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 of the beauty of Ronnie Spector, my
breath was taken away and i fell instantly in
love.

Ya'll know how it is when a child has a crush on
a celebrity and i thought nobody would ever
replace Jayne Kennedy in my heart, but Ronnie
had me hooked badly....LOL

I remember telling my Mama that someday i was
going to marry her and have 50 kids...Oh my
Goodness the mind of a child is amazing huh....LOL

Today 29 years later when i still think back to that
night i smile and laugh. It was a great time to be
10 and in love.

Although i have never seen Ronnie in person, thanks
to the Internet and YouTube i now have access to
countless videos by The Ronettes and it makes my
memories of that summer in 1977 that much sweeter.

Written by Solemannking 7/23/2006

Here is the link to the Sha Na Na performance....LOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD0166KpAhs

THE RONETTES...BE MY BABY and SHOUT


2 of the original Ronettes performed in the last video, Ronnie Spector and Nedra Talley (in the gold dress) Ronnie's sister Estelle Bennett was unable to perform due to a stroke, but you will see her come to the stage at the end....

RONETTES... BE MY BABY - ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME 2007

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Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on November 10, 2008 at 9:51pm
Miss Joan and Mr. Sam...The B-side of The Ronettes 'Baby I Love You. 1963


Those Spector B-sides were quite interesting.
As history tells it, all B's from Phil's acts were NOT another song by the group on the A, but some little instrumental by The Wrecking Crew or orchestra, simply to prevent radio DJ's from cleverly making an unintended hit from a B-side.
Comment by Edie Antoinette on November 10, 2008 at 8:24pm
Spector is into Big Hair...LOL
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on November 10, 2008 at 8:10pm
I wonder what they hiding under them bee hives.....LOL

Ronettes Pictures, Images and Photos
Comment by Edie Antoinette on November 9, 2008 at 11:17pm
I'mma see if I can find it. Adopted...ohhh. Yeah, he is nutz. And his parents were first cousins...ugh.
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on November 9, 2008 at 11:13pm
I wonder how this sounds....LOL

Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on November 9, 2008 at 11:12pm
UGHHHH....He look like a gay fonz on the first pic....ROFLMBO. I found this quote

"I have three adopted children with Phil, and for years I was fighting in court with him over being able to see my kids. I was always going back and forth to California, going to court."
Comment by Edie Antoinette on November 9, 2008 at 11:04pm
Ugh...do you have any pics of he and Ronnie's kids?
Comment by Edie Antoinette on November 9, 2008 at 10:57pm
Lawd...he DOES look like ole Monty Burns! Look at that! ROFLMBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Comment by Edie Antoinette on November 9, 2008 at 10:56pm
Not going to give this weirdo anymore attention here but I HAD to share this!
The following is a chronological look at Phil Spector's ten weirdest moments -- snapshots of a inordinately strange life, and ones that don't involve pulling a gun on his female companions. Got an anecdote about Spector that you think should be here, but isn't? Feel free to e-mail me!

1.
While on tour with his first act, The Teddy Bears ("To Know Him Is To Love Him"), the 18-year-old Spector is accosted in a men's urinal. Short and unprepared to defend himself, Phil is urinated on by four street toughs. The incident so mortifies and frightens Spector that he keeps a bodyguard around him (and a gun on him) from that day on. (1958)
2.
Brill Building songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King bring Phil a new song, written about their babysitter Eva Boyd (who, as Little Eva, would also become lead singer on another Goffin-King song she inspired, "The Locomotion"). Abused by her boyfriend, Eva tells Carole that the violence only proves how much he loves her. The resultant 45, "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)," would get a deadpan version of Phil's "Wall of Sound" treatment. The group who record it, The Crystals, hate it, and so does America, with public outrage causing the single to be pulled almost immediately. (1962)
3.
Embroiled in legal battles with label co-owner Lester Sill, Spector delivers the new song he's still contractually obligated to produce: a six-minute "dance" 45 by the Crystals called "(Let's Dance) The Screw." The chorus consists mostly of Spector intoning the words "dance the screw" slowly over a spare, monotonous beat, with the same thing on the other side's "Part Two." Legend has it that Spector wanted to "screw" Sill out of his obligational hit record. A copy of the record is hand-delivered to Sill. (1963)
4.
During sessions for John Lennon's (also contractually obligated) oldies covers album, Rock And Roll, Spector and Lennon out-drink each other, spar verbally, and scream at each other over the din of Phil's wacked-out production. Samples from this infamous session can be heard on Lennon's Anthology box set and on bootlegs. During these sessions, Spector is also seen to wave a handgun around, threatening longtime Beatles roadie and associate Mal Evans with it and eventually shooting it into the air. A frazzled Spector soon disappears with the session tapes, which took Lennon months to retrieve. (1973)
5.
Spector has a glass coffin, like the one in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, installed in the basement of his mini-castle estate in Los Angeles, and leads Ronnie's mother Beatrice to it, telling her it's where Ronnie will lie if she ever tries to leave him. (1971)
6.
Insane with jealousy, Spector locks his wife Ronnie, former lead vocalist of the Ronettes, inside his mansion and refuses to let her leave the premises for months. The technical kidnapping ends when a barefoot Ronnie, assisted by her mother, somehow slips past the barred windows, barbed-wire fences, attack dogs and bodyguards. (1972)
7.
While working with punk rock legends The Ramones, Spector forces the band to play the same opening guitar chord over and over again for eight solid hours, mixing it into the song "Rock And Roll High School" until he gets it just the way he wants it. At one point, the frustrated band attempts to leave, but Phil pulls a gun on the group and forces them to play his 1963 hit by the Ronettes, "Baby I Love You." (1979)
8.
Spector is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and stuns the awards ceremony when he enters with three bodyguards, all with their hands on their guns. He proceeds to make a long, rambling, nearly incomprehensible acceptance speech, then falls off the stage. (1989)
9.
Time Europe reports that Phil walks around his new estate in Alhambra, CA every day, in complete darkness, wearing nothing but a Batman costume. (1999)
10.
Spector's sons Gary and Donte relate Ronnie-like tales of forced isolation in the late Seventies to London's Daily Mail, and go on to accuse the famous producer of blindfolding Gary and then molesting them both. (2003)
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on November 9, 2008 at 10:38pm
Phil Spector vs. Montgomery Burns Pictures, Images and Photos

ROFLMBO

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 ♪♫♪

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