The Golden World group that toured were Maurice Tony Gray, Willie “Butch” Johnson, Eddie Anderson and Robert “Earl” Johnson. Tony Hester featured on the “I’ll Love You Forever” recording session and Edwin Starr overdubbed his lead vocal on later.

Golden World

Created in the cotton fields around Jackson, Mississippi, “I’ll Love You Forever” became the biggest hit by any of the Holidays groups. Ironically, the group of four young men who took it up to Detroit in pursuit of fortune and fame are probably the least well known.

Teenagers Maurice Tony Gray, Willie “Butch” Johnson, Robert “Earl” Johnson and Charles “Chuck” Guy kicked off their recording career with “If I Should Lose You” on the Buccaneer label. Jobie Martin, a DJ on local WOJK who acted as their manager, presented the song to the group and Maurice (aka Tony) told me how their recording career started:

“There was a studio in Jackson owned by one of the southern boys, named Bob, and he asked us to record. It was supposed to be a test record, but it sounded so good they just put it out.”

The four guys - called The Caprees – sang The Dreamlovers’ song and the disc enjoyed regional success, but the quartet dreamed of bigger and better things. They could hear Motown hits on local radio stations and Detroit seemed to be the place to be. It took a couple of years, but they eventually traveled up to Michigan and auditioned for Motown. Maurice:

“We did one of James Brown’s songs called ‘Bewildered’ and they said, ‘Wow!’ and that we were the most talented group that had auditioned; period.”

The only problem was the group was too young - two were still in high school and Maurice was at college - so they returned to Jackson and waited till August ’65. They then headed backup up to West Grand Boulevard and just as they were about to walk through Motown’s front door, songwriter Richard Morris persuaded them to turn around. Richard lectured them about the company already having enough groups, so they took his advice and Maurice told me how fate then came into play:

“As we were driving from Motown, we hear The Debonaires’ song “Eenie, Meenie, Gypsaleenie” on the radio and we listened to the baseline and drums, and we listened to the girls sing, and they sounded right on the same borderline as Motown. We got the name of the company (Golden World) and I called and spoke to Don Davis. He asked us if we had any original songs; so we auditioned ten and ‘I’ll Love You Forever’ was number seven on our list. It didn’t go quite the way it does now - it went a little different - but when he heard it he knew it was a hit.”

By 1966, the well-connected and deep-pocketed Mr. Ed Wingate had developed his Golden World Company into a serious rival to Motown. The two studios shared the same distinctive Detroit sound due to many musicians doing sessions at both. Golden World’s studio was at 3246 West Davison and was managed by Mr. Wingate’s partner, Joanne Bratton.

The company had had nationwide success during ’65 with Edwin Starr’s “Agent Double-O-Soul” and then “S.O.S” - both on Golden World’s sister label, Ric-Tic. He had become the company’s biggest artist, but by February of 1966, a few months had elapsed since “S.O.S” had charted and Mr. Wingate knew he needed a hit to revive Edwin’s chart life.

By this time one of the four guys from Mississippi - the lead singer, Chuck - was no longer in the group; he had joined the military. But the other three had started earning money by singing background and Don had christened them The Holidays, a name he’d borrowed from Jimmy Holland’s place. And all the while, the group’s “I’ll Love You Forever” was being developed, which wasn’t as fast as Maurice had anticipated:

“We were working on it and Tony Hester and Don Davis had a lot to do with the structure of song, the music itself. But what Don and Tony had put together was not coming out right in the studio and Don said ‘you know what you want, so go in the studio,’” which Maurice did. Aided by the musicians - Johnny Griffith, bassist Bob Babbit and drummer Pistol Allen - the end result pleased everyone, and as Maurice put it, “Everybody wanted to hear the track”. Joe Hunter actually wrote the lead sheet and guitarist Dennis Coffey arranged the strings – his first time – that float in at the intro.

Maurice then told me how Tony Hester briefly became a Holiday:

When we were getting ready to cut the song, I was arranging the background, so Don and I figured that if I was going to lead, we had to have a fourth member. So, Tony (Hester) was there and we all got on real good. We went in the studio; I put on one lead version without the adlibs so the background could be put on. Then we put the background on. Tony was singing my note in the background – he was a member of The Holidays at the time. Once we put the background on, Tony decided he wanted to write and produce, he didn’t really want to sing.”

The song seemed to be finally coming together, until, as Maurice recalled: “Then word came down that Edwin needed this song.”

That didn’t go down well with the Holidays at all. Maurice:

“I didn’t even know who Mr. Ed Wingate was at the time - as far as who he was and the potentiality of his power. But I knew that that was not going to happen. And who did I fire off to? Mr. Ed Wingate! Everybody thought I was nuts. After all the arguments, he decided we shouldn’t be at the company anymore and we decided we shouldn’t be at the company anymore. We walked away. But that song was still there.”

As far as The Holidays were concerned, that was the end of their stint at Golden World. They were confident about their abilities and were sure something would turn up. Maurice remembered it didn’t take long for another door to open:

“About two days later, we got a call from (producer) Jack Ashford, and he said to us, ‘I heard what happened at Golden World. There are about five companies that want you. Can we get together and talk?’ So, we went over and while we were there, Don Davis called and asked Jack if he could talk to me. Don told us Mr. Wingate was sorry, and he wanted us to know that: If we would come to the studio, he would explain some things to us.”

“When we got back, Mr. Wingate said, ‘I really admire you boys; ain’t many people stand up to me. Maurice, you were right’. And from that point on he was like Dad. He took us into his heart and made sure we were protected.”

Meanwhile, “I’ll Love You Forever” - featuring Edwin Starr’s overdub - had been shipped to record stores with a super-charged instrumental called “Makin’ Up Time” on the B-side. Copies were being bought like proverbial hot cakes and Golden World needed a group to go on the road. With Tony Hester having pulled out of the group to focus on writing and producing, Eddie Anderson was drafted in to fill the fourth spot.

The WCHB chart is from March 25, 1966 shows “I’ll Love You Forever” at 18.

You can also see Tony Hester’s record is at number 37 and J. J. Barnes has “Real Humdinger” at number 4. The Holidays sang background on both, as well as Steve Mancha’s Groovesville 45, which is at 22. Edwin Starr and J.J. Barnes both signed for Berry Gordy’s Motown Corporation in September‘66.

Continued