Not sure of the current of value of this one but one listed on Popsike sold in July 2016 for around £5,000/$6000.
I can find no info on George Pepp. I assume that he was based in New Orleans. Both sides were written by F. (Fred?) Caliste who wrote 'SPace Man' Aaron Neville on Parlo and R. (Ruby?) Caliste. Jean Knight's (Mr. Big Stuff) maiden name was Caliste and she was from New Orleans so I wonder if there is a connection? Her nephew Lester Caliste is a trombonist from New Orleans.
Two Northern Soul sides but it was 'That's The Day My Heart Stood Still' that was the play side back in the day with the flip being played in more recent years by Mark 'Butch' Dobson. It was bootlegged around 1976 on a black (not yellow) label. This was a big spin at Wigan Casino but got bootlegged pretty quickly which killed it as DJ's dropped records from playlists once they were bootlegged.
A Jobette west coast production written by Willie Hutch & Hal Davis.
Magnum was an L.A. label founded by radio DJ Hunter Hancock and Roger Davenport who did the string arrangement on 'What Would You're Daddy Say' for The Earls Inc. on Tee-Ti in 1971. (A really nice mellow group soul harmony track ... which I've included at the end of this post).
There's only 3 known/listed 45s by Ollie Jackson, the other 2 both released on Pepper in 67 and 68. I can find no info about Otis Jackson.
Pepper was a Memphis label owned by Morris Pepper. It appears that there was a batch of releases in 800-900 series 1958-60 and then a gap until 1967-69 where all release are in 400 series.
A monster sound in it's day (mid 70s) and surprised it's not higher up in the 500!
This is a very rare record as apparently there was a pressing fault and they were withdrawn for sale and destroyed but obviously a few have escaped! It is suggested that there were 2 presses - one skips towards the end. There's an interesting thread here: Soul Source Gwen Owens. There is also quite a detailed biography for her on Discogs.
In summary she recorded 7 singles in the 60s for a number of labels OnCore, Rem, Velgo (2), Lau-Reen, Josie and 2 in 70s Casablanca and Big Tree. An early unreleased 45, that was recorded on Harthon in 1967 just before she joined Josie, was licensed from Weldon McDougal / Harthon and released by Adey Pierce on Mel-Ady.
Discography
1964
Oncore ON-84
Mystery Man/Someone To Love
1964
REM 105
Mystery Of Love /
The Impacs - Myster of Love (Sing-A-Long)
1966
Velgo VO-001
I Lost A Good Thing/I'll Be Crying
1967
Velgo VO-002
Just Say You're Wanted (And Needed)/Still True To You
1967
Mal-Ady MA-100
Lies/Rain
1968
Lau-Reen 1002
Make Him Mine/One More Day
1969
Josie 45-1009
Keep On Living/It Ain't Hardly Over
1974
Casablanca NB 808
You Better Watch Out/Everybody Needs Love
1979
Big Tree K 11335
I Don't Want To Dance No More /
Hold Me Like You Never Had Me
She released 2 of only 3 releases on Velgo based in New Haven MI, owned by Larry Lick (Pavlik). Velgo was a subsidiary of Sound Inc. which released Gary Haines - Keep On Going S1 110 and Capreez - How To Make A Sad Man Glad S1-149.
In 1976 she joined the group Hot (a trio of Gwen, Owens, Cathy Carson and Juanita Curiel) who had a US Top 10 hit with 'Angel In Your Arms' which reached #6. Hot released 3 albums and around 7 singles on Big Tree between 1976-79, (a further single was released on Boradwalk in 1982) 3 of these (incl. Angel In My Arms entered the Hot 100.
509 Gwen Owens [1967] - Just Say You're Wanted (And Needed) [Velgo V0-002]
Gwen Owens [1967] - Still True To You [Velgo V0-002]
Gwen Owens [1966] - I Lost A Good Thing [Velgo V0-001]
Gwen Owens [1966] - I'll Be Crying [Velgo V0-001]
Gwen Owens [1964] - Mystery Man [Oncore ON-84]
Gwen Owens [1964] - Someone To Love [Oncore ON-84]
One for tyhe lowriders.
Gwen Owens [1964] - Mystery Of Love [REM 105]
Gwen Owens [1968] - Make Him Mine [Lau-Reen 1002]
Lau-Reenwas a sister label toRam-Brockrun by Rudy Robinson from Dexter Ave., Detroit. There were only 2 releases, the first being by Rudy Robinson & The Hungry Four - Close Your Mouth Pts. 1 & 2 (a horn-laden funky instrumental) and the 2nd and last by Gwen Owens.
Ram-Brock released 4 45s between 1967-68 and all but the first one from Magic Tones were from Cody Black who had several other release on Detroit labels such as D-Town, Wheelsville and Groove City. The Magic Tones also had many other relases on Detroit labels such as Wheelsville, Solid Hit, MAH's and Westbound.
Gwen Owens [1968] - One More Day [Lau-Reen 1002]
Gwen Owens [1967] - It AIn't Hardly Over [Josie 45-1009]
A great crossover tune on Josie.
Gwen Owens [1974] - You Beter Watch Out [Casablanca NB 808]
Tata Vega [1980] - You Beter Watch Out [Tamla T 54316F]
Tata Vega recorded You Better Watch Out on her 4th (and last) Motown (Tamla) album. If was also released as the flip to 'You Keep Me Hanging On'.
Hot [1978] - If That's The Way That You Want It [Big Tree BT 16118]
Another artist tragically taken from us in her prime at the very young age of 27 in March 1972 after suffering from a diabetic attack (shock) and collapsing backstage at the Apollo in New York. She slipped into a coma from which she never recovered. Linda Jones had a unique ultra soulful voice. Her deep soul cuts are outstanding. 'My Heart Needs A Break', whilst uptempo, highlights Linda's vocal talent.
Her first record was Lonely Teardrops on Cub as Linda Lane in 1963. She cut tracks on Atco in 1964 and Cat in 1965. She had her biggest hit 'Hypnotozed after signing for the legendary Loma records in 1967 and recorded an album of the same name. Loma's artist roster included the likes of Ike & Tina Turner, The Apollas, The Mavellow, Little Jerry Williams, Three Degrees, J.J. Jackson, Lorraine Ellison and The Olympics. After Loma folded in 1968, she recorded for Warner 7 Arts, Cotique, Neptune and finally Turbo in 1971. According to this interview with Mark Anthony Neal (a Duke professor of African-American studies) on North Carolina public radio WUNC 91.5, Linda Jones was Aretha Franklin's favourite artist.
510 Linda Jones [1968] - My Heart Needs A Break [Loma 2091]
Linda Jones [1968] - The Things I've Been Through (Loving You) [Loma 2091]
Detroit pianist, a soul legend who recorded for Ric-Tic later joined Sound Stage 7 as an artist in 1966 when he cut an instrumental version of Wilson Pickett's 'In The Midnight Hour' b/w 'Conception (2570) as well as his own 'Suzy's Serenade', which was played on the northern scene at The Torch initially I think.
Wilson was part of The San Remo Strings (Bob Wilson & The San Remo Quartet) who recorded Hungry For Love / All Turned on on Ric-Tic 104. The San Remo Strings went on to record 3 more 45s on Ric-Tic (After Wilson left to go to Sound Stage 7) (108 I'm Satisfied / Blueberry Hill; 112 Festival Time / Joy Road and 116 International Love Theme / Quanto Sei Bella) as well as Ric-Tic's only album release LP 901 'Hungry For Love'.
There's a great article on Bob Wilson & The San Remo Remo Quartet over @ RedKelly as well as a streamed version of 'In The Midnight Hour'. 511 Bob Wilson [1966] - Suzy's Serenade [Sound Stage 7 2578] Read a comment posted by Bob over at Red Kelly's blog in response to a post on Joe Simon's 'Come On And Get It'.
Bob Wilson [1966] - After Hours [Sound Stage 7 2578]
Read a comment posted by Bob over at Red Kelly's blog in response to a post on Joe Simon's 'Come On And Get It'.
Bob Wilson Sounds [197?] - Strings A GoGo [Soul Galore SG-1002]
There was another release attributed to him on bootleg label Soul Galore [1002] as Bob Wilson Sounds - Strings A GoGo. It is in fact The Checkerboard Squares - 'Double Cookin''. These were the antics of one renowned bootlegger of the day Simon Soussan who would release cover ups on bootlegs. He even put his own name down as the writer, producer and arranger of the tune on the label! The flip side was called 'Love Symphony, which is an instrumental of The Magician's 'Is It All Gone'.
To add to the intrigue/confusion it was released on 3 differently coloured labels, blue, dark green/turquoise (vinyl) and light green (styrene). The B side on the light green release is title Lost Symphony and there is another light green release which is single sided. So Soussan must have had at least 4 batches done to satisfy demand!
Bob Wilson Sounds [197?] - Love Symphony [Soul Galore SG-1002]
Whilst on the subject another bootleg cover up was Called 'Supertime' by The Golden World Strings on the Stephanye label which turned out to be 'Six O' Clock' by Total Eclipse on Liberty LP which is an instrumental version of the song by The Loving Spoonful.
The Golden World Strings [197?] - Supertime [Stephante STP-330]
Eddie Foster [1977] - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) [IN IN-6326-B]
Frank Wilson was originally covered up and released on a bootleg as Eddie Foster - 'Do I Love You' on In IN-6326-B.
Channel 3 were Bobby Thomas, Jerome Johnson, Leonard Michell, and originally Wales Wallace. It was Wallace that seemed to put this group together and make the connections they needed to record, but then dropped out before this record was done and was replace by Larry Blaiengaine. Leonard Michell had the distinction of being the lead voice on the ""Gorilla' by the Ideals. They had been around since the late fifties. Jerome Johnson was in The Trends who recorded for Johnny Pate on ABC. Bobby Thomas who leads here went on to much fame as a member of The Notations. A lot of talent on this track. Recorded for Dakar in '72. 'The Sweetest Thing' has become a UK fave. There aren't many issue copies of this one, as it seems there were more 2 sided promos of 'Sweetest Thing' than stock copies. 'Someone Else's Arms' is a great Barbara Acklin song, this is probably more familiar as done by her, or the Chi-Lites. Brunswick/Dakar were known to try a song with several artists. The issue is the copy to have as it has a cover of Barbara Acklin's Somone Else's Arms on the flip which the demo doesn't have, although apparently some issues of the demo are double sided.
This appears to be Channel 3s only release, certainly on Dakar.
Dee Dee Edwards (Doris Jean Harrell) and her brother Albert Harrell were members of The Paragons who released only one single on Exit in 1963 Pretty Words (That's What I Want To Here) / My Time Is Important To Me.
She recorded her first solo single in 1963 on Tuba after the Paragons disbanded. This track is her last of 5 releases on D-Town. She then cut 2 45s on to Premium Stuff. In the 70s she had 4 one-off 45s on Bump Shop, GM, RCA Victor and then DeTo before moving to Cotillion were she released 4 45s (and 2 LPs) and then another 3 on Morning Glory with a release on Det-Mi in between.
Her last release was an 80s reworking of the fabulous and sought after De-To release I Can Deal With That which came out on Morning Glory in 1990 which sadly doesn't compare with the original which has subsequently seen 3 reissues in 2007 on Soul Shot, 2016 on Soul Brother and 2019 on Luv 'N Haight.
Dee Edwards [1966] - Love, Love, Love [D-Town 1063]
The Paragons [1963] - Pretty Words [Exit E-00012-A]
Here's a select handful of her other releases:
The Paragons [1963] - My Time Is Important To Me [Exit E-00012-B]
Dee Edwards [1963] - You Say You Love Me [Tuba 1706]
Dee Edwards [1971] - Why Can't There Be Love [GM 716]
Dee Edwards [1977] - (I Can) Deal With That [De-To DT 2285]
Dee Edwards [1977] - (I Can) Deal With That [De-To DT 2285]
This is the first issue without strings.
Dee Edwards [1980] - Miracle Man [Cotillion 46003]
