music : "Play A Sad Song" - Bobby Williams (Sureshot 5003a)

A much publicised altercation with Herman Griffin seemed to herald Robert West's departure to Las Vegas,

An interview with Betty Lavette for In The Basement magazine uncovered that Herman claimed to have been acting in self defense when he shot Robert in the eye in an incident in New York City.

Apparently Griffin's ex-wife, Mary Wells, was at the centre of the incident but Robert always maintained that he was the innocent party and that all he remembers is "ending up on the floor".

Once in Las Vegas West issued a small amount of material  from his Detroit days through a Post Office Box.

Robert West died on 8th January 1983 and is buried in a cemetery in Las Vegas. His wife Catherine lives to this day and is proud that her husband provided some of Soul Music's finest with their first break.

David Meikle

I would like to thank the following people for their input to this story :-

Catherine West, David Lane, Ron Murphy, Davie Gordon, Graham Finch, Graham Anthony (Detroit City limits fanzine), Jim Gallert, Clive Richardson, Lars G Nilsson, Sis Detroit, Cyril Clarke, Carl Pellegrino, Mark Bicknell (Soul Underground fanzine), Stanley Mitchell.

Music tracks - Graham Finch

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