Blast From The Past

We Miss You Mike!

EXPO 72

Originally, Dennis Edwards and Chaka Khan were teaming up to record this song. Chaka’s schedule was very busy at the time and the two had a hard time connecting. By the time Chaka was free to record, Siedah had already finished the song and it was being played on the air. This is the bomb song…but can you imagine Dennis and Chaka? WOW!

The Spellbinders were a harmonizing male/female group from New Jersey whose spellbinding harmonies undoubtedly inspired their name. Robert Shives’ classy, suave falsetto leads further defined the slick mixed male/female quintet of the Spellbinders. Robert Shives, James Wright, Ben Grant, McArthur Munford, and Elouise Pennington signed with Columbia Records in 1965 and teamed up with Van McCoy to write and produce for them.

There must be another side to this story! I am not believing Smokey could be so cold and heartless. He must have a valid reason for doing this.

© Adriana M. Barraza/WENN
Soul singer Smokey Robinson is embroiled in a bitter family feud with his niece in the wake of his sister’s death, amid accusations he abandoned the women financially as she battled cancer. Robinson’s sister Rose Ella Jones lost her battle against stomach cancer on April 26. The former nurse played a big part in Robinson’s early career, helping him write hits including “Quiet Storm” and “Virgin Man”.

According to her daughter, Stacye Jones, Robinson, who was supporting the pair by providing $1,225 in monthly rent, stopped writing cheques after he was asked to pay for his sister’s at-home nurse. Jones tells the National Enquirer, “I asked Smokey if he would pay for home nursing. He told me coldly, ‘Your mother never did anything for me. Let the state look after her.’ It broke my heart, but I had to put her into a home.”

“Smokey’s accountant wrote to me right away to say he would no longer be helping out with the rent and bills because he had economic problems like everyone else.”

The situation worsened when Stacye suffered her own health setbacks – the 48 year old, who is crippled by painful arthritis, suffered near-fatal complications during a routine surgery last month. Jones, who survives on monthly Social Security from the U.S. Government, now says she faces being thrown out on the street without Robinson’s help.

She adds, “Smokey knows I’ve been in the hospital and that I’m being evicted, but he hasn’t lifted a finger to help me. My mother – the big sister who helped him so much – must be turning over in her grave.”
Source: http://www.aceshowbiz.com

All this time I thought Pam and Rosie were cousins. While listening to Pam on the Tom Joyner Morning show promoting her book, Foxy: My Life in Three Acts (Hardcover), I found out differently. When Tom asked how her cousin was..Pam responded that they were not cousins and she didn’t know where that came from. From the looks of this old photo…she was part of the deception. So it was only a publicity stunt?
Source: Jet Jun 3, 1976

Marvin Isley, a bassist who provided the foundation for his family’s hit-making R&B band, the Isley Brothers, died on Sunday at a hospice near his home in Chicago. He was 56.
The cause was diabetes, said Chris Jasper, a cousin who was the Isley Brothers’ keyboard player for many years. Marvin Isley had fought diabetes for more than 20 years and in 1997 lost his legs to the disease.

The band had two distinct phases. The first, in the late 1950s and early ’60s, was as a vocal group made up of the three older brothers: Ronald, as the booming lead singer, and O’Kelly and Rudolph as backup. Then in 1973, Marvin Isley, Ernie Isley, a guitarist, and their cousin Chris joined the group. It was the start of the band’s greatest run of hits. From 1975 to 1980, the Isley Brothers had 14 Top 10 R&B records, including “Fight the Power Part 1,” “Harvest for the World,” and “Livin’ in the Life.”

In 1984, Marvin, Ernie and Chris split from the older brothers and formed their own group, Isley Jasper Isley, and in 1985 had a No. 1 R&B hit, the gospel-inspired “Caravan of Love.”

Marvin Isley was born in Cincinnati on Aug. 18, 1953, the youngest son of O’Kelly and Sally Isley. He graduated from C. W. Post College on Long Island in 1976, with a degree in music.

Besides his brothers Ernie, Ronald and Rudolph, he is survived by his wife, the former Sheila Felton; a son, Corey; and two daughters, Sidney and Jalen.

“The Isley Brothers are shockingly underappreciated,” said Howard Kramer, the curatorial director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. “When Marvin was in the band they were played on white rock ’n’ roll stations, right next to the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, and their records are every bit as good.”

Today would have been Curtis Mayfield’s 68th birthday!

One of my favorite Ali leads…from the For Lovers Only CD. He.with Theo Peoples were awesome!

We will miss you!

Mark Hicks / The Detroit News
Ali “Ollie” Woodson, a former lead singer of The Temptations, died Sunday in California. He was 58.
Woodson had been battling cancer, said Billy Wilson, president and founder the Motown Alumni Association.
Born Oct. 12, 1951, in Detroit, Woodson headed The Temptations for most of the 1980s and 90s.
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He wrote and sang lead on the 1984 hit “Treat Her Like a Lady.”
“He was an excellent singer,” Wilson said. “He’s one of the few singers who was accommodating to virtually everything. He had a style and swagger about himself that was different than the other Temptations.”
Mr. Woodson later released a solo album, “Right Here All Along,” in 2001, according to allmusic.com.
Wilson said he regularly returned to Metro Detroit, including performing with a band at Arturo’s Jazz Theatre and Restaurant in Southfield and with Dennis Edwards’ Temptations Revue at events such as the Detroit International Jazz Fest.
“He had a tremendous number of fans,” Wilson said.
This year, Woodson appeared at a CD preview party at the Detroit Fish Market for Aretha Franklin, with whom he has performed on a tour.
In 2008, Woodson had high-profile performances at a Motown Museum Fundraiser as well as the funeral for Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops.
“It’s a sad day,” he said of Stubbs’ death. “He was the first person I met when I signed with Motown in 1983,” he told The Detroit News.
Family members could not be reached for comment.
Funeral services are pending.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100531/ENT04/5310358/1424/ENT04/Former-lead-Temptations-singer-Ali-Woodson-dies#ixzz0pWmCkDGv