Johnny West 'Tears' Is it Bob Gandy or Buddy Lamp or neither?

[MarieRoseSauce]

I can see from the archive that there has been previous speculation about Johnny West's one off single 'It ain't love' b/w 'Tears Baby' . Written and produced by Mike Hanks and Buddy Lamp it was released on the Soul label in 1962.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k-KVCnJajg&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmQnKo_Lfg4&feature=related

Some people have assumed that West is really Lamp [[aka gospel singer Willie Lampkin) using a pseudonym to disguise his secular activity. All well and good but West doesn't sound like Lamp particularly in the improvisations at the end of the cut. I've never been convinced that it is him singing.

I was listening to a Gotham label 45 by The Violinaires called 'Sign of Judgement' b/w 'My Work will Be Done' A Detroit beauty from 1957/58 the lead singer is listed as Robert [[Bob) Gandy. I played it next to Johnny West and it sounds like the same singer. Lamp was also in The Violinaires at one time and knew Gandy - a coincidence?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw6-8Ci9GdU

[robb_k]

4714
Your theory sounds very plausible. As far as I recollect, the Johnny West single was actually released in 1963. Wasn't Buddy Lamp's Peanut record also released in 1963? It seems to me that Buddy Lamp already had a secular singing career under his own name in 1962. It makes more sense that the Johnny West name was used by a DIFFERENT singer, who may have wanted to use a stage name for going into the secular singing field. If Bob Gaddy sounds more like West[[and I agree that he does), he may well be West, rather than Lamp. I had heard that West was Lamp, but I don't know if that came from Lamp, himself, or someone connected with him, or if it was entirely from speculation.

I hope "acooolcat" [[Graham Finch) sees this thread and comments. He's done a lot of research on this. He has stated that West was, indeed, Buddy lamp. But I don't know his source.

[mrclemma]

B-b-b-bump.