No wonder Thelma left Motown

[marv2]

Hi Marv
In Detroit DLMTW was quite popular. We're u in Toledo at that time? If so how popular was this song in that market area? BTW unclog ur mailbox!
Thanks!

Hey Det! Oh yeah it was very popular. Stations that rarely played black artists like WOHO, WTOD, WCWA in Toledo ,played this song by Thelma frequently. I remember it came out during one of the coldest winters I can remember [['76-'77). It was played regularly in the disco's back then. For some reason I remember Ebony Magazine running a feature on the growing Disco scene in January 1977 and this song may have been mentioned.

Correction, it was the February 1977 issue that they ran the article on Disco.

[reese]

The Fury Record label out of NYC released a total of 5 GK&P singles. I have two of them in mint condition in my collection, #1052 Guess Who b/w Stop Running Around, and #1064 Operator b/w I'll Trust In You. Both of these records the labels read "Gladys Knight and the Pips."

The group was originally called The Pips. They recorded EVERY BEAT OF MY HEART as a lark for an Atlanta club owner. Without their knowledge, he first put the record out locally, and then sold the master to Vee Jay, who released the record as by "The Pips."

Simultaneously, the group signed to Fury Records and re-recorded and released EVERY BEAT OF MY HEART. Because both the Vee Jay and Fury record were on the charts at the same time, Fury decided to distinguish its release by adding Gladys' name to the credits.

[jsmith]

Back to the theme of this thread & getting away from YET MORE POINTLESS Diane related discussions ..... Motown [[Berry I'd guess) was always chasing song writers who he thought had ripped off a Motown groove & used it in their hit song.
SO HOW COME, Motown [[Wakefield & the Suttons) got away with such a blatant G & H rip-off with "I'm Here Again" ??
... or did G&H come after them and get part of the publishing ??

[SupremeBoy]

i wanted to read an informative thread on thelma houston's big hit and a personal motown favorite of mine. but no, it just got reduced to more diana ross bashing, and the thinly veiled references to her as "you know who".

what is wrong with you people?

[ralpht]

I don't know why this always happens SupremeBoy. It just does. Stay on topic gang.

[Methuselah2]

Does anyone know what Thelma Houston is doing these days? Still performing? You rarely hear anything about her.

Woodward - The recent documentary THE SECRET DISCO REVOLUTION is not particulary good but Thelma is one of its featured interviewees, and it was very enjoyable to see and hear what she had to say. I can't recommend the film but there were a few parts and interviews that I was glad I saw. And Thelma was certainly one of its higher points.

[REDHOT]

lol really,i love Thelma Houston,i got every album,or cd she ever recorded,she can sing anything.Please stay positive

[thommg]

I don't think Thelma ever recorded a bad album - a couple of lesser tracks every now and then but all listenable. I listen to a few that she recorded after Motown more than her Motown stuff, though. Throw You Down is a great record as is Qualifying Heat. And I recently rediscovered Never Gonna Be Another One when it was released on a two-fer. Her 1975 I've Got The Music In Me with Pressure Cooker is excellent. I'm just sorry that she wasn't able to score another huge hit. I think she deserved to have another. She redid Don't Leave Me This Way back in the late 1990s, which I heard at a rally, and it was fantastic. I was hoping that might be recorded and released but, alas, it never was.

And for the record, if you read Gladys Knights book, she always thought of herself as being in a group until she was asked to record a solo album for Buddah in 1978.

[supremester]

I love Thelma's voice: she can be smooth n sexy, deeply soulful, blazing hot sass or all church - excellent. How lucky we are & she is that Miss Ross turned it down. I recall a 1972[[?) interview with Miss Ross in someone's living room where they are playing records and she goes on a tear about an incredibly talented new singer, Thelma Houston, Motown is about to launch who is going to make it big..

[REDHOT]

Again,let's stick to the topic,Thelma Houston,i'm sure Motown was not ready,when Thelma won the Grammy,you just never know lol,Please stay positive

[ralpht]

Thank you Redhot......get it guys?

[Kamasu_Jr]

I was discussing Thelma Houston. I was not bashing Diana Rosss. I didn't want to bring her name up and shift the focus from Thelma. So I said you know who. Nothing malicious intended.

[ralpht]

No problem, Kam. Sometimes the name becomes a trigger for problems. I guess we all get a little too sensitive at times.

[BayouMotownMan]

I met Thelma Houston in the late 1990s when she played a New Orleans venue. She was very warm with everybody talking to her.

Thelma left Motown for the same reason most female artists left. There was only to be one queen at the company. Gordy was always impressed with Thelma and she was on the label for years before getting her well-deserved hit.

Don't Leave Me and the lp Anyway You Like It were massive hits. I doubt Motown anticipated just how big. The single and lp were platinum. It was followed by the duet lp with Jerry Butler which didn't do as well as planned. Her third lp, The Devil In Me, [[my opinion the best Motown lp she did) also fell short and her last two lps didn't sell hardly anything. This despite the modest hit Saturday Night, Sunday Morning.

She began getting offers from competing labels with promises of more money and better promotion. Like many Motown artists, when she went to collect her royalties from her hit single and lp, it was far less than she expected.

It is possible that had she remained at Motown one more year, Ross left and Thelma would likely have gotten better promotion. But that is speculative. Going into the 1980s Motown was not the influential record company it once had been. Distribution problems and overall bad decisions crippled them. Thelma never had another big hit record after Motown, but the disco crowds keep her busy and working to this day.

[Roberta75]

No problem, Kam. Sometimes the name becomes a trigger for problems. I guess we all get a little too sensitive at times.

I dont get people getting sensitive or hateful about a woman or man or performer who they dont know. Its real odd to me. Youve worked with Mr Gordy and Miss Diane Ross and the other motown stars and I never hear you trash anyone Ralph. Thats cause hes a real gentleman folks.

Diane Ross and Mary Wilson stir up some real mean feelings and ugly thoughts and words yet the people who trash these women dont even know them.

If you dont like a singer then take the high road and say nothing. I dont care for Gladys Knight so I avoid her threads.

Yours, with every good wish.

Roberta

[REDHOT]

No matter what the reason was,Motown should have done much more for Thelma Houston,after the Grammy win,they did nothing,so she moved on,GREAT.i feel had she stayed,they[[motown)would have still,done nothing for her,i could be wrong,it's just my opinion,i wish Thelma would do a tribute album to Dionne Warwick,on one of her RCA albums,she did Don't Make Me Over,i must say, Thelma sang her you know what off lol.Please stay positive

[marv2]

No matter what the reason was,Motown should have done much more for Thelma Houston,after the Grammy win,they did nothing,so she moved on,GREAT.i feel had she stayed,they[[motown)would have still,done nothing for her,i could be wrong,it's just my opinion,i wish Thelma would do a tribute album to Dionne Warwick,on one of her RCA albums,she did Don't Make Me Over,i must say, Thelma sang her you know what off lol.Please stay positive

I agree they should have done more for Thelma. Motown has so, so many great, talented people [[in front of and behind the microphones) that I feel they took them for granted. Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, Mary Wilson, Jean Terrell, Chuck Jackson, the Vandellas ,etc,etc. All were enormously talented people that should have been given more attention by the company.

[captainjames]

I thought Motown came back with "The Devil In Me" with Thelma Houston was a positive move. It seem like Motown was behind her because she had Brian Holland, Edward J. Holland and Richard Davis on "I Can't Go On Living Without You", Greg Wright and Karin Patterson on "Triflin" [[ my favorite tune) and Michael Masser and Pam Sawyer on " Your Eyes". Besides that she had one of the best album covers I had ever seen. I loved it !!!! Motown got Too big and did not have enough gloves to handle everyone however other labels had gloves but didn't have a clue what to do with them.

[BayouMotownMan]

I love Triflin' too as well. The whole of Side A was great. It did ok salewise for an album that had no hit singles to boost it.

[REDHOT]

I do think, had Thelma been the first solo female singer at another record company,to win a Grammy,they would have went all out for her,now with that said,i'm gonna leave it alone lol,i also love Thelma's BreakWaterCat album,Jimmy Webb produced some great tracks for it,Please stay positive

[cdave2]

I always liked Thelma Houston. She had the ability to take lyrics that could make anyone else seem like a doormat, and sound as if she could scorch the earth in front of the cowardly so-and-so to prevent him from leaving. Go Thelma!

I'm particularly fond of "All of That," a little gem that came out in the 90s on Azuli Records:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMZikbHHQLQ

[pghmusiclover]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but it looks like Soulmusic.com will be releasing her duets albums with Jerry Butler on CD in October:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/THELMA-JERRY...=pd_sim_m_h__1