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The Holidays here are Joe
Billingslea, Maurice Wise, James Holland and Jack Holland. This
Revilot disc was one of the last few on the label - released
around February 1969.
LeBaron
If you’re beginning to think this is
all getting a little complex and confusing, the next part might
tax your comprehension abilities. Please bear with me. The
Holidays on this later Revilot 45 have nothing to do with The
Holidays that had the previous two releases on the label.
The novelty of imitating Harry Belafonte in the Chicago had worn
thin for Jimmy Holland. And while he’d been singing “Matilda” in
the nightclubs on Rush Street, his younger brother Jack had got
himself another baritone sax and become part of the house band
at the 20 Grand, playing with the likes of McKinley Jackson and
Bobby Franklyn. Jim:
“I came back to Detroit and then got with my brother - Jack. He
was so talented. He could play the piano, the baritone sax, he
could sing and dance and had already started singing with a guy
called Maurice.”
Jimmy formed a new group of Holidays with Jack and Maurice Wise
and the trio got a deal with LeBaron Taylor’s fast-fading Solid
Hitbound Productions:
“We went over there because we were looking for a label. And
this is how we ended up doing George Clinton’s track. LeBaron
says, ‘Jim, I’ve got no producers here – I’ve got this label. If
you want to produce your own record, fine, I’ll help you… let’s
go in the studio’.”
James Holland
&
“All That Is Required Is You”
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George Clinton and his Parliaments had
already left LeBaron – who had kept the group’s name - for
Westbound Records and renamed themselves Funkadelic. Although
Jack Holland penned “All That Is Required Is You”, the existing
track that Clinton had written and cut inevitably gives the
recording a Clinton-esque sound. It was released with an
instrumental on the flip – one that had already been on the
Solid Hit label called “I’ll Keep Coming Back” - a sign of how
little cash was left for cutting new material. LeBaron had
financial problems and this 45’s failure to sell was one of the
last nails in Solid Hitbound’s coffin.
It was during Jim’s stint with LeBaron that Don Davis released
Steve Mancha’s record on the Groove City label, credited to The
Hollidays. Jim:
“LeBaron recognized there was two groups running around here, so
there was a lawsuit and we won, we meaning LeBaron Taylor’s
side: because we had the oldest hits.”
No long after, LeBaron left for ABC Records in New York and
offered Jimmy a producer’s job there, but he respectfully
declined:
“At that time I’d recorded ‘Maybe So Maybe No’ with Popcorn and
I felt a certain amount of loyalty. I loved that record; I just
knew it was a hit.”
Jimmy stayed in Detroit.
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Researched and written by Graham Finch
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DESIGN
AND GRAPHICS BY
LOWELL BOILEAU
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This website is dedicated to Detroit, Soul Music, 45 RPM, Northern
Soul and the great Motown era of Detroit Musics. It covers the Holidays, Golden
World, Tamla, Wheelsville, Robert West, Darrell Banks, Johnnie
Mae Matthews, Rose Battiste, Tera Shirma, Fred Bridges, Supremes,
Stevie Wonder, Edwin Starr, Funk Brothers, Dennis Coffey, Bob
Babbitt, James Jamerson, Twisted Wheel, Wiggan Casino and many
more Detroit Souls topics. |
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