Don Davis was a key figure at Thelma Records and had a hand in Emanuel’s early career.

Emanuel Lasky Discography Label Song Titles Date Thelma 100 The Monkey Welfare Cheese Sept. 1963 Thelma I Need Somebody Tomorrow Feb. 1964 NPC 303 I Need Somebody Tomorrow 1964 Thelma 101 Crazy Welfare Cheese Sept. 1964 Wild Deuce 1003 Lucky To Be Loved (By You) Our World March 1965 Thelma 106 Don’t Lead Me On Baby What Did I Do Wrong Sept. 1965 Thelma 108 I’m A Peace Loving Man Sweet Lies March 1966 Thelma 110 (I’ve Got To) Run For My Life You Better Be Sure Aug. 1966 Westbound 143 More Love (Where This Came From) A Letter From Vietnam Dec. 1968 Westbound 151 Never My Love A Letter From Vietnam 1969 Music Now 2880 Just The Way (I Want Her To Be) Right On (Wit’ it) c. 1970 Stag 10008 Remember Me Always - part 1 Remember Me Always - part 2 1973 DT 10008 Remember Me Always - part 1 Remember Me Always - part 2 1973 DT 100 I’d Rather Leave On My Feet I’d Rather Leave On My Feet c. 1977

	A bootleg Thelma 45 appeared in the early 1990s, which had an alternate version of “Don’t Lead Me On Baby” backed with “You Better Quit It.” This latter song uses the same track as  “Crazy”.

Graham Finch wishes to thank the following people for helping to document Emanuel’s career: Ronnie Abner, Armen Boladian, J. J. Barnes, Rose Batiste, Cyril Clark, Dennis Coffey, Don Davis, Will Davis, Frank Garcia, Willie Hatcher, Tommy “Storm” Hester, Joe Hunter, Floyd Jones, Dr. William Kyle, Bettye Lavette, Diane Lewis, Pat Lewis, Theresa Lindsey, Don Mancha, Carlis “Sonny” Monroe, Ron Murphy, Clay McMurray, Joey “Kingfish” Stribling, Emanuel Taylor, Cornelius Watts & Richard “Popcorn” Wylie.

Thanks also go to collectors Carl Pellegrino, Lars Nilsson & Rob Klein for kindly providing scans of various record labels.  Gilles Pétard provided the main portrait photo of Emanuel: Merci!

The audio files of Emanuel Laskey are from Graham Finch’s interview recorded in Detroit on August 5th, 1999.

Below are some companies that offer some of some of Emanuel’s recordings on CD.

Renown UK CD company Ace Kent included “A Letter From Vietnam” on a great compilation called on A Soldier’s Sad Story: Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America 1966 - 1973. (CDKENT 226)

And UK-based Goldmine released 2 Thelma compilations that include several of Emanuel’s recordings.

The Thelma Story (GSCD 55) has: I'm A Peace Loving Man – the previously unreleased “You Better Quit It” and “(I've Got To) Run For My Life”.

Thelma's Detroit Collective (GSCD 69) has: “Lucky To Be Loved (By You)” and “What Did I Do Wrong”.

There is more information here on Soulful Detroit that ties in with Emanuel’s career:
Johnnie Mae Matthews
Rose Batiste
Mike Hanks
 

Notes thanks to Graham Finch

Page Lead-in Clip from “I’m A Peace Loving Man”  [Thelma Recording Co. 108]

SUPPORT THE ARTIST!  IF YOU KNOW WHERE THIS FULL SONG OR ANY EMANUEL LASKY RECORDINGS CAN BE PURCHASED PLEASE TELL US SO WE CAN LINK IT TO A SALE POINT.