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View Full Version : whatever happen to these 60's artists?


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the_classic_master
09-05-2010, 03:05 PM
joanne garrett
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdyo3iuuhac

louis curry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbuEy7kWEyU

della humphfrey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNM2bM8AdYQ

johnny & the expressions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUBlkoFqDWA

mike and the censations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKsQJzH5zJw

debbie taylor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9cwyBhDe70

the festivals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6vVtKIHCmQ

diamond joe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cAyD4At8V0

the_classic_master
09-06-2010, 12:34 PM
nothing, huh?

paladin
09-06-2010, 04:31 PM
Classic I dont know about the others you mentioned but Jo Ann Garrett is still around here in Chicago. She was supposed to be at a WHPK sponsored celebration at Peabody's Records about a month ago but she didn't show because of a minor injury or something.

Years ago we were neighbors, her younger brother Larry used to teach us martial arts back in the day. He was a bad man and had an affinity for Samurai swords.......she is scheduled to appear at the next event in October.

jsmith
09-06-2010, 04:58 PM
RE: DEBBIE TAYLOR ........ a bit of the following has repeated info but I don't have the time at present to rationalise it .....

Debbie Taylor [[later to record for the likes of GWP and Arista) and another friend told a third acquaintance, Barbara Holmes, about Shiptown Records in 1967. Intrigued, the three girls went to see Mr. Biggs to determine if they could get themselves a shot at fame. Norfolk also had a thriving gospel music scene and it was in church that Debbie and Barbara had first learnt to enjoy singing. Another acquaintance who also followed the same career path was their contemporary, Shirley Johnson. Luckily the day Debbie and Barbara turned up, Noah was in his office and he asked them why they had come to see him. Barbara spoke up, saying that she had come down to sing and so she was asked to perform a song. Not one to pass up a chance, Barbara sang an Aretha Franklin number, perhaps not the easiest choice a young singer could make. However before she had even finished the song, Noah hired her and asked if she was ready to work. The next thing she knew, she was under contract and singing with the Idets on backing vocals for several other artists. Noah was really impressed with Barbara and soon decided that her vocal talent was not being fully realized in a group setting. He decided that she should be developed as a solo artist and Ida came up with her stage name, Barbara Stant.

Some answers to questions I fired off to Barbara Stant ... it turns out that .... she started to sing in her church choir at about age 10 or 11. Maybe about a year later she was asked to join this gospel group. They were all pre-teens and all in the same church ..... They sounded good but there was something missing [[she says). One night they were on a program and a young lady sang with another group [[all the other members of which were adults). She had the VOICE and played the piano too. It became their mission to get her into "Barbara's" group. Her name was Maddie, now known to the world as Debbie Taylor. The pair [[Barbara & Debbie) have been friends ever since.
Barbara met Noah Biggs in 1967. After she finished high school, she got a job at a theatre on Church Street, Norfolk. Around a year later, she was introduced to Mr. Biggs when she visited his Shiptown Record’s office.

Chicago based [[but brought up in Norfolk, Va) Shirley Johnson also sang with Debbie Taylor in church & in gospel group's in the 1960's [[Shirley was born in 1949 or 1950, can't recall exactly which year at present) ... so was also a contemporary of Debbies back then.
Shirley would also record for Shiptown in the 70's BUT for some reason Debbie had travelled down to Memphis in the 60's to record her 1st 45 release there [[perhaps she was spotted on a show in Norfolk by a Memphis based artist OR maybe she had family ties to Memphis). She didn't tie up with Shiptown or any other Norfolk based record outfit but popped up in NY for her next record deal.

MORE ON DEBBIE TAYLOR ... moving onto the mid 70’s … Arista doesn't have the rights to the single they released on Debbie back in 1975 [[“I Don’t Wanna Leave You / Just Don’t Pay”). That is the reason nobody has been able to license it. A complete album on Debbie was finished back then and available to Arista but David Jordan was told that Arista wasn't interested in any more records like her 45. Tom Moulton believes that David got the single rights back. Tom worked on this Debbie Taylor album project for David Jordan not the label. Andrew Smith died about 10 years back and Debbie plus David Jordan just seemed to disappear after that time.
Some of the tracks on the ‘unrleased album’ were … “Such a lovely day”; “Dreaming of a brighter day”; “When you came into my life”; “Bad luck Friday”

Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia singer Debbie Taylor seems to have started her career as a backup singer recording for a number of local acts including Raw Soul. Her solo recording career started in 1968 with a pair of singles for Decca Records:
- 1968's 'I Get The Blues' b/w 'The Last Laugh Is On The Blues' [[Decca Records catalog number 32090)
- 1968's 'Check Yourself' b/w 'Wait Until I'm Gone' [[Decca Records catalog number 32259)
Neither release did much commercially and the following year she was one of the first acts signed to the New York-based GWP label. Working with producer George Kerr over the next year she released a string of four singles:
- 1969's 'Never Gonna Let Him Know' b/w 'Let's Prove Them Wrong' [[GWP Records catalog number GWP 501)
- 1969's 'How Long Can This Last' b/w 'Don't Let It End' [[GWP Records catalog number GWP 510)
- 1969's 'Mama, Look Sharp' b/w 'No Brag Just Fact' [[GWP Records catalog number GWP 512) [[with The Hesitations)
- 1970's 'Don't Nobody Mess with My Baby' b/w 'Stop' [[GWP Grapevine catalog number 202)
Once again commercial success eluded her, but 1972 found Bo Frazier and songwriter/producer David Jordan sign her to Terry Philip's Perception Records affiliated Today label where she was finally given a chance to record an album. Co-produced by Jordan and Patrick Adams [[who enjoyed considerable recognition for his work with Black Ivory), in spite of the unfortunate title, "Comin' Down On You" was one of those criminally overlooked soul classics. The combination of Taylor's wonderful voice and some first-rate material [[much of it written by Jordan and Adams) made for an album that should have burned up the charts. Taylor showed herself capable of handling everything from smoldering ballads [['Touchin' You') to surprisingly rock-ish material [['Too Sad To Tell'). Simply chock full of strong performances, virtually every one of the nine tracks was worth hearing. Highlights included the blazing ' No If's Ands, Or Buts', 'Romance Without Finance', the crushing ballad 'Leaving Him Tomorrow', and the bluesy 'Eye Doctor'. Given my uneducated insight the LP's commercial failure would seem to rest on three factors: 1.) lack of promotion by Today, 2.) picking one of the more predictable songs as the single [[ 'No Deposit, No Return' b/w 'Too Sad To Tell' [[Today records catalog number T-1510 A/B)), and 3.) poor market timing - had this album been released a year or two earlier it would have instantly captured soul's multi-cultural audience. By 1972 that audience had already begun to fracture. Shame since the album's a true pleasure from start to finish.
"Comin' Down On You" track listing:
[[side 1)
1.) No If's Ands, Or Buts [[David Jordan - Patrick Adams) - 2:50
2.) Touchin' You [[David Jordan - Patrick Adams) - 3:20
3.) Too Sad To Tell [[Maurice Irby Jr. - T. Philips) - 2:25
4.) Second To None [[Maurice Irby Jr.) - 3:40
5.) Romance Without Finance [[David Jordan - Patrick Adams) - 2:40
[[side 2)
1.) Leaving Him Tomorrow [[T. Kaye - E. Wagman) - 4:10
3.) No Deposit No Return [[David Jordan - Patrick Adams) - 2:40
4.) Eye Doctor [[Maurice Irby Jr.) - 4:10
4.) Jeremiah [[Maurice Irby Jr.) - 4:00

The Today LP did little commercially and the following year Taylor appeared with a single on Polydor:
- 1973's 'I Have Learned To Do without You' b/w 'Cheaper In the Long Run' [[Polydor Records catalog number PD14129)
Two years later saw the release of what appears to be her final 45:
- 1975's 'Just Don't Pay' b/w 'I Don't Wanna Leave You' [[Arista Records catalog number AS-0144)

Shiptown Records’ Ida Sands knew Debbie Taylor briefly but didn't get to know her really well as Debbie was already under separate management. Debbie did however record a couple of demos for Shiptown Records back in the 60's.
Debbie also sang background vocals on a couple of soul shows held in Norfolk with the locally based acts but before anyone was able to make any moves to get close with her,she had upped & left town [[for NY ??). Wilson Williams [[Jerry's brother) tells me that Debbie & he were very good friends and sang gospel together in a group called the Gospel Union before they started recording.

I played the Hesitations the joint Debbie T / Hesitations tracks off Ace / Kents GWP CD's and asked Art what he remembered about cutting them. He confirmed that the group never even met Debbie, they cut their vocals to the tracks at a different studio session to Debbie’s work on them.

Debbie was totally disgusted by her treatment by record companies [[back in the day) & retired from singing professionally. She has no desire to do interviews or recall those times … BUT … recently she has returned to singing secular songs, however she only performs incognito at present [[singing anonymously from the back of the stage on ‘others’ concerts).