50 Years ago today 6/26/1969 Shorty Long drowned.

[woodward]

It is hard to believe, but, EXACTLY, 50 years ago today, June 29, 1969, we lost the great Shorty Long. Here are the details I know from the newspaper article that appeared announcing his death.

"A man identified as a Motown Record Corporation star and a male companion drowned in the Detroit River Sunday, June 29, 1969, when their small craft
capsized off Sandwich Island. The recording star was identified as Frederick [[Shorty) Long. His body was recovered. The identification of his companion was not immediately learned. Dragging operations to recover his body are to be resumed Monday. First reports said the wash from a passing freight swamped the boat, but the Coast Guard said later no passing ship was involved. They could offer no reason for the sinking. The island is off Sandwich, Ontario. Long wrote and recorded Here Comes da Judge and Function at the Junction, two of his top hits. Long, born in Birmingham, Alabama, was both a singer and a pianist."


Bad, bad memories. Play some of your Shorty Long CDs and/or vinyl today in his memory. Long Live the Judge! His legacy continues.

[marv2]

Wow. I know it has been a long time, but it still just does not seem that long ago to me .

[Roger Polhill]

Shorty is probably my favourite Motowner apart from James Jamerson.I would love to have witnessed the groove of their studio sessions.I hope that there are more unreleased titles left.

[McMotown]

Another under-rated artist, just played Devil In The Blue Dress in memory.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

I love both of Shorty's Soul/Motown albums. Of all the Motown artists, he remains among the most mysterious, as very little was ever revealed about him. I remember reading back in the '70s that his drowning may have been more than just a boating "accident". I'm thinking it was in the semi-fictional book "Number 1 With A Bullet" which was loosely based on a record company like Motown [[in the same way that "Dreamgirls" was unofficially the story of The Supremes). All of the behind-the-scenes stories about the real Motown Record Corporation didn't come out until the '80s, and I don't recall Shorty's death ever raising any eyebrows in any of those books, so I'm still thinking it was "#1 With A Bullet" in which they referred to him as a 29-year-old artist who had supposedly died in a boating "accident" which was possibly no accident at all. From their description, I recognized his age and cause of death as being that of Shorty Long.

The only other thing I've ever heard about Shorty was when The Andantes reported that Shorty could be difficult to work with during recording sessions. There's nothing wrong with being a perfectionist. In fact, the Motown producers loved working with The Andantes because, not only did they make Motown recordings sound great, they were fast learners. The producers would show the girls what he wanted, and the girls would nail it perfectly in just one or two takes. If The Andantes had trouble giving Shorty what he wanted, I'm left thinking he may have been too demanding or maybe had a short fuse.

Whatever, Shorty's style fit perfectly within The Motown Sound". I would have loved to hear what his 3rd album might have been like.

[Roger Polhill]

Well there are certainly enough tracks to make up another album in fact almost enough for 2.I`ve been listening to 8 tracks in mono that are from "Here Comes the Judge" that I have and they are quite a bit different from the stereos. "Moods of Marvin Gaye" is another.