Originally Posted by
Buzz
Just resurrecting this thread as a newbie and as there's so little info about Leon Peterson on the net.
Leon Peterson really does appear to be too obscure with simply no biography of him available even on the Northern Soul boards? Your knowledge of him, Rob, that he was originally from St. Louis, and went to Detroit to record from 1959-61, seems sadly the only info that I've come across about him in the public domain? I've been looking at his discography on Discogs which appears to commence with the Kable [['Together Just We Two' / 'Silver & Gold') and HOB releases [['This Creation' /'The Blues Got A Hold Of Me').
Robb did you have any luck identifying the 2 unreleased, unidentified Kable Recordings from late 1960 / early 1961? I did notice in trying to piece together a few things about his discography that the Kent Soul label released a previously unissued Leon Peterson track "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" in 2017 on the album "Various - Birth Of Soul [[Special Detroit Edition 1961-64)". I believe this release is accompanied by a quality booklet of 8000 word no less by Graham Finch which must offer more background info about Leon Peterson and the story behind the unissued track? From what I can tell, there's no mention that this track is also accredited to The Del-Fi's singing background vocals?
After the Kable and HOB releases, there was the Bobbin Records release [['Searching'/'I Know You Know') in 1962 but am unsure if this dates to his 1959-61 time in Detroit or back in St. Louis? 'Searching' was picked up and reissued in the UK in 2013. There was the subsequent release of 'Baby, Baby, Baby' / 'My Bag' in 1969 and a number of other recordings that have had no coordinated attempt to date or link into his recording timeline such as the Skylark promo 'Now You're On Your Own'/'Part Crashin' Time'; Leru Records release 'Lonely Nights'/ 'When You Fall In Love Again [[Let It Be Me)' and the Fire Mountain release 'Don't Squeeze The Sherm' / 'I Wish You Would Stay'.
Finally, the release of the single 'Because I Love You'/'Call On Me [[Then You Can)' on the little known L&R Records [[which was only known for releasing Bobby Bloom if it's the same label?) may have coincided with what was a private release of Leon Peterson's only album 'Now' with 8 recordings that had until then been unheard? I've yet to find any info about when this album was privately released, how many copies were pressed or when any of these tracks were recorded? His only album does seems pretty sought after and given it's scarcity, I've seen it mentioned that there is apparently a digitized version of the album rumoured to have been made from the master tape? If true that a master tape is known to exist, one would surely think his album would be picked up and finally given an officially release!
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