I've always had a bit of a soft spot for
The Detroit Emeralds as their records were some of the first
that got me into soul music in the early 70s with "Do Me Right" "You Want
It You Got It", "Feel The Need" (live video below) and "I Think Of You" etc.
They were formed in the 60s by brothers Abrim, Ivory, Cleophus, and Raymond Tillmon in
Little Rock, AK. Two brothers, Abrim and Ivory, moved to Detroit and hooked
up with James Mitchell and released a few sides on the legendary Ric-Tic
label with "Show Time" and "Shades Down" getting exposure on the Northern
Soul scene. Whilst "Shades Down" is credited to them, it's an instrumental, more likely to be by The San Remo Strings or possibly Al Kent who wrote and produced it!
In 1969 they moved to Westbound where they began a string of hits which
were more popular in the UK than US. Surprisingly, "Feel The Need", which
was a #4 pop hit in UK in 1973, didn't even get in the Billboard Hot 100 and neither
did "I Think Of You" a UK top 30 pop hit (#27)!
The group began to disintegrate in the mid 70s with Mitchell leaving to
form The Floaters in 1976. The following year they remade "Feel The Need"
which scraped into Billboard at #90 whilst reaching #12 in UK. At the same
time The Floaters had a world-wide smash hit with "Float On" co-written by
Mitchell.
The Detroit Emeralds, led by James Mitchell, are back in 2021 with a new
single "Face 2 Face" released on 1 Nov 2021.
Thanks to Paul Regan for highlighting this one.
Click icons below for further information or to connect with the
artist.
| Rating: | 7.2 |
| Explicit: | N |
| Genre/Style: | Neo Soul Funk |
| Format: | Single |
| Media: | Digital |
| Label: | MCM Global Team |
| Cat No: | None |
| Date: | 01/11/2021 |
| Key/BPM: | 3A/107 |
| Value: | £1 |
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