"🤣🤣🤣...Treasure is our site."
The Vandals-In My Opinion
1970 release on the Isley Brothers’ T-Neck label. The falsetto here belongs to Otis Harris, Jr., who had formed this singing group as a teenager in Baltimore. The group sang Temptations covers and called itself the Young Tempts – until Motown objected. They became the Young Vandals and then, simply, the Vandals.
Otis Harris joined the real-life Temptations in 1971, occupying the high-tenor slot originally held by Eddie Kendricks. Harris adopted the stage name “Damon Harris” in deference to the Temptations’ other Otis... group leader Otis Williams.
Damon Harris can be heard rocking the falsetto on “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.”
Comment
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Comment by Edie Antoinette on November 19, 2010 at 7:57am
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He sure does look alot different Ricky. Whoa.
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Comment by Ricky Le Blanc on November 18, 2010 at 10:30pm
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Damn! Damon sure doesn't look like the slim young man that replaced Kendricks in the Temptations. He looks like he has been competing with Dennis Edwards to see who can eat the most.
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Revisiting.... love it!
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Wow....now this is priceless... Bless his heart. O know he needed to quit with them fines...LOL
Thanks Sole. I got some more stuff to add over at the Isley discussion..
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Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on November 6, 2009 at 11:36am
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WOW....Look at Damon now
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WOW...Never knew Damon's name was Otis, i bet Otis Williams threatened to fine him 50 cent if he didn't change his name....ROFLMBO.
I had heard of them being The Vandals, but The Young Tempts is news to me also. He was so young when he joined The Temptations.
I'm digging this song also
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Here's more info:
Biography by Andrew Hamilton
Members of the group later known as Impact burst onto the recording scene with the name the Young Tempts on the Isley Brothers' T- Neck label. The first single, "I've Been Good to You" b/w "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby," ripped the Temptations' earlier versions, and both tracks appeared on the Gettin' Ready album with Eddie Kendricks on lead. Impact's falsetto Otis Robert Harris Jr. sounded like a fuller Kendricks, but he lacked Kendricks' edge. Objecting to the name, Motown filed an injunction and had the record recalled; T-Neck renamed the act the Young Vandals and pressed more copies with the new moniker. After two more singles for T-Neck during 1970, the Baltimore natives disbanded when Otis Harris landed a gig with the Temptations, the group he admired so, later in 1970. (He changed his name to Damon since, as he said "the group already had an Otis"). What he thought was a lifetime gig, however, turned into a four-year stint for Damon. Dejected, but not for long, he re-formed the Young Vandals and renamed them Impact. The quartet consisted of the same members: Damon Harris, John Quinton Simms, Charles Timmons, and Donald Tighman (who's related to Sonny Til of the Orioles and whose real name was Earlington Tighman).
They signed with a Philadelphia production company who secured a masters' deal with Atco Records. An album titled Impact dropped first, followed by the single "Happy Man," a popular 1976 disco cut. Impact put as much work in their backing vocals as the lead, something peculiar with D.C./Baltimore-area groups; the background voices competed with the lead for attention, making the songs more exciting. In addition to Harris' buttery falsetto, Impact had a David Ruffin-ish tenor and both were a joy to hear.
The same procedure was followed with "Love Attack" and "One Last Memory." While the singles and the album had a winning sound, sales figures were less than projected and the Atco association terminated. They surfaced on Fantasy in 1977 with a new album, The Pac Is Back. Fantasy released two singles -- "Rainy Days" and "Smile Awhile" -- but with only minimal chart action and scant sales, they proved to be Impact's final releases. Harris later went solo and cut a couple of critically acclaimed albums that didn't do much. He later disappeared from the scene, moved to Reno, NV, to finish college, and still lives there. The whereabouts of the other members are unknown, but it's believed all live in the Baltimore/D.C. area.
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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. 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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