In 1958, shortly after the Moonglows recorded their final hit, "The Ten Commandments of Love", Harvey Fuqua re-asserted himself as the group's lead singer, putting Bobby Lester further in the background and causing friction among group members.

The biggest blow came when Fuqua spotted a young vocal group, the Marquees from Washington, D.C., and took the talented quartet of Reese Palmer, Chester Simmons, James Knowland and nineteen-year-old lead singer Marvin Gaye under his wing. The group had recently recorded (unsuccessfully) on the Okeh record label after being discovered by rock icon Bo Diddley when Fuqua found them.

Recording with fifth member Chuck Barksdale, who had been (and would again become) the bass singer of The Dells, Fuqua hired them as his new Moonglows. This group recorded songs such as "Twelve Months of the Year" (featuring a speaking part by Marvin Gaye), "Beatnik" and "Mama Loocie", which (the first recorded lead by Gaye), released in 1959.

The forming of the "New Moonglows" ended the affiliation of the original Moonglows. In 1959 and 1960, Fuqua also recorded several duets for the Chess label with the singer of "Roll with Me Henry" (and future blues superstar) Etta James. The other four Moonglows recruited bass John Bowie to fill their commitments, and then disbanded.


HARVEY FUQUA & THE NEW MOONGLOWS...TWELVE MONTHS OF THE YEAR
(Marvin Gaye Does The Opening & Closing Recitation Portion Of The Song)

Views: 37

Comment

You need to be a member of E.FM Radio to add comments!

Join E.FM Radio

Comment by Edie Antoinette on December 11, 2009 at 12:41am
I love the pic on the youtube too. Mmmmm!
Comment by Edie Antoinette on December 11, 2009 at 12:40am
It made me know Marvin better and I just can't express what 'that' means. He was soooo articulate!
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on December 11, 2009 at 12:00am
Those interviews are priceless
Comment by Edie Antoinette on December 10, 2009 at 11:50pm
This is an awesome post--and that interview is off the chain too that I posted yesterday. I'm surprised more folks didn't comment on it. Bravo Sole!
Comment by Edie Antoinette on December 10, 2009 at 11:41pm
Resourceful INDEED!!!! Those are classics!!!!! You did that with Cooley High! I ain't forgot! LOLOLOL!!!! *clapping*

EXCELLENT in the Key of 7!!!!!
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on December 10, 2009 at 11:30pm
You learn something new everyday, i never knew Harvey fired The Original Moonglows and hired Marvin and Nem....LOL

That pic on my Marquees blog, i had to pause a youtube video and take a pic with my camera, so i could have a pic to go with my blog....LMBO. Resourceful Numba 7.....LOL
Comment by Edie Antoinette on December 10, 2009 at 8:59pm
This is primo right here! I'm so excited I can't breathe! WooooooooLawdie!!

Introspection

Entr'acte

  1. play Norman Brown — Night Drive
  2. play Norman Brown — Feeling
  3. play Norman Brown — Still
  4. play Miles Davis — miles 1
  5. play miles 2
  6. play miles 3
  7. play miles 4
  8. play miles 5
  9. play Marvin Gaye — I Met A Little Girl
  10. play Santana — 01 Singing Winds, Crying Beasts
  11. play Santana — 02 Black Magic Woman-Gypsy Queen
  12. play Mongo — 02. Afro Blue



The history of the Butlers/Raw Soul is dense, but for all of us music nerds, that's normal. It is not totally clear what year the Butlers actually formed but they released their first single in 1963 on Liberty Records. That single was "She Tried To Kiss Me" and another single followed on Guyden entitled "Lovable Girl." After the Guyden single the Butlers took a break not recording another record until the single "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" was released on the Phila label in 1966. The group also backed Charles Earland and Jean Wells on one Phila single ("I Know She Loves Me"). 


As you might be noticing, the Butlers were doing a fair amount of recording but not achieving much success. The group's recordings sold regionally but never had the promotion to make an impact on the national scene. After the single with Phila, the Butlers moved to the Fairmount label (part of the Cameo-Parkway family) and released a handful of singles, some being reissued singles of the past. The Butlers were with Fairmount for 1966-67 and then moved to Sassy Records. Sassy released the group's greatest single (in my opinion) "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" b/w "If That's What You Wanted." A copy of that 45 sold for just under $500 last summer on eBay. Even though that isn't that much in the world of record collecting--it's still a hefty sum. The Butlers released another single on Sassy ("She's Gone" b/w "Love Is Good") that appears to be even 
harder to come by then the "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" single.

 

The true history become a bit blurred here as the AMG biography states that the Butlers last record was released on C.R.S. in 1974 (". However, between 1971 and that single, Frankie Beverly formed a group called Raw Soul and released a number of singles. Some of the songs recorded by Beverly during this period are "While I'm Alone," "Open Up Your Heart," (both on the Gregor label) and "Color Blind." "Color Blind" was released by the Eldorado label and rerecorded by Maze. Beverly's big break came when Marvin Gaye asked Raw Soul to back him on a tour. Gaye helped Beverly/Raw Soul get a contract at Capitol. Beverly decided to take the group in a different direction, a name change occurred, and Maze was created. 

The above isn't the most complete history of Beverly but hopefully someone will know a way to get in touch with the man or his management because a comprehensive pre-Maze history needs to be done on Frankie Beverly (his real name is Howard, by the way). Below you'll find every Frankie Beverly (pre-Maze) song available to me right now ("Color Blind" will be up soon). 

If you have a song that is not included below, shoot it over to funkinsoulman (at) yahoo.com and it will go up in the next Frankie Beverly post (later this week--highlighting Maze). Also, if you have any more information please share your knowledge. The Butlers material has been comp-ed sporadically (usually imports) but the entire Maze catalog has been reissued and is available. 

Enjoy.  "She Kissed Me" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967) 
 
 "I Want To Feel I'm Wanted" (not sure which label or year) "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" (Phila, 1966) "Because Of My Heart" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)
   
 "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" (Sassy, 1967)
   
 "If That's What You Wanted" (Sassy, 1967)
 



Frankie Beverly is one of those cats that has lasting power. He started in the music business doing a tour with doo wop group the Silhouettes and then formed his own group called the Blenders. The Blenders never recorded a single, Beverly wouldn't appear on wax until forming the Butlers a few years later. Along with Beverly, the Butlers included Jack "Sonny" Nicholson, Joe Collins, John Fitch, and Talmadge Conway.

Beverly would later enjoy great success fronting Maze and Conway would become a
well-known penning Double Exposure's
"Ten Percent" and the Intruders' "Memories Are Here To Stay." 
 While Maze is a phenomenal group, Beverly's work before that group will always stand out as his best (imo).

The Butlers produced tunes that most Northern Soul fans would kill for and Raw Soul gave the funksters something to pursue. If, by chance, you know of a way to get in touch with Frankie Beverly or his management, please drop me an e-mail. It would be absolutely great to do an interview with him about his pre-Maze work. He's still playing out, most recently doing a New Year's Eve show in Atlanta.
:: Funkinsoulman ::

Power...Through Simplicity ♪♫♪

Members

About

© 2024   Created by Edie Antoinette.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service