In 1959 West opened up another label called Bumble Bee.

The first four issues all sported a new address, on Detroit's East Side at 18559 Ryan.

Ron Murphy is sceptical about the address however as his information says that these recordings were made at number 18459 Ryan which was the base of Jackpot studio and record label.

A new publishing company called Flick can be seen on the discs for the first time.

Sonny Woods

Several Kudo sides had been written by Sonny Woods who had worked with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters.

By the time Bumble Bee was created, Sonny was head of A&R.

His first act was Little Joe and the Moroccos who recorded "Bubble gum"/"Trouble in the candy shop". Another former Midnighter, Fred Pride, was involved in the writing of the "A" side. Sonny co-wrote the flip.

Little Joe was Joe Harris who later joined the Peps and Motown's Undisputed Truth.

Bumble Bee's follow-up was by Leon James, "Baby let's rock"/"Ride that train". Leon was originally from Tennessee and was a feature on the Detroit Club scene. His second recording was for Armen Boladian's Oasis label.

The Tornados (L-R William Weatherspoon, Ben Knight, Stanley Mitchell, Charles Sutton)
 Image courtesy of Stanley Mitchell

Stanley Mitchell is well know in the UK for his work with Richard Popcorn Wylie, but what is not known is that his career was well in swing more that a decade earlier!

Stanley's earliest break came when he auditioned with some friends for Lionel Hampton. Hampton called them the Hamptones and they began touring almost immediately.

Stanley soon got fed up with the schedule and the pay however and left to form his own group with Charles Sutton who had just left the Midnighters. 

Also joining the Tornados were Ben Knight and William Weatherspoon who would also leave their mark in the Detroit History book.

They cut a few tracks for Chess in Chicago before joining Bumble Bee in 1959 where they cut "Love in your life"/"Genie in the jug".

Continued