Detroiters Connection with Ivy Records and New York's Hanover Records

**robb_k** · 04-08-2012, 09:51 PM

For many years I've wondered about Kenny Martin's, Sonny Woods' and [[perhaps) Johnnie Mae Matthews' and James Bennett's and The Volumes' connections with Ivy Records [[located in New York? Or was it in Detroit?) and Bob Thiele's Hanover Records in New York [[for whom Clarence Paul recorded just before he relocated to Detroit).

I Wonder if Ivy Records was actually located in Detroit and bought out by Hanover/Signature, and it's A&R man/main producer brought to NY to run Hanover's R&B production? Or did Hanover just lease masters from Ivy [[Unique Teens), and buy their publisher [[Walnut Music) to get songs to use [[for Clarence Paul [[among others).

But, I suspect that Ivy Records was located in New York, as The Unique Teens were a NY group. The girls group, The Deltairs had two releases on Ivy. I'm guessing that they were a NY group. They also release a record on Jimmy Lewis and The Volumes. Can these be the original group that evolved into The Volumes on Chex? I think not, as I heard that "I Love You" was their first recording. But, their song was written by Bennett, Williams and Martin. And Kenny Martin was heavily involved with Ivy's publisher, Walnut Music. There were several Bennett/Matthews songs published by Walnut on Ivy and Hanover. I wonder if they were written by James Bennett and Johnnie Mae Matthews? Detroit's Sonny Woods wrote together with Detroit's Kenny Martin for Ivy and Walnut, and they produced Paul's Hanover Record. Just after that, I believe that they were the people who convinced Clarence to relocate to Detroit, and that's how he ended up at Motown.

But was Jimmy Lewis of THESE Volumes from Detroit? Was there a Detroit group called The Volumes back in 1958? B.B. Butler and his band seems to have been the house band. Does anyone remember B.B. Butler's band operating out of Detroit? I thought he was an East Coaster?

Does anyone remember The Vanguards [[doo wop group) living in Detroit? The group Ollie McGlaughlin recorded [[on Ruth Records) sounds like a "Caucasian" group. The Ivy group "Moonlight" sounds like an African-American East Coast group.

I don't remember anything about Ivy records in The Johnnie Mae Matthews story webisode.

Are there any members here who are old R&B collectors and/or people who were old enough in 1958 to remember any of these people, to help out here?

**jsmith** · 04-09-2012, 07:26 AM

Robb, RE: the Volumes from Detroit .............
this is what the 'original guys' still in the group told me ............
Formed in Detroit back in the days of doo wop [[1960), members had gotten together on street corners after school [[Central High, Chadsey, etc.) to practice their harmony singing. The group consisted of Eddie Union [[lead), Elijah Davis [[first tenor), Larry Wright [[second tenor), Joe Travillion [[baritone), and Ernest Newsom [[bass). Willie Ewing became their manager in 1961 and he set up Chex Records. The group hit the floor running, as their first 45 release, "I Love You", quickly entered local charts. It soon broke out of Detroit and rose to reach the R&B Top 10 and Pop Top 30 in 1962. The group’s expert harmony work on the cut hid the make shift nature of the instrumental backing [[Detroit legend Popcorn" Wylie beating out the rhythm on a suitcase). Chex issued a second 45, “Come Back Into My Heart”, but this failed to repeat the huge success of their first outing [[though Lamont Dozier played on this). Chex was only a tiny label with few resources and no means of effectively distributing their releases. When “I Love You” had exploded onto the charts, a deal was done with Jubilee Records for national distribution. Unable to cope with the workload their success brought, Chex handed over the reins to Jubilee almost entirely for the group’s next two releases [[in 1963). The group had teamed up with Harry Balk and Duke Browner to work on these sides issued on Jubilee. Recording in New York, the songs they cut were written by Maron McKenzie [[Harry’s staff writer) and produced by Duke Browner.

**robb_k** · 04-09-2012, 09:20 AM

Yes, that's what I had always known. So, Jimmy Lewis' Volumes were probably from New York. Bennett and Matthews could easily be people other than Johnnie Mae Matthews and James Bennett. And Kenny Martin and Sonny Woods could have done some work in New York as did Derek Martin.

Someone mentioned that Clark Martin was from Detroit, and mentioned him in the same sentence as Kenny, and that they were from Detroit. Did Detroit's Kenny Martin have a brother named Clark? Does anyone know where B.B. Butler's band operated? I don't remember seeing his name associated with Detroit. I'm sure I saw it associated with some East Coast city [[Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Boston or New York).

**jsmith** · 04-09-2012, 09:49 AM

Robb,
..... Ivy Records was set up in Sept 57 by Stan Feldman & Ed Portnoy. It was based out of 1697 Broadway, New York.
The label's 1st release was "it's Only You Dear" by the Deltairs.
Feldman had been in the jukebox biz for 21 years with Kingsboro Music, whilst Portnoy operated the Record Shack Jazz outlet.
The pair didn't have too much success distributing their product so signed lease deals for it to come out on APT, Gone & Felsted [[a London subsidary label). They had picked up a novelty 45 by 'Harvey the Hippo' from Starbrite Records in 59.
By 1960 they were employing songwriter George Weiss as their A & R man.

B. B. Butler's biggest outing on record seems to have been "I Hope I Don't Cry" which was released in 1964 on Barry & did well down in NOLA [[on radio stn WYLD.
Hope this helps. ........ JRS

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**robb_k** · 04-10-2012, 07:02 AM

Barry was located in NY, as well. I'm sure that B.B. Butler never lived in Detroit. I think that Ivy's only connection to Detroit was that Kenny Martin and Sonny Woods wrote some songs for that label's publisher, and maybe also produced Clarence Paul's record for Hanover on a lease-over from Ivy. The Bennett and Matthews may not have been Johnnie Mae Matthews and James Bennett. But, even if they were, it may have been that Kenny Martin knew of their song, and played a demo of it for George Weiss, and he liked it and used it for one of his artists.