Shelley "SoleMann" King's Blog (94)

My Uncle Ricky D...The Greatest Temptation That Never Was...LOL

ROFLMBO...I have been wanting to do this type of blog for the longest...After all these years i finally got my Uncle Ricky D on video...LOL. Everybody should be blessed and have a cool Uncle like my Uncle Ricky D.

As some of you know, Ricky D is the worlds biggest Temptations Fan and Eddie Kendricks was his idol...I recorded these videos several hours after my Grandmothers funeral and it was a lot of fun sitting with my Uncle and… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 8, 2009 at 2:32pm — 9 Comments

Deek Watson And His Brown Dots

The Brown Dots were initially formed in late 1944, when second tenor Ivory "Deek" Watson (b. 18 July 1909, Mounds, Illinois - d. 4 November 1969, Washington, DC) left the Ink Spots. He immediately put together a competing Ink Spots group consisting of lead tenor Joe King, bass Jimmy Gordon, and an unknown baritone.

By late January 1945, a lawsuit brought by the Ink Spots caused Deek Watson to claim that he would form a new group based… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on December 30, 2008 at 10:09pm — 46 Comments

Eddie Kendricks Interviews

I found these videos on Youtube and was in awe of them...Happy Belated Birthday Eddie, on what would have been his 69th Birthday (12/17/1939)....May You Continue To Rest In Everlasting Peace...

P.S...Don't you just loveeeee the last video...AWESOME

EDDIE KENDRICKS...URBAN STREET INTERVIEW

EDDIE KENDRICKS…

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Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on December 23, 2008 at 1:52pm — 9 Comments

Ron and Bill (Ronnie White and Smokey Robinson)

Ron & Bill was a short-lived incarnation of Ronnie White and Smokey Robinson from the early days of the Motown organization -- the credit appeared on one record, the single "It" b/w "Don't Say Bye Bye," released on the Tamla label, which was the label's attempt at charting with a novelty tune.

Actually, the A-side is very pretty, with superb singing and exquisite choruses, and if the effort here was to imitate "The Purple People… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on December 2, 2008 at 6:00pm — 37 Comments

Terence Trent Darby as Jackie Wilson

Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story was a mini-series that shown on CBS in the summer of 1999. I remember when i first saw the previews and just knew i was going to enjoy this. It has been so long since i have seen this, that i have pretty much forgotten what the movie was about..

I remember K-Ci and Jo Jo from Jodeci singing in a street corner group, somebody was playing Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Fats Dominos, Neil… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on November 19, 2008 at 9:07pm — 4 Comments

Redbone

The first part of this blog is based on a song i liked when i was 7 years old titled Come and Get your Love...I called the song The Dead Hey Song (Don't asked Long Story....LOL) I had completely forgot about this song over the years until one day me and my mother was talking and she looked at me and said "You know what your Grandmother asked me? do Tadd (my nickname...LOL) still listen to The Dead Hey Song?"......LOL. Now keep in mind my… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on November 10, 2008 at 10:50pm — 2 Comments

The Ronettes

Be My Baby...Ahhhh words forever instilled in my

mind from a beautiful saturday night way back in 1977.

As i sat down and prepared to look at Sha Na Na.

I was excited because days earlier i had heard

the 1960's hit Be My Baby and was blown away

by the sound of Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes

(she was known as Veronica Bennett at that time)

Then the moment came and my 10 year old mind

was in awe… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on November 9, 2008 at 9:04pm — 37 Comments

The Miracles...Renaissance Album 1973

Albums like Renaissance proved that the Miracles could still produce even if their leader Smokey Robinson had gone solo. In fact, Smokey was never far away as he was the executive producer of the album, and the song writing talents of Leon Ware, Willie Hutch, and Larry Mizell, amongst others helped them out. Most of the tracks are lush slow Soul numbers such as If You’re Ever In The Neighborhood, I Wanna Be With You, Wigs And Lashes, Don’t Let… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on October 16, 2008 at 4:07pm — 3 Comments

Barbara English and The Clickettes

The story begins in 1958 at Yorkville Vocational High School in Manhattan. Variously known as the Clickettes, Click-ettes or Cliquettes, this undeservedly obscure ‘girl group’ began their career on the Dice label in 1958 under the auspices of hit duo Johnnie and Joe, who owned the label.

According to biographer John Clemente, the original line-up of the Clickettes included lead singer Barbara English, alto Sylvia Hammond, and two… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on September 21, 2008 at 10:34pm — 3 Comments

The Isley Brothers On The Clay Cole Show...1959

For the past few days i have been listening to The Isley Brothers, not the 1970's on up Isley Brothers, but the late 50's early 60's Isley Brothers and of course after doing all that listening, i had to look around on Youtube and see what i could find...

The feature video on this blog is them singing Stagger Lee on The Clay Cole Show in 1959, but… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on April 11, 2008 at 1:21pm — 13 Comments

Smokey and Claudette Robinson

From the 1980 Album Warm Thoughts...Smokey and Claudette Robinson singing Wine, Women, and… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on April 11, 2008 at 6:35am — 10 Comments

The Awesome Foursome....LOL

United we stand, divided we fall, we are tighter than panty hose two sizes small...Leroy, Skillet, Melvin, Fred, we are the Awesome Foursome until we are dead.....LOL

Just look at em...Lucky Leroy, Slick Skillet, Pretty Boy Melvin, and Ready Freddy....ROFLMBO

Shady Grady and Big Boy Bubba could not be here for the photo shoot, which was probably good because there is no six in foursome....LOL

Here is the original… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on February 16, 2008 at 4:19pm — 10 Comments

My Grandfather, The Cotton Club, and Billy Eckstein

As the sunsets on another sweltering hot day

in Manhatten, New York. My grandfather, 24

year old Ira Davis gets off the bus after a long

ride from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

His destination The World Famous Cotton

Club in Harlem, The Black Mecca of

Entertainment back in those days, where

many African American Jazz Stars performed

alone with The Jazz Swing Bands of that Era.

It was 1944 and… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on February 14, 2008 at 8:42pm — 3 Comments

The Force Md's Tribute

The Force M.D.s (M.D. being an initialism for "Musical Diversity") is a doo wop group that was formed in 1981 in Staten Island, New York. Though they weren't quite always as recognizable as other New York R&B acts when they first started out, the Force M.D.s were among the first R&B vocal groups to intermix doo wop-affected consonances with hip-hop beats.

Once known as the L.D.s, they began performing on… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on February 11, 2008 at 5:14pm — 4 Comments

Smokey Robinson Molested By U

Thought ya'll might get a kick out of this....ROFLMBO. I had to take my own pictures. I put the video on full screen, paused it and snapped 20 pics....LOLOLOL. Pretty good huh....LOL. Be honest what was your first thought on seeing the title of thisBlog...ROFLMBO…

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Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 27, 2008 at 1:43am — 3 Comments

The Stylistics Times 3

"Who is that Girl?" a question i asked my Mother at a Family Gathering during the summer of 1974, but as i soon found out, there was no question that this was no girl, but The Stylistics singing You Make Me Feel Brand New and this began love affair with The Group thats has lasted 33 years.

In the fall of 1992 The Stylistics were coming…

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Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 24, 2008 at 11:03pm — 16 Comments

SoleMannKing...The Smokey Robinson Collection

Here is a collection of some of the Smokey Robinson Albums i have purchased over the years. This is not all of them, i just wanted to post enough so that the Blog could look real interesting....LOL

WARM THOUGHTS...1980

On his follow-up to… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 19, 2008 at 4:56pm — 7 Comments

Black Ivory

BLACK IVORY were one of New York's best loved soul groups. The trio - Leroy Burgess III, Stuart Bascombe and Russell Patterson - were discovered by producer/arranger Patrick Adams when hey were known as the Mellow Sounds, and although he amended the name, the type of music suggested by their original moniker was spot on. Adams cut them on a series of delicate harmony ballads for Today records - scoring notable successes in the… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 17, 2008 at 4:52pm — 3 Comments

The Whatnauts

Introducing the Whatnauts is the kind of hard-to-find album that makes you pee in your pants when you uncover a copy dusting away at some Goodwill, yard sale, or flea market. Scavenging for their

recordings is what you had to do until the late ‘90s when no fewer than

three CDs of the Whatnauts’ music finally hit the streets. Obscure

beyond reason, the Whatnauts were comprised of Garnett Jones,…

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Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 17, 2008 at 10:25am — 4 Comments

The Orioles

Sonny Til (vocals; born August 18, 1928, died September 9, 1981), Tommy Gaither (guitar; born 1930, died November 5, 1950), George Nelson (vocals; birth date unknown, died 1959), Johnny Reed (vocals; birth and death dates unknown), Alexander Sharp (vocals; birth and death dates unknown)

The Orioles have been called “the first R&B vocal group.” Formed in 1947 as the Vibranaires in their hometown of Baltimore, they… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 10, 2008 at 9:54pm — 3 Comments

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Quincy Jones is thoroughly entwined in the musical background of my young adulthood. A genius of unique quality. I have been posting blogs and music throughout the years and decided to embark on the arduous but satisfying task of gathering some of it to remember the excellent legacy that he left.