I, myself never heard that The Primettes ever sang gigs outside Detroit [[not even Toledo). And I believe they didn't. Yes, they got their deal with Robert West's LuPine Records in 1960, and they recorded "Tears of Sorrow" and "Pretty Baby" then. Richie Morris ran the session. I'm pretty sure that West didn't release their 2 cuts until 1962 [[LuPine 120), after they'd had some minor success with Motown, and then he re-released their record in 1964, after they started having great chart success.
Yes, Wilson Pickett was correct about The Supremes[[ex-Primettes) backing him up on his first 2 solo cuts in early spring, 1962, after he left The Falcons. He had signed with Wilbur Golden's Correc-Tone Records, and Robert Bateman ran his session, with Sonny Sanders arranging. He sang "Let Me Be Your Boy" and "I'm Down To My Last Heartbreak". The Funk Brothers played on it, and the strings were played by the same Detroit Symphony Orchestra players who played for Motown. The Supremes/Primettes also sang backgrounds from 1960-62 for others of Robert West's artists, including Al Garner[[Gardner), and other's of Wilbur Golden's Correc-Tone artists, including James Velvet [[James Ellis?).
Robert Ward and The Ohio Untouchables were signed to LuPine for awhile. They also recorded in Detroit for Hazel and Robert Coleman's and Don Davis' Thelma Records. I don't understand your comment about them and The Primettes being the only artists signed to LuPine "then". Did you mean they were also signed from the Windsor talent contest? Or the only ones signed in early 1960? Surely, you couldn't mean that they were the only LuPine artists in 1960. West had many, many artists and groups: The Falcons as a group, and several individual Falcons also signed as single artists [[Mack Rice, Joe Stubbs, Eddie Floyd), Al Garner, The Fabulous Playboys, Bobby Williams, Eddie Kirkland, The Corvells, The Fourmost, The Conquerors, The Rivals, The Minor Chords, Bennie McCain, Gene Martin, and Sax Kari all may have been signed by 1960. Tina Marvel and Betty Lavette were signed later [[1962).
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