This gig was in 1966. Steve
Mancha’s record was on the Groovesville label - he later had a
superb 45 on Groove City that was credited to The Hollidays.
No Greater Love
When I interviewed Don Davis, I asked him how
Edwin Starr came to be on “I’ll Love You Forever”. He said Mr.
Wingate had wanted a more powerful vocal delivery. Yet when Rick
Pack interviewed Edwin Starr for Soul Survivor magazine in the
mid-80s, Edwin stated:
“There was no such group as the Holidays at the time. I got
tricked into doing that. I went by the studio one night and
producer Don Davis said, ‘Edwin, great to see you. Will you show
these guys how to sing this song?’ A couple of weeks later, I
hear ‘I’ll Love You Forever’ on the radio and I thought they
must have got some other guys to sing it. Then I realized the
voice coming out of the radio was mine! At the end, the DJ
announced the group’s name as The Holidays. I thought, The
Holidays! Who the hell are they?”
Maurice strongly contests Edwin’s version, maintaining that the
group and Edwin had got to know each other well during their
time at Golden World. But regardless of how it happened, the
fact that Edwin Starr’s vocal dominates The Holidays’ recording
is something that still – understandably - galls Maurice to this
day:
“The thing that bothered me the most was Edwin’s voice is on the
record, and it’s now number one in every city that it’s released
in. And they decide the first show is at the Apollo Theater.
This is the most critique place in music; the greatest in the
world have come through there.”
Tony Gray
INTERVIEW
&
“No Greater Love”
CLICK^ TO LISTEN |
It was certainly going to be a baptism by fire, as they lacked
experience performing live. Nevertheless, the quartet headed
straight to New York and quickly got their stage act together,
going on to ride the wave of success as “I’ll Love You Forever”
floated up to number 7 in Billboard’s chart. Appearing at the
premier venues around the States, it was now The Holidays – not
Edwin Starr – that was hot property and the group needed a
follow-up 45.
Maurice sang lead on the similar sounding “No Greater Love”,
which was released just a month before Motown boss Berry Gordy
bought Golden World’s studio. It was the last record released on
the label. That was in September ’66 and the group’s potential
chart-climber was subsequently shelved.
The now popular Holidays were wondered what to do next. Motown
had got J.J. Barnes and Edwin Starr’s contracts, along with
Golden World’s studio and publishing. Should the group go down
to Hitsville? The group was split. Tony:
“We came into Detroit from the Howard Theater (Chicago) and went
over to the company. Joanne knocked on the glass when we came in
and she was on the phone. She was talking to Berry Gordy… I got
on the phone and he said, ‘Tony (Maurice), before you say no,
listen to what I’m gonna say. If you and your group were with
Motown, I’ll Love You Forever would be number one in the world.’
He said, ‘You come over to Motown, I personally will show you
the works over here.’”
“Butch and I were content not going to Motown… we were clean; we
didn’t want to be around drugs. And we didn’t want to be put in
nobody’s can. Eddie and Robert wanted to go to Motown. I was the
oldest and the decision to go to Motown or not was going to be
mine, so I made it. I told him no.” It was a decision that
divided the group and it wasn’t long before they went their
separate ways.
Here’s a bit of record collecting trivia: Like Edwin Starr’s Ric-Tic
hits, The Holidays’ “I’ll Love You Forever” was released over in the UK on the Polydor label. After Motown got Golden World and Edwin, his
records continued to be pressed and sold – in fact they were
perennial favorites in the North of England. However, The
Holidays’ 45 was immediately deleted and is consequently now a
rare record: a shiny Golden World copy usually sells for just
$15 dollars, while a clean one on British Polydor would fetch
around $400.
Ever since Tony arrived in Detroit in ‘65, The Debonaires had
been part of his life: from first hearing their “Eenie Meenie”,
to seeing a photo of the girls pinned on the wall of Golden
World’s studio, to subsequently meeting the group and singing
background on various sessions. And the one that caught his eye
was Elsie Baker.
Elsie had started out singing with The Stereophonics in 1963,
but had left before they recorded anything to join The
Debonaires. Once she had teamed up with Joyce Vincent and
Dorothy Garland in ‘64, the trio auditioned and signed with
Golden World. Elsie:
“The next thing we know, we’re on a jet plane to New York,
recording our song there – ‘Please Don’t Say We’re Through’. And
we were still in high school when ‘Eenie, Meenie, Gypsaleenie’
came out.”
Recorded at Golden World’s new studio, “Eenie Meenie” was
released in August of ’65, which was when Maurice heard it on
the radio. Maurice:
“Before I met her (Elsie), I had told seven people at Golden
World – from a picture on the wall - who my wife was going to
be. And I didn’t even know who she was. When I met her, I told
her that. And in ’67 we got married and we’ve been married ever
since.”
They both sang on numerous recording sessions at Golden World
and United Sound and below are a few of the gems: “It Won’t
Hurt” is actually Eddie Levert with The Holidays – not the
O’Jays.
It’s probably the fact that The Holidays sang on so many
sessions at Golden World, for J. J. Barnes, Edwin Starr and
Steve Mancha, that made people think these singers were part of
the group. But that wasn’t the case.
Maurice Tony Gray of The
Holidays and Elsie Baker of The Debonaires got married in 1967.
These are just a few of the many great 45s they sang on. Tony
Hester’s 45 was also released on the Karate label. |