaurant which was situated next door to the studio. 

Dennis Coffey recalls, "I used to go that restaurant before sessions at Golden World, or sometimes on a long break. Man, they had the best baked beans and oblong hamburger in a hot dog bun. That kind of meal always made you want to play some serious funk."

Within a couple of months Barbara would have two more releases on Golden World; "The Things We Do Together" on GW27, which had "Hungry For Love" on the flip, and GW28 which was a reissue of "Things" but with a slight change to the title, "Doin' Things Together". 

Clearly Wingate liked the song, which is a beautiful number written by the multi-talented Van McCoy. Barbara's voice is also as stunning as her looks!

On the flip side of the re-issue was the brilliant "Nobody Loves You Like Me", arranged by Sonny Sanders and written and produced by Popcorn and Ronnie Savoy.

Barbara had formerly been with a group by the name of the Styletts (sic) who recorded briefly for the Pillar label. 

After Golden World, she would move on to Sidra Records on Wyoming where she recorded the excellent "Call On Me" which was later picked up by Capitol Records in Los Angeles.

Continued