H.O.B's SOUL label

**jsmith** · 12-19-2023, 09:14 PM

Around 1961, Carmen Murphy of H.O.B. Records [[House of Beauty) started up her Soul Records label. Anyone know why she used that name for her new label ?
Of course, H.O.B. was [[early on) a label for Detroit gospel tracks and as is well known, the word SOUL had long & strong gospel / church connections ... FOR INSTANCE the Soul Stirrers utilising their group name from as early as the start of the 1930's [[they recorded under the name from around 1946).
How come H.O.B's Soul label became defunct around 1963 but then BG started the Motown related Soul label in March 64.
Did BG 'buy' the name off Murphy ?

**robb_k** · 12-19-2023, 10:16 PM

Originally Posted by jsmith

Around 1961, Carmen Murphy of H.O.B. Records [[House of Beauty) started up her Soul Records label. Anyone know why she used that name for her new label ?
Of course, H.O.B. was [[early on) a label for Detroit gospel tracks and as is well known, the word SOUL had long & strong gospel / church connections ... FOR INSTANCE the Soul Stirrers utilising their group name from as early as the start of the 1930's [[they recorded under the name from around 1946).
How come H.O.B's Soul label became defunct around 1963 but then BG started the Motown related Soul label in March 64.
Did BG 'buy' the name off Murphy ?

After starting up the R&B line of her House Of Beauty Records in 1958 [[which started releasing Gospel records slightly before), In 1960 Mrs. Murphy started up a fully secular R&B label, Spartan Records. As Spartan featured mostly group Harmony and single-artist Pop-oriented R&B, in 1961 she wanted to give the buying public the impression that her newest R&B label would feature singers with an emotional [[soulful) edge to their music, like those in her House of Beauty Gospel line. So, she named it "Soul Records". When Berry Gordy started the start-up of his newest Motown subsidiary in late 1963, it was planned to feature singers with a Bluesy edge to their music, like Shorty Long. He wanted to use the name, "Soul Records". His former mentor and employer, Carmen Murphy had shut down her Soul Records subsidiary a few months before [[along with her other R&B/Soul labels), and kept operating only her HOB Gospel line[[which she sold to Scepter-Wand records some months later). She offered the trademark and name rights to the label name to her friend Berry for free, but he paid her $1.00 for the rights, and had a lawyer draw up the papers, to make it official and unquestionable. Mrs Murphy had one other record label [[a mixed Soul and Pop/Soul label), Starmaker Records, which ran through most of 1962 and most of 1963.

**robb_k** · 12-19-2023, 10:22 PM

Originally Posted by jsmith

Around 1961, Carmen Murphy of H.O.B. Records [[House of Beauty) started up her Soul Records label. Anyone know why she used that name for her new label ?
Of course, H.O.B. was [[early on) a label for Detroit gospel tracks and as is well known, the word SOUL had long & strong gospel / church connections ... FOR INSTANCE the Soul Stirrers utilising their group name from as early as the start of the 1930's [[they recorded under the name from around 1946).
How come H.O.B's Soul label became defunct around 1963 but then BG started the Motown related Soul label in March 64.
Did BG 'buy' the name off Murphy ?

After starting up the R&B line of her House Of Beauty Records in 1958 [[which started releasing Gospel records slightly before), In 1960 Mrs. Murphy started up a fully secular R&B label, Spartan Records. As Spartan featured mostly group Harmony and single-artist Pop-oriented R&B, in 1961 she wanted to give the buying public the impression that her newest R&B label would feature singers with an emotional [[soulful) edge to their music, like those in her House of Beauty Gospel line. So, she named it "Soul Records". When Berry Gordy started the start-up of his newest Motown subsidiary in early 1964, it was planned to feature singers with a Bluesy edge to their music, like Shorty Long. He wanted to use the name, "Soul Records". His former mentor and employer, Carmen Murphy had shut down her Soul Records subsidiary a few months before [[along with her other R&B/Soul labels), and kept operating only her HOB Gospel line[[which she sold to Scepter-Wand records some months later). She offered the trademark and name rights to the label name to her friend Berry for free, but he paid her $1.00 for the rights, and had a lawyer draw up the papers, to make it official and unquestionable. Mrs Murphy had one other record label [[a mixed Soul and Pop/Soul label), Starmaker Records, which ran through most of 1962 and most of 1963.
I wrote a many-page treatise on Mrs. Murphy's time in the record business, as a many-post thread on this website, which includes photos of her and some of her staff, lots of scans of her labels' records, and their histories.

Here's a link to it: https://soulfuldetroit.com/showthrea...=Carmen+murphy

**jsmith** · 12-20-2023, 03:06 AM

THANX Robb.

**Graham Jarvis** · 12-20-2023, 03:37 AM

Thanks Robb the Link helped a lot, I have Jack Surrells HOB 45.

Not [[In my Opinion) a great record, but probably more historic significance. This 45 also appears in "The Contours" Discographies as an early Contours & HOB release, hence is perceived as being Motown Related.
However this particular "Contours" group is not the same as the Motown "Contours".

There is however a tenuous Motown Link to the HOB disc as both Mickey Stevenson & Johnny Allen [[the producers) would later work for Motown. Even though the HOB release did nothing there is a recognition and a debt of gratitude to Jack Surrell. Jack was a local Detroit DJ & Singer. It was he that knew and encouraged Carmen Murphy to set up a recording studio in the basement of her "Beauty Parlour" Named "House of Beauty" [[HOB] in the late 50's to record Gospel Music.

Carmen then set up the studio and later both formed HOB [[initially) & SOUL records. Berry Gordy was then to record one of the First "Jobete" songs [[Herman Griffin] on the HOB Label, he then later paid [[$1] to Carmen for buying the SOUL label from her. Mike Hank's worked with Carmen & then went on to create many of Detroits greatest ever Soul labels.

Without Carmen Murphy the two great Detroit Soul & R&B stalwarts, Berry Gordy & Mike Hanks might not have achieved what they did.

Checkout the Mike Hanks Story.soulfuldetroit.com/web11-mike hanks/mike hanks