This gig
was in 1966. Steve Mancha’s record was on the Groovesville label - he later had
a superb 45 on Groove
City that was credited to The Hollidays.
No Greater
Love
When I interviewed Don Davis,
I asked him how Edwin Starr came to be on “I’ll Love You Forever”. He said Mr.
Wingate had wanted a more powerful vocal delivery. Yet when Rick Pack
interviewed Edwin Starr for Soul Survivor magazine in the mid-80s, Edwin
stated:
“There was no such group as the Holidays at the time. I got tricked into doing
that. I went by the studio one night and producer Don Davis said, ‘Edwin, great
to see you. Will you show these guys how to sing this song?’ A couple of weeks
later, I hear ‘I’ll Love You Forever’ on the radio and I thought they must have
got some other guys to sing it. Then I realized the voice coming out of the
radio was mine! At the end, the DJ announced the group’s name as The Holidays. I
thought, The Holidays! Who the hell are they?”
Maurice strongly contests Edwin’s version, maintaining that the group and Edwin
had got to know each other well during their time at Golden World. But
regardless of how it happened, the fact that Edwin Starr’s vocal dominates The
Holidays’ recording is something that still – understandably - galls Maurice to
this day:
“The thing that bothered me the most was Edwin’s voice is on the record, and
it’s now number one in every city that it’s released in. And they decide the
first show is at the Apollo Theater. This is the most critique place in music;
the greatest in the world have come through there.”
It was certainly going to be a
baptism by fire, as they lacked experience performing live. Nevertheless, the
quartet headed straight to
New York
and quickly got their stage act together, going on to ride the wave of success
as “I’ll Love You Forever” floated up to number 7 in Billboard’s chart.
Appearing at the premier venues around the States, it was now The Holidays – not
Edwin Starr – that was hot property and the group needed a follow-up 45.
Maurice sang lead on the similar sounding “No Greater Love”, which was released
just a month before Motown boss Berry Gordy bought Golden World’s studio. It was
the last record released on the label. That was in September ’66 and the group’s
potential chart-climber was subsequently shelved.
The now popular Holidays were
wondered what to do next. Motown had got J.J. Barnes and Edwin Starr’s
contracts, along with Golden World’s studio and publishing. Should the group go
down to Hitsville? The group was split. Tony:
“We came into Detroit
from the Howard Theater (Chicago) and went over to the company. Joanne knocked
on the glass when we came in and she was on the phone. She was talking to
Berry
Gordy… I got on the phone and he said, ‘Tony (Maurice), before you say no,
listen to what I’m gonna say. If you and your group were with Motown, I’ll Love
You Forever would be number one in the world.’ He said, ‘You come over to Motown,
I personally will show you the works over here.’”
“Butch and I were content not going to Motown… we were clean; we didn’t want to
be around drugs. And we didn’t want to be put in nobody’s can. Eddie and Robert
wanted to go to Motown. I was the oldest and the decision to go to Motown or not
was going to be mine, so I made it. I told him no.” It was a decision that
divided the group and it wasn’t long before they went their separate ways.
Here’s a bit of record collecting trivia: Like Edwin Starr’s Ric-Tic hits, The
Holidays’ “I’ll Love You Forever” was released over in the UK on the Polydor
label. After Motown got Golden World and Edwin, his records continued to be
pressed and sold – in fact they were perennial favorites in the North of
England. However, The Holidays’ 45 was immediately deleted and is consequently
now a rare record: a shiny Golden World copy usually sells for just $15 dollars,
while a clean one on British Polydor would fetch around $400.
Ever since Tony arrived in
Detroit
in ‘65, The Debonaires had been part of his life: from first hearing their
“Eenie Meenie”, to seeing a photo of the girls pinned on the wall of Golden
World’s studio, to subsequently meeting the group and singing background on
various sessions. And the one that caught his eye was Elsie Baker.
Elsie had started out singing with The Stereophonics in 1963, but had left
before they recorded anything to join The Debonaires. Once she had teamed up
with Joyce Vincent and Dorothy Garland in ‘64, the trio auditioned and signed
with Golden World. Elsie:
“The next thing we know, we’re on a jet plane to New York, recording our song
there – ‘Please Don’t Say We’re Through’. And we were still in high school when
‘Eenie, Meenie, Gypsaleenie’ came out.”
Recorded at Golden World’s new studio, “Eenie Meenie” was released in August of
’65, which was when Maurice heard it on the radio. Maurice:
“Before I met her (Elsie), I had told seven people at Golden World – from a
picture on the wall - who my wife was going to be. And I didn’t even know who
she was. When I met her, I told her that. And in ’67 we got married and we’ve
been married ever since.”
They both sang on numerous recording sessions at Golden World and United Sound
and below are a few of the gems: “It Won’t Hurt” is actually Eddie Levert with
The Holidays – not the O’Jays.
It’s probably the fact that The Holidays sang on so many sessions at Golden
World, for J. J. Barnes, Edwin Starr and Steve Mancha, that made people think
these singers were part of the group. But that wasn’t the case.
Maurice Tony Gray of The Holidays and Elsie Baker of The Debonaires got married
in 1967. These are just a few of the many great 45s they sang on. Tony Hester’s
45 was also released on the Karate label.
Continued
