The Checkerboard Squares - Were they from Detroit, Calif., or Philly?-Seek contact

[robb_k]

A friend of mine is seeking information to do a biography/history of that 1960s instrumental group, which I always remember as having been rumoured to be from Detroit [[although their big 1965 hit, "Double Cookin' " was released on Philadelphia's Villa Records, and I read recently that they were from Northern California. IF they, indeed, were from Detroit, then, I think Ralph and Denis Coffey, and maybe Stu Bass would remember them, and maybe, if we're lucky, still have contact with one of them.

Please post anything you know about the group, and their recordings.

Thanks.

[Graham Jarvis]

If of any help:
Villa Records: Jeff Osbourne & Herbert Campbell San Francisco CA.
They issued seven 45's in 1966 [[two by Oz & The Spurlings, three by the Magicians one by the Performers & the other by the Checkerboard Squares all from CA.?
If any help Simon Soussan relocated to LA in the early 7T's, who not only covered many 100's of records from LA record labels back catalogue's, but it was he that also found the original Villa 45 "Double Cookin" in CA. [[which was also covered)
KENT's Tony Rounce published a CD "Double Cookin" of all classic northern soul intrumentals back in 2010, including the "Checkerboard Squares" . Mick Smith also involved in the set.

[robb_k]

If of any help:
Villa Records: Jeff Osbourne & Herbert Campbell San Francisco CA.
They issued seven 45's in 1966 [[two by Oz & The Spurlings, three by the Magicians one by the Performers & the other by the Checkerboard Squares all from CA.?
If any help Simon Soussan relocated to LA in the early 7T's, who not only covered many 100's of records from LA record labels back catalogue's, but it was he that also found the original Villa 45 "Double Cookin" in CA. [[which was also covered)
KENT's Tony Rounce published a CD "Double Cookin" of all classic northern soul intrumentals back in 2010, including the "Checkerboard Squares" . Mick Smith also involved in the set.

Thanks. Yes, I've already seen my question answered on Soul-Source Forum. I must have first gotten the idea that The Checkerboard Squares were from Detroit, because of the rumour that Soussan' s cover up of the record as "Bob Wilson and The Golden Strings", had spurred throughout The Northern Soul Scene during the mid 1970s in combination with the fact that "Soul Cookin' " had a Detroitish sound to it that people believed it might have been a dead rare, pulled back, or unreleased Ric Tic cut out or unreleased record by The San Remo Golden Strings.

Still it will be interesting to find out how Philly's Pancho Villa signed that Northern California band. And I didn't know those instrumental musicians were also The Magicians. I understand that they backed up the vocal group. But, I can't imagine that The Magicians vocal group were also the musicians. Maybe the Musicians also brought in a vocal group to join them, to THEN become a singing group/band amalgam, a self-contained band, who handled all their own instrumentation? I bought all 3 Magicians' Villa records when they were out. I never even bothered to play OZ and The Spurlings. Their group name sounded too much like a Garage or Rock Band of that period.

Now I see that you informed us that Villa Records was located in The San Francisco Bay Area, and not related to Pancho Villa's band, and not located in Philadelphia. No wonder most of The Magicians records I've found were pressed at Monarch, in L.A.

[robb_k]

Here's their NS Hit:

[ralpht]

For some reason I have no memory of this.

[robb_k]

For some reason I have no memory of this.

Maybe that's because it was a California group, and not distributed heavily in The East, but, and maybe not much in The Midwest. I never heard it nor saw it in Chicago, L.A., or The Bay Area. And yet, Villa's Magicians records were distributed and sold in shops in California. I don't remember seeing them in Chicago.

It turns out that the label Villa, which produced The Magicians, as well as The Checkerboard Squares, was a S.F. Bay Area label that was NOT related to Pancho Villa's Villa label from Philadelphia. I had thought they were the same label because they were both Yellow. So The California label may have just been a regional label, distributing only in California.

[ralpht]

Good point, Robb. In those days regional records were a way of life.