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 Eater" or "The Flying Saucer," as suggested by Bill Dahl in his notes for The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 1 1959-1961, then the label ended up with something smoother and more sophisticated than either of those sides, and one well worth hearing as straight R&B.
The record constitutes an understandably obscure event in the life of the singer and the history of the Miracles.
Ron and Bill Don't Say Bye Bye
Ron and Bill It
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Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on December 2, 2008 at 8:07pm
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SMOKEY AND HIS FRIENDS...SMOKEY 2ND FROM LEFT
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Plenty more where those come from....SMILE
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Comment by Edie Antoinette on December 2, 2008 at 8:04pm
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These pics are UNBELIEVABLE!!! I have never in my life seen Smokey's parents! And look how little he was with his Daddy! LOL (adorable)...
You shole iz the kang!!!! LOL
Thanks Sole!!!
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SMOKEY ROBINSON'S MAMA
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SMOKEY ROBINSON AND HIS DADDY
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Glad you like it Mama Edie...I found the songs last night and uploaded them to youtube, i used my webcam to record the songs and found that sound of young america pic...I wonder what made them do that? there is a lot of people who probably don't even know about this....LOL
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This is simply fantastic! You thrill my heart Solebaby...♥ This is like a treasure!!! Don't Say Bye Bye sounds like The Everly Bros..who were popular in the mid 50's. I loved them. I would go across the street with Uncle Cliff and he would buy us a popsicle when I was 5 (1956)--and when you walked in the store The Everly Brothers would be playing.."Wake Up A'Lil Suzie" *smile* Incidentally, I've never heard either of these rare gems that you've posted.
'It" is delightful!!! I can see what the article means when it says they were trying to get on the charts with a similar type ditty tune like Purple People Eater...but "It" is on a different vein...
Priceless Blog!!! Excellent!
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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. The Butlers recorded their first single in 1960 titled "Loveable Girl". Left to right John Fitch, T Conway, Frankie Beverly, Sonny Nicholson and Joe Collins.
Frankie Beverly12/6/46 - 9/10/24
Power...Through Simplicity ♪♫♪
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