Results for “Dion”

The millennium dawned with a host of new deals that brought into the Ace family of labels familiar names in fresh guises alongside rare cuts by long-cherished figures and previously undiscovered tracks that would have seasoned collectors drooling.

Dion Dimucci, the ultimate rock’n’roll survivor, had been a feature of Ace’s early reissues with his superb Laurie material. He’d maintained a notable career by staying tuned to current trends and Ace maintained its close ties with the Bronx-born star by picking up his Warners albums, including the part-Spector produced epic “Born To Be With You”. The albums issued alongside it included the first ever CD reissues of the albums “Sit Down Old Friend” and “You’re Not Alone” which highlighted Dion’s fresh and inspiring musical direction after his struggle against addiction.

To be born blonde might be a good indication of bloodline but not necessarily of character. To dye one’s hair blonde, or to don a blonde wig, on the other hand, can be statement of intent – blonde ambition. To quote Heidi Klum, “Going blonde is like buying yourself a light bulb.” It worked a treat for the some of the former brunettes here, for sure.

Black blondes are not unusual on the music scene of today but it was a different story in the 1950s and 60s. The first was likely Joyce Bryant, the steamy “Black Marilyn”, who, in a bid to stand out above the competition, resorted to upending a tin of silver radiator paint over her head. “Joyce caught all kinds of hell for having blonde hair,” wrote Etta James in her memoir. “I dug her and copied her style.” Other black women singers followed suit, including a number of those in the James Brown Revue.

There again, a change can be as good as a rest. “I felt depressed and had to do something about it,” the newly blonde Dionne Warwick told the press in 1965. “It’s a lovely honey shade. Next time I get depressed I may change to a redhead.” Today they’d call it reinvention.

In any event, the hair colour, natural or otherwise, of the women featured in this article is of no real significance. What is important is they all have recordings available on Ace … because they’re worth it. 

The vaults of Scepter, Wand and Musicor were the first to which we gained unlimited access. The great thing about that from a personal point of view was that my co-founder of the 6Ts soul club, Randy Cozens, had championed Scepter and Wand since the mid-60s. Wand’s main acts, Chuck Jackson and Maxine Brown, were the most played and revered artists to feature at our dances.

Florence Greenberg had formed the labels in the late 50s, recording mainly black acts from the New York area. The success of the company was guaranteed once the Shirelles began a string of hits in 1960 with the chart-topper ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’. An astute businesswoman with a great feel for the music, Florence knew to employ the cream of producers, arrangers and songwriters available and could hustle with the best of them. This was shown with her purchase of Maxine Brown’s contract from the major ABC label when her career there stalled.

Florence’s ability to get some of the best songs from the Brill Building and 1650 Broadway writers was demonstrated in the stream of pop-soul masterpieces that she secured for Dionne Warwick from the hottest composers in town, Bacharach and David. Scepter also boasted Tommy Hunt, whose record ‘Human’ was a big R&B hit, and later pop singer B.J. Thomas, who sold millions of records in the second half of the 60s. Those major talents were augmented by acts such as Rosco Robinson, Freddie Hughes and Nella Dodds, as well as great one-miss-wonders Jack Montgomery, Wally Cox, the Ivorys and the Gentleman Four.

The first few various artist compilations Kent issued featured mainly the lesser-known acts whose discs had been adopted by the Northern Soul scene. There were also solo sets from Chuck Jackson, Maxine Brown, Tommy Hunt and the Shirelles. In 1984 we gained access to the Nashville-housed master tapes and unearthed a slew of wonderful unissued recordings. To British soul fans’ ears it was almost criminal that they had been deemed not good enough for public consumption. Tracks from Maxine, Chuck, the Shirelles, Tommy, Bettye Lavette, Maurice Williams and others helped revitalise a sub-culture that had struggled through the early 80s.

Playing an equal part in this belated New York soul explosion was the Musicor catalogue. Musicor sported the Platter’s stunning mid-60s period, Porgy & the Monarchs, Jimmy Radcliffe, Sammy Ambrose and a single by the young Melba Moore. By the mid-70s, Melba’s 45 had enjoyed enough plays on the UK’s soul dance circuit to warrant bootlegging, but it was the discovery of the third track from the session, the soulful original version of ‘The Magic Touch’ (as recorded by the Bobby Fuller Four), which shook the rare soul world. With all the qualities of the best Wigan Casino dancers, it became massive across the UK’s Northern scene and quickly spread via scooterists and mods right across Europe. Coming at the peak of that first Euro soul movement, it was one of the key records to convert so many devoted soul fans. 

THE EVOLUTION OF ACE REISSUES

1978

When Chiswick was licensed to EMI in 1978, they made it clear that they had enough back catalogue of their own, thank you. So, we needed a new label name for the reissue end. Just before signing on with EMI, Johnny Vincent of Ace Records in Jackson, Mississippi signed on with us. Without any malice aforethought we promptly borrowed his label name, though he was cool about it at the time.

We maintained a dynamic on-off working relationship with him, using the old-style record business trick of continually fronting him cash then chasing the recoupment with some more releases. The five volumes of “The Ace Story” we put out remain definitive.

Ray Topping, a regular customer of Ted’s who had helped pen the notes for the Link Wray album, suggested we explore the Houston-based group of labels owned by Pappy Daily. Ray was one of the small group of pioneering blues aficionados and discographers in the UK who had been instrumental in bringing that music to a wider audience in the 60s. He became Ace’s first repertoire consultant. With an encyclopaedic knowledge and tremendous feel for blues and R&B as well as rockabilly and country, he was an essential element in the growth of Ace. The standards he set way back then have underpinned everything the label has since done.

So in 1978 a licensing deal was signed with Daily, who produced the early George Jones recordings and trawled the Gulf Coast areas of South Louisiana and East Texas to acquire recordings for his D, Dart, Dixie and Starday labels. Ted and Ray headed out west to Texas in search of musical gold; the first of many trips to the US in search of masters. We issued a compilation of fine rockabilly sides from George Jones and a 10” comp of Sonny Fisher’s Starday recordings, which even then fetched big bucks on original 45s. Ted and Ray tracked down Sonny and in 1980 he left the States for the first time in his life and toured the UK. He also cut an EP of new material for Ace on his visit.

Discovery of the year: the previously unissued monster rockabilly side ‘Jitterbop Baby’ by Hal Harris.

1979

To accommodate catalogue records that didn’t fit on Ace and new recordings deemed to have insufficient commercial appeal for EMI, we set up another label, BIG BEAT. It debuted with the debut 45 by Johnny (Winter) and the Jammers. Later it became home to the burgeoning psychobilly/garage scene, our own punk and rock back catalogue and repository for all things 60s beat, folk, garage and psych.

The Ace reissue 45s just kept coming as well, notably Thumper (George) Jones’ ‘Rock It’ and Link Davis’ ‘Allons A Lafayette’, a real swingin’ in-house favourite and a solid smash in any other universe. Having acquired something of a jones for the deliciousness of 10” records, we put out a couple more. But, because Chiswick through EMI took up so much of our time, catalogue issues took a back seat to the pop end of our business.

2012

The Fame catalogue rolled on, as did the Songwriter and London American series, Mod Jazz and New Breed danced on and there were more cute EPs and cuddly 45s. So all of the flowers in the Ace garden were being well tended.

There was a new compiler on the block, looking like he was ready to bop. Ian Saddler, a record collector who specialised in Louisiana music created a new series. The first release was “Boppin’ By The Bayou”. Essential to making the series work was accessing the seminal rock’n’roll and R&B recordings made by JD Miller out of Crowley. While Miller provided Excello with a huge amount of their catalogue, he was also responsible for a lot of great rockin’ rhythm and blues sides that he didn’t sell on. With a big helping hand from John Broven, a deal that had been sought for many a year was finally put together. Before long, the Paddington Branch of the Grand Union Canal was doing a pretty good impersonation of the Bayou. Vince Anthony & the Blue Notes’ ‘Watch My Smoke’ was not just one of the great tracks in the deal but could well be the byword for the alacrity with which the series expanded.