FUNKY-SOUL-VINYLS-BLOG: Carl Davis

Showing posts with label Carl Davis. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

WELCOME TO 1989 and PARIS L HOLLEY

We were Now in 1989, I was Now 30 Years Old, Susan was 29 Years Old and the Kids, Nathan and Natalie were 10 and 8 Years, and We had Now been Living in the Same House for 7 Years!

Things were Going Alright at Home and Now I had a Decent Job with a Decent Wage, things were Going Fine at Work as well.

As I Mentioned Before, I had now been in my New Job for about 6 Weeks, and things were going Great, but I has Managed to get on Top of the Job and the Situation, I mean I had Never Worked in Such a Place Before and Never Had a Woman Boss Before!

What I Mean is, I was Used to Working in a Team, but Now I was In Charge of My Kitchen and My Area, on My Own, so I soon got Control of that Situation and it became to Easy, in a Way, it was Too Easy, in Fact I was Finding I was having a lot of Time on my Hands, because of my Preparation Work etc!

I had Never had a Woman Boss Before, and that Took some Getting Used To, also after a While Working with Her, She told me, I was the First Full Time Bloke, (apart from One Part-Time Worker) that she had been in Charge of!

Because of How I Worked, I was Finding Myself Way ahead of my Work, this Led to 2 Things, Firstly I was Collared into Helping out the Other Staff Members with their Work, when I was Finished my Work and I Took up Reading Books!

Firstly Work Wise, I was a Chef/Cook in a Old People's Day Centre, but the OAP's had Dementia, this was a Bit of a Shock to me, at that Point, I Did Not Know of Any Relative or Person who had this Disease, and I was Expected to Help Out with Staff Member's Keeping the Old Folk Happy!

This Involved, Playing their Games with them, Taking Part in their Activities and so on, this was Something I was Not Used to Doing, Not with any Old Person, Let Alone Somebody who was ill, as well.

Some of the Things I Used to do were, Playing Games with

Beanbags, Footballs etc, Bingo, Sing-A-Longs, Competitions, Drawing's etc.

I Used to go Out on Mini-Bus Trips and Rides etc and Look after the Old Folk, Like Garden Centre's Trips or Ride Outs to the Countryside!

Secondly, I Started Reading a Lot of Book's, I Used to Sit on Top of the Freezer in the Back Store Room with a Drink and Read when Ever I had the Chance, My Boss was OK with this, as she Knew I had Everything Under Control, Food and Work Wise!

The Books I used to Read, Always Involved Mountains and Snow in Some Sort of Way, I have Always been Interested in Mountains, the Trips and Adventures that People had to Them etc.

The Mountains I mean are The Alps and The Pyrenees in Europe, the Himalayas in Asia and the Ranges in Scotland, and North and South Americas.

I Ended Up Working at "The Garnham Day Centre" for About 5.5 Years, and in that Time I Must Have Read 100's of Books!
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Now for Some Music, Back in 1984 a Great Soul Track was Released in the U.S on the Kelli-Arts Record Label, It was called "I Choose You" and Sung by the Artist "Paris"

It wasn't Released in the U.K Until 3 Years Later in 1987, and it was on the "Bluebird Record Label"

The Song was Written by Paris (under his Full Name of Paris L Holley) and Otis Leavell and Carl Davis, the Song was also Produced by Leavell and Davis.

What a Great Soul Record this was, and Still Sounds Great Today!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

THE GREATEST SOUL SINGER OF ALL TIME....EUGENE RECORD

In this Series of Posts, I will writing about the Artist's who are in My "Greatest Ever Soul Singer of All-Time" Poll.

The Poll is over to the Right of the Blog, it has been Running for a Few Month's now, so if You haven't already Voted, Please do so!

In these Post's, I will write a few Facts, Figures, Stats and Interesting Stuff on the Artist in Question, I will also include a Playlist of their 20 Greatest Songs.

This is the Last Artist in this Series of Post's, I have Enjoyed Posting about these Great Soul Artists but Look out for a New Voting Section to the Right!

Very Surprisingly Eugene Record has not had a Vote as yet, he was Lead Singer of my Favorite Soul Band, The Chi-Lites !

He and the Chi-Lites had some Fantastic Record's, just a Listen to their Greatest Song's, Real Soul Music!

ARTIST NUMBER 11..............EUGENE RECORD

Eugene Booker Record was Born on the 23rd December 1940 in Chicago USA.

He became Interested in Music at a Very Young Age, this was Attributed to his Sister , who was an Accomplished Pianist.

While at School Eugene Record Formed his First Band with Friends, Robert"Squirrell"Lester and Clarence Johnson they were Called "The Chanteurs"

They Released a Couple of Singles in 1959, without any Success!

They then Teamed up with Two other Friends, Marshall Thompson and Creadel "Red" Jones and the Quintet called themselves "The Hi-Lites"

They Released their First Single in 1964 "I'm So Jealous" which was a Moderate Hit.

That same Year of 1964 saw Clarence Johnson Leave the Band, and they were now a Quartet, they had a Few more Release's without any Success!

Then the Hi-Lites Had a name Change, they Added an "E" and Became The Chi-Lites.

By 1968 The Chi-Lites Signed a Record Deal with Brunswick Records, who were Ran by Carl Davis, the Following Year of 1969 they had their First Hit Record "Give It Away", this Track Reached Number 10 on the US R&B Chart.

This was Taken from the Album of the same name "Take It Away" (which Reached Number 16 on the US R&B Chart), the Follow Up Single was a Double A-Side Featuring "Let Me Be The Man My Daddy Was" and "The Twelfth Of Never"

This was to Start a String of Hit Singles and Albums for The Chi-Lites!

By this Time Eugene Record was Writing and Producing other Artists, Including Jackie Wilson and Barbara Acklin.

Between 1971 and 1976 the Chi-Lites Released some Fantastic Soul Music, both Albums and Singles, heres a List of some of the Best:

Albums

1972...Lonely Man

1973...Letter To Myself

1973...Chi-Lites

1974...Toby

1975...Half A Love

Singles

1971...Have You Seen Her

1972...Oh Girl

1972...The Coldest Days

1972...A Lonely Man

1973...A Letter To Myself

1974...Homely Girl

1974...You Got To Be The One

1974..Too Good To Be Forgotten

1974...Toby

1975...It's Time For Love

1976...You Dont Have To Go

By 1976 Eugene Record Left The Chi-Lites to Pursue a Solo Career, he Released a Total of 3 Albums, but with only Moderate Success, and by 1980 he had Re-joined The Chi-Lites.

They Released a Further 4 Albums up until 1988 (with only a Small amount of Success) Incidentally the First 2 Albums were on Carl Davis "Chi-Sound" Record Label, then in Left "The Chi-Lites" again, for the Last Time.

Eugene Record was to Suffer from Cancer a Few Years Later, which he Ultimately was to Die from in July 2005.

Eugene Record / The Chi-Lites with E.R Discography

Studio Albums (Chi-Lites)......12

Studio Albums (Solo)......3

Singles (Chi-Lites)......53

Singles (Solo)......7

Checkout Some Great Music by Eugene Record

Monday, September 10, 2012

DEATH IN THE FAMILY and JACKIE WILSON

So in a few Days (around the 2nd week in June of 1987) were Back Home in Great Yarmouth, in the same House we left about 3 Month's earlier, and with the "Old Boy" still ill in Hospital.

We didn't really know How Bad he was, as I said previously my Mother did not tell us that much, about his illness, we Learned more from the Hospital staff as time went by!

As time Passed, I began to Wonder whether He would ever get any Better, He was saying Strange things to the Hospital Staff, I Remember one time He was saying things about one of the Nurses, being Black, and Saying they were doing things to him, He also Refused to see his Youngest Sister, when She Visited!

I found out Later when my Wife "Susan" Worked in the very same Hospital, that a lot of times, people who are Too ill are just brought back to Life, virtually for the Family too Say Goodbye to them!

This as it turned out was the case for my Family and Father.

I did a couple of things for my "Old Boy" I had never done before in that Last Week of his Life, I Talked to Him, he had never been a Big Talker to me (before) I used take to the Hospital Window , so he could look out, over the Car Park and I actually Shaved him a Couple of Times!

This Week was a Very Busy time for us, as you could imagine, we had just Moved House, so when we was not Sorting the Kids out, we were either Sorting the House out (unpacking all our stuff) or We were up the Hospital.

As it happened my "Old Boy" Lasted Exactly a Week before He Died on Saturday 22nd June 1987 at 15.50pm, and I Remember the Sun was Shining Brightly!

I must Admit his Death Hit me Quite Hard, this was Very Surprising as I Never Really got on with him that Well, as I said previously, He never really Spoke to me that Much, and it Always seemed I had to try to Hard to make him Happy!

As I was the only Son with 3 Sister's, you may have thought I would Get on Better with Him than my Sister's did, this Was Not the case, he seemed to favour all of Them Better than me, and his Particular favorite was my Youngest Sister!

I have always Wondered what my other 2 Sister's thought of this Favoritism, it was never Hidden!

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As for some Music, has I have been posting about my Father this Week, One particular thing I remember about my Father and Music Happened over 40 years Ago, I have posted about this Subject previously, but its worth another Mention, Under the Circumstances!

Its Nothing to do with Tom Jones, I Remember my Father liking Him as a Singer, the "Old Boy" used to say "that Tom Jones Sounds just a Black Singer"

Anyway I Remember the Day, back in 1972, the "Old Boy" gave me a 50p Coin and said to me "get the Bus up to Town and go in "Wooly's and get me that Record by "Jackie Wilson" its Called "I Get The Sweetest Feeling"

I got a Copy of that Record and Played Hundreds of Times on the Family's Twin Speaker Record Player, I suppose there was 2 things that got me into Soul Music back then, this was one of them and the other was a Boy who I sometimes went around with, had an Older Brother, who always had Motown playing in his House, whenever I went round his!

So perhaps my "Old Boy" did do something for me, after all!

Incidentally I still have the Single in my Loft, just like the Record to the Left!

A little bit about the Track, It was Written by Van McCoy and originally Released 4 Years earlier in 1968 across in the USA.
It was Produced by Carl Davis.

The Record was on the "MCA Label (in the UK)" and Reached number 9 on the Uk Pop Charts.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

HAND BELL AND JACKIE WILSON

It was now about Late April time 1987, our New House was a bit of a Tip really, the Person we Exchanged Houses with, was as we found out, a Bit Of a, shall we say "Scum"

The House had been Left in a State with Stains all over the Carpets, one particular Stain near the Front Door, was from 1 of Her Kids "Throwin Up" we Dumped all the Crappy Carpets and any other "Crap" left from Her!

It took Weeks to get Clean & Tidy and all Traces of the Previous Tenant "Gone", another thing that was Really Annoying, was all the House Pipes ran through the Bathroom, "At the top of the Wall" this meant every time we had a Bath, all the Pipes "Condensated" and Dripped down on to the Floor, what a Dump we had moved to!

Every Weekend, Us and the Kids, went back to Great Yarmouth, to see Family etc, and this is when I used to go to the "Cash & Carry" to Buy Stock for my Mobile Shop.

I used to Buy all Types of Household Items, Fruit & Veg, Sweets, Cakes & Toiletries etc etc, anything I thought I could Sell Really!

After I finally got everything ready to Start going out and about in the Van, I realised the Van would have to be Parked outside the House at Night, with all that "Stock" in there, so I decided I needed to Park the Van in a Driveway, for Safety!

So for Quickness I knocked down our Front Wall and starting Reversing the Van into that Space at Night Times with the Back Door right up to the Front Window, I then Slept Easier at Night!

I then started going out during the Day, around Council Estates, Old Peoples Homes etc, looking for Business, I knew "Norwich" well so I picked a Few Places well known Places!

I had a small Problem when I got to these Places, apart from knocking on Doors, I needed something to let them Know I was there!

My "Old Boy" suggested I had a "Bell" to ring when I got there, as it turned out my "Grandad" had a fair sized Bell (from years ago), which I Borrowed, and from then on when I arrived at certain places "I Started to Ring the Bell" & it Worked!

Up until then, we were getting on Fine in "Norwich" but things were soon to Change!

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As for some Music, The Great Jackie Wilson Released His 44th (out of 67) Single in 1967, (some 45 Years ago), it is My Favorite Track of His, it was Called (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher.

It Reached Number 6 on the US Pop Chart and Number 1 on the US R&B Chart, it was Released in the UK 2 Years later, where got to Number 11 on the UK Pop Charts.

It was on the Brunswick Record Label and Written by Gary Jackson, Raynard Miner & Carl Smith, the Track was Produced by Carl Davis.

The Musicians on the Track were All Member's of "The Funk Brothers" from "Motown Records"

Incidentally the Track was Released a Further 2 Times in the UK over the Years, both Charting!

The Track was Voted on the "Rolling Stone" List of the Greatest 500 Songs of all Time at Number 246!