Who is this guy?

[GrtGzu]

And is the following true?:

"Berry Gordy robbed artist like a Wall Street banker while Don Robey did it upside the head gangster style. Big Red in Five Heartbeats was based on him. Little Richard said that when he asked Robey about royalties, Robey hit him so hard it resulted in a hernia. Robey owned Duke/Peacock records which had Little Richard, Big Mama Thornton, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Junior Parker, Johnny Ace, Johnny Otis and many others. They also had a legendary roster of gospel acts - Mighty Clouds of Joy, Swan Silvertones, Sensational Nightingales, Inez Andrews, Dixie Hummingbirds.

[roger]

He looks like "Mr X" to me ....

Roger

[Soul Sister]

He's said to be half Black & half Jewish.

He was by all reports every bit the crook Lubinsky, Levy, and others were.... in his practices of robbing the artists in every way including fake contracts.
As well as the ruthless thug that the Brunswick gangsters were in their violent tactics.
It was sickening how they abused artists and musicians.

S.S.
***

[Kamasu_Jr]

Don Robey had a part in the early Memphis music scene. Memphis is where he acquired Duke Records which led to Johnny Ace, Little Junior Parker and Bobby Blue Bland.

[GrtGzu]

He's said to be half Black & half Jewish.

He was by all reports every bit the crook Lubinsky, Levy, and others were.... in his practices of robbing the artists in every way including fake contracts.
As well as the ruthless thug that the Brunswick gangsters were in their violent tactics.
It was sickening how they abused artists and musicians.

S.S.
***

No kidding?? Wow....Interesting...whatever happened to him? Was he eventually stopped?

THIS is why I like coming here to confirm stuff I've either seen or heard...Best to get it from "people in the know" I figure...

Kam, how long did he have Duke Records?

[phil]

Hi GrtGzu, here are two links about Don Robey, thre first from AllMusic [[by the way I didn't know Little Junior Parker and Al Green were cousins, is it true ?)

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/don-r...2354/biography

and the second, more colourful, by Dave Rimmer of Soulful Kinda Music : http://www.allmusic.com/artist/don-r...2354/biography

[MotownSteve]

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Robey

[Nothing But Soul]

[QUOTE=phil;189033]Hi GrtGzu, here are two links about Don Robey, thre first from AllMusic [[by the way I didn't know Little Junior Parker and Al Green were cousins, is it true ?)

In the spoken intro to Al Green's "Take Me To The River", Al dedicates the song to Little Junior Parker, "a cousin of mine who has gone on."

[Nothing But Soul]

Don Robey ended up with a lot of song writing credits under the pseudonym Deadric Malone [[Deadric was Robey's middle name). It's doubtful that he actually wrote all those songs. Many of the hits released on Robey's labels by Bobby Bland [["I Pity The Fool", "Turn on Your Love Light", "Ain't Nothing You Can Do", etc.) and O.V. Wright [["Eight Men, Four Women", "I'd Rather Be Blind, Crippled and Crazy", "Ace of Spades", etc.) are credited to Deadric Malone. The modern blues classic "As The Years Go Passing By" is an example of why I question whether Robey actually wrote the songs credited to Malone. This song was first recorded on the Duke label in 1959 by an artist named Fenton Robinson. Since then the song has been covered many times by a host of blues and blues-rock artists [[Albert King's version is probably the best known). By many accounts, Peppermint Harris, who was another Duke artist, wrote "As The Years Go Passing By" for Fenton Robinson, but Harris is not the one who got the song writing credit or the royalties for the song.

[GrtGzu]

Oh.My.God.......

Thanks for the links guys! Quite the interesting read...I remember when Carl Carlton was called "Little Carl Carlton" too [[didn't think anybody else did though)...

So he was the "Berry Gordy" back in the day eh? What was so rough about the music business that made him get umm, "unsavory"? It sounds to me that he just had to "play the game" in order to survive in the business...But for most intents and purposes he seemed to really have it going on...

Did he and Berry ever bump heads? I guess I mean, was there ever any out and out competition, or verbal confrontations?

Maybe a documetary of him should be done? I'd LOVE to see that.