Frank Edward Wilson (5 Dec 1940 - 2 Sep 2012) was a
singer/songwriter/producer for Motown Records in the 60s and 70s. He
would have been celebrating his 82nd birthday today.
Let's get it out of the way, he is most famous for what is regarded as
the rarest soul record in the world, although some would dispute that as
there are some records for which only one copy is known to exist and I
believe that three Frank Wilson's have now been discovered.
It is said that Berry Gordy gave Wilson an ultimatum of either being and
artist or a writer and when he agreed to be a writer Gordy ordered all
copies of his 1965 single "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" (which was
pressed on white promo only on Soul #35019) to be destroyed. A couple of
copies, some claim six, were held in the Motown archives until one found
its way out and fell in the hands of renown Northern Soul bootlegger
Simon Soussan who pressed up some acetates and sent them to Northern
Soul DJs to build demand and then bootlegged copies on the In label
'covered-up' as Eddie Foster (whose name was already know on the scene
for a record on In "I Never Knew") for consumption by the UK Northern
Soul market around 1977. For more details a couple of posts have been
made over the years when the record has been sold twice, in
2009 for an alleged £25,742 and again in
2020 when it is claimed it sold for in excess of £100k! Therefore, if
you wish to discover more read those posts. The record was subsequently
released in 1979 on Tamla Motown UK to satisfy demand. Even these, and
subsequent reissues of it, are selling now for three figures! The true
identity of the record was discovered in 1978 when Simon Soussan sold
his record collection to UK collector
Les McCutcheon.
There are many myths circulating regarding the history of the record
and I've just read one that states that Marvin Gaye recorded it. If he
did it's the first I've heard of it and has never seen the light of
day as far as I'm aware, as surely it would have, so I don't think
that is true, but would gladly be corrected if it is. However, it was
recorded, but not released until many years later, by one of Motown's
first white singers, Chris Clark and of course The Boss has just
recently recorded it to the disdain of most on the NS scene .. how very
dare he!
Wilson was born in Houston, TX, in 1940 and moved to L.A. in 1958
becoming a gospel singer with The Angelaires but after hearing Brenda
Holloway sing decided to start a career in secular music releasing a
handful of records using pseudonyms: Eddie Wilson, Sonny Daye and
Chester St. Anthony (Chester Fields). The latter was recorded at
Hollywood's Gold Star Studio in May 1965 which is another that appears
to be white promo only and some promo copies and stock copies credit it
as Chester Fields on a different cat. no. i.e. 768 v 766. Some sources
list this artist as actually being Chester Pipkin (who shares
a first name with the artist?) who co-wrote the A side with Wilson and
co-wrote the B side with his cousin (not brother as claimed on Discogs)
Gary!
Discogs also incorrectly lists Chester Pipkin with an alias of Marc
Gordon. How do I know this ..because Marc Gordon died in 2010 and Chester Pipkin is very much alive (or was in May 2020) and is a pastor at
ReJOYce IN JESUS Ministries). Gordon became president of Motown's west coast operation and
co-wrote other songs with Wilson including the flip to his rarity
"Sweeter As The Days Go By" and Darrell Banks "Somebody (Somewhere)
Needs You" as well as producing several records for Al Wilson including
"The Snake", The Marvellos ("Something's Burning") and The 5th
Dimension. He owned Rocky Road Records and also managed The 5th
Dimension, Thelma Houston, Al Wilson, The Staple Singers, Tony Orlando
and Dawn and Willie Hutch.
Pipkin wrote a few other NS songs such as Judy Hughes "Fine, Fine,
Fine", Wooden Nickels "Nobody But You" and the co-wrote Mary Love "You
Turned My Bitter Into Sweet", Paris "Sleepless Nights with his cousin
and Marc Gordon along with one recorded by Brice Coefield "Ain't That Right".
Wilson became friendly with Hal Davis and Marc Gordon and when Berry
Gordy decided to open a Motown office in L.A. Wilson was asked to join
them. His first record was Patrice Holloway "Stevie" issued in Dec 1963
on the V.I.P. subsidiary and was the first release by the west coast
operation. He was then asked by Gordy to relocate to Detroit and
continued to write and produce for virtually all of the Motown roster
including artists such as Barbara McNair, Brenda Holloway, The Miracles,
Four Tops, Temptations, Isley Bros., Marvin Gaye, The Marvelettes,
Martha & The Vandellas, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Eddie
Kendricks as well as other non Motown artists.
You may be wondering how he could have released songs either by
himself or by others whilst contracted to Motown. There is a very good
thread here on
Soul Source
contributed to by many experts which explains how Jobete songs were
released on, or leased to, other labels.
Wilson left Motown in 1975 and produced a few more artists such as
Lakeside, Alton McLain & Destiny, New Birth, Lenny Williams, Freda
Payne and Renee Geyer but then left secular music to become a born again
Christian and eventually an ordained minister. He died in Sep 2012 with prostrate cancer aged 71.
He visited the UK in 2001 performing at the Fleetwood Togetherness
Weekender where he signed the copy owned at the time by Edinburgh DJ
Kenny Burrell.
Discography
Frank Wilson [1965-12] - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) / Sweeter
As The Days Go By [Soul #
35019]
This Frank Wilson should not be confused with another Frank Wilson who
was also from L.A. and a member of The Remarkables and released a
couple of singles on Revue as
Frankie Vance, later working with Barry White.
The playlist below highlights some of the many recording he either
recorded himself, wrote and/or produced.
Note: video below is an Ian Levine re-recording but is the only footage
found for Frank Wilson.
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