After
The Barons split up Lee Rogers made his solo debut in '62
with a rousing, up-tempo, bluesy-guitar-led MAH'S' 45
titled "Troubles," which was picked up by Seg-Way
in New York.
The
identity of the Royal Ravens remains a mystery, but their
"Grand Spanish
Lady" is
a tremendous doo-wop number. Unfortunately it was released a
few years too late to have had a realistic chance of
becoming a commercial success, and its meager sales make it
a very rare disc.
The
latter few of the dozen early MAH'S' 45s have Mike's
McGraw address printed on the label. They date from late
'62 to the spring of 1963, and include songs by Big
Jack Reynolds and Don Heart, plus an instrumental titled "J.F.K."
that's credited to Mike. After these discs the
label was mothballed for five years.
The
Exit label was launched in 1962 by another ex-Baron, Duke
Browner, backed The Caravelles on a song titled "Wait."
The Paragon's Exit 45 has two wonderful sides -
"Pretty Words" and "My Time Is Important To Me" - with Dee Edwards leading superbly on both songs. The Paragons
included Dee's brother, Albert, who had sung with The
Distants, and ex-Caravelle Tommy Martin and his brother,
Freddy.
Funk
Brothers Eddie Willis (guitar) and James Jamerson (bass) had
a hand in writing Eddie's instrumental on Exit,
"Shake Loose," while guitarist and vibe player Dave
Hamilton co-wrote "Pretty Words" and a few of Mike's
other songs.
One
of them was recorded by Charmaine
(Dave Hamilton's daughter?) and sold to the Serock
label in New York - another enterprise funded by Carmen
Murphy. Another nice Hanks-Hamilton collaboration was "I
Let Myself Go,"
cut by Geraldine Hunt and released on the Chicago-based
Katron label.
Both
these songs have a strong Mary-Wells flavor: she was riding
high at the time with hits like "You Beat Me To The
Punch," and it's quite hard to tell the difference
between Mary's Motown releases and Mike's productions.
The
MRC label was also started in '62 and Steve Mancha
(Clyde Wilson) was part of the The Sounds (and The Stars),
who backed Lawrence Faulkon. It's possible that "MRC"
refers to Mike, Renaldo and Chuck, as these three co-wrote
the Renaldo Jackson disc that intersects the MAH'S'
catalogue numbers.
With
all this recording activity going on, Mike had to choose
between working at Ford's and making music. There are no
big-money prizes on offer for correctly guessing what he
opted to do.
Notes thanks to Graham
Finch
image must not be
reproduced, used or copied photograph
credits at end of webisode
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DESIGN AND
GRAPHICS BY
LOWELL BOILEAU
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