Palmer's Jimmy Mack-who was he? From Detroit or Chicago?

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The guy who recorded "My World Is On Fire" for Mike Valvano and Mike Terry in Detroit, and released on Detroit's Palmer Records, was thought by many to have come from Chicago. At least that is what I had always heard over the years. I think it was Ron Murphy, who told me that [[in addition to several others). I always thought he was the Chicago songwriter/arranger/producer-and the same guy referred to in the song, "I'm Jimmy Mack".

Does anyone have any information on this subject? I can't remember if those Palmer cuts were recorded at Sidra's studios, or at Terra-Shirma. But, they were recorded in 1966, and I think that Terra-Shirma started in 1967. But, maybe Ralph knows who the guy is, anyway?

Any help, Ralph? Or Russ? Or any other Detroiters who were around the Detroit music scene at that time?

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Bump up to reach someone who can answer the questions.

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Bumped up again. 51 readers and nobody knows anything????

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Bump again. 69 readers and nobody has anything to add.

JAMES McEACHIN

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Originally Posted by laurence

JAMES McEACHIN

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According to the "Northern Soul 500" book by KEV ROBERTS .. James McKeachin was a West coast/Los Angeles producer/arranger who was nothing to do with the "Jimmy Mack" on Palmer.

I'm intrigued by this thread and am hoping that someone who actually "knows" will respond.

Roger

Attachment 4904
JAMES McEACHIN [[Jimmy Mack) lived and worked in Los Angeles, for his whole career. He later became a successful actor there. Chicago's Jimmy Mack was named Jimmy McMillan. I think that HE was also the Palmer artist. Many others think so, as well. Still others think that the Palmer recording artist was a local Detroiter. Those two arethe major realistic possibilities. There was another "Jimmy Mack" Soul singer. He recorded for Hamster Records in the early '70s. He was from New York, and worked there, rather than in Detroit or Chicago.

Attachment 4905
We might need someone who was around at the time, like Ralph, Russ, Dennis Coffey, Clay McMurray, Spyder Turner, Ray Monette, or Bob Babbitt [[pray that he recovers, and answering such a question is the least of his priorities), to answer such a question.

I'm curious as to which Jimmy Mack was the one who recorded a version of "The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game" for Atlantic.

Best,

Mark

Robb,
Sorry, but I am no help here. What I can offer is the possibility TS was the studio involved since it came into being in April of 66 and Sidra didn't come into existence for at least another year.

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Originally Posted by mark speck

I'm curious as to which Jimmy Mack was the one who recorded a version of "The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game" for Atlantic.

Best,

Mark

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Attachment 4910
Mark, can you post sound files of the Atlantic cuts? Does he sound at all like the Palmer or Hamster guy? I suspect that he's the same singer who recorded for Palmer. Can you post label scans of the Atlantic record? Who participated in the production? Were they Detroit, Chicago, New York, or L.A. people?

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Originally Posted by ralpht

Robb,
Sorry, but I am no help here. What I can offer is the possibility TS was the studio involved since it came into being in April of 66 and Sidra didn't come into existence for at least another year.

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Attachment 4911
Thanks, Ralph. So, then we can assume that you don't remember any local, Detroit guy called "Jimmy Mack" on the Detroit music scene back in 1966? If such a person existed, you probably would have heard of him. I really think that Mike Terry, working in Chicago, met Jimmy McMillan, and later brought him to Detroit to record on a project he was already working on with Mike Valvano.

Robb,
I was fortunate to know a host of Detroit characters back then, but I don't remember any Jimmy Macks.

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Originally Posted by ralpht

Robb,
I was fortunate to know a host of Detroit characters back then, but I don't remember any Jimmy Macks.

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Attachment 4912
And, nobody else I've talked to does. So, maybe Ron Murphy, saying that he'd heard that THAT Jimmy Mack came from Chicago, was accurate, after all. The problem is that Bob Abrahamian, having interviewed many Chicago artists and producers, has found ZERO evidence that Chicago's Jimmy Mack [[who was an arranger and producer) was ever a singer.

o.k. you've thrown one of my answers to your question out...well dig this. The hamster recording artist ie ' A woman is hard to understand', is Jimmy McMillan.

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Originally Posted by laurence

o.k. you've thrown one of my answers to your question out...well dig this. The hamster recording artist ie ' A woman is hard to understand', is Jimmy McMillan.

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Attachment 4915
Sorry! Then, I remembered a post from Bob A. incorrectly. Then, the Chicago guy has another name. But the other information I and others here have stated is correct, including Jimmy McEachin working only out of L.A. Jimmy McEachin had a MUCH deeper voice than that of the Palmer artist. In any case, the Hamster artist [[Jimmy McMillan), worked out of New York, and his voice is without a doubt, also so very different from the Palmer artist, that is is clear that they are two different people.

Robb. I have thought for 37 years that the McEachin/ Jimmy Mack [[Palmer Records) guy were one and the same since a Ian Levine record review of 'My World is on fire' appeared in Blues and Soul magazine in 1975 where this connection was implied. I owed a copy of the Palmer release and also bought 'A woman is hard to understand" thinking it was the same artist. I now know for sure the latter is New York political guy James McMillan, [[who also spent some time at Brunswick Records, and may have been in Viet Nam around the mid sixties).
I also Knew McEachin was in the record biss through records I had by The Furys on Mirwood etc out of L.A. Sorry my answer could not solve your enquiries

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Originally Posted by laurence

Robb. I have thought for 37 years that the McEachin/ Jimmy Mack [[Palmer Records) guy were one and the same since a Ian Levine record review of 'My World is on fire' appeared in Blues and Soul magazine in 1975 where this connection was implied. I owed a copy of the Palmer release and also bought 'A woman is hard to understand" thinking it was the same artist. I now know for sure the latter is New York political guy James McMillan, [[who also spent some time at Brunswick Records, and may have been in Viet Nam around the mid sixties).
I also Knew McEachin was in the record biss through records I had by The Furys on Mirwood etc out of L.A. Sorry my answer could not solve your enquiries

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Attachment 4920
Thanks. You can hear that all three of their voices are very different. I think that Northern Soul fans "assumed" that they were the same person, but there was no real information on that. Bob A. interviewed Hamster's Jimmy McMillan, and was told by him that he wasn't the Palmer artist. I never heard of any connection of Jimmy McEachin with Detroit, Mike Valvano, Mike Terry or Palmer Records. If I had, I'd have a hard time believing it, as his voice sounds so different.

Sorry, Robb...don't have the record handy, and even if I did, I don't know how to do sound files... :[[

Best,

Mark

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Originally Posted by mark speck

Sorry, Robb...don't have the record handy, and even if I did, I don't know how to do sound files... :[[

Best,

Mark

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Attachment 4936
Jimmy Mack and The Soul Factory, who recorded on Atlantic were a Caucasian Blue-Eyed Soul group from Pittsburgh, whose lea was DEFINITELY NOT the Jimmy Mack who recorded for Palmer.

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One more bump, in case Clay or Spyder might be looking in. or Dennis, or Ray. Some of them may have worked with Mike worked with Mike Valvano and or Mike Terry around that time, and might have have heard about that session.