The Emanuel Lasky Story
Thelma
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Emanuel’s 45s were released in
1964 and this gig was in March - Ypsilanti is just north of
Detroit.
“It’s so hard to stand up all by myself
I’d rather be dead than go on this way”
I Need Somebody
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Emanuel’s second 45, I Need Somebody, came out in February
’64, with Thelma Records also leasing it to Nick Cenci’s
Pittsburgh-based NPC label. The session features the
Fabulous
Peps backing Emanuel on a suave, slow-paced Don Davis production
that sold really well around Detroit – it even made WJBK’s
pop-oriented chart.
Emanuel became an attraction at Detroit’s swath of nightclubs
and the Ypsilanti gig (shown above) featured fellow Detroiters
Theresa Lindsey and Betty Lavett, who were also enjoying chart
action with great recordings. Johnnie Mae was behind Betty’s
first Atlantic 45 – My Man – and Don Davis is
on top form on her tremendous follow-up, You’ll Never Change.
Theresa was signed with Correc-tone Records - just down Grand
River Avenue from Thelma’s office - and her stormer, written by
Popcorn Wylie and Janie Bradford, has the Funk Brothers in full
swing.
Also appearing on stage were Thelma artists Rose Battiste and
Tommy Stone (aka Storm) - one of the Fabulous Peps, a trio that
included Joe Harris and Ronnie Abner. Ronnie actually helped
write the flip, Tomorrow, and the group sang background on
various Thelma sessions as well as having a couple of 45s out on
Thelma’s sister label, GeGe, the name coming from Berry and
Thelma Gordy’s children who called their grandmother (Mrs.
Coleman) “Gege”.
Robert Ward and The Ohio Untouchables also had two 45s on Thelma
that year, but none of these fine recordings matched the success
of Emanuel’s disc, making him Thelma’s top act. He began to
travel outside of Michigan, performing in the Carolinas,
Tennessee and the
South, with his Thelma promotional photo showing him looking
dapper in a white tuxedo and bowtie. He now had a new nickname:
the Nat King Cole of Detroit Soul.
Emanuel appeared at the Graystone Ballroom later in March along
with Theresa Lindsey, Tony Clark, Walter Jackson, Ty Hunter, The
Adorables, The Four Holidays and The Reflections, who were
riding the charts with Just Like Romeo & Juliet. Admission was
$2.
The Ohio Untouchables and
the Fabulous Peps backed Emanuel on his early recordings.
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Notes
thanks to Graham Finch
Page Lead-in Clip from
I Need Somebody
[NCP NCP 303]
SUPPORT THE ARTIST! IF YOU KNOW WHERE THIS
FULL SONG CAN BE PURCHASED
PLEASE TELL US SO WE CAN LINK IT TO A
SALE POINT. |
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DESIGN
AND GRAPHICS BY
LOWELL BOILEAU
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