R.I.P. J.J. Barnes (30 Nov 1943 - 10 Dec 2022)

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of one of the true Northern Soul heroes, J.J. (James Jay) Barnes who died yesterday (10 Dec '22)  aged 79.

Barnes performed at the Detroit A-Go-Go festival, St, Regis Ballroom, Detroit, in October 2022, which he said would be his final in-person concert owing to his health conditions.

His musical journey epitomises the plight of so many artists embraced by the scene. So talented, yet didn't quite get the breaks he deserved. Even after being signed to Motown via their acquisition of Ric-Tic he felt side-lined and left the company shortly afterwards.

He recorded his first single in 1960 as J.J. Barnes & The Del! Fi's on a small Detroit label, Kabel, run by Funk Brother keyboardist Joe Hunter and Fred Brown. Both sides were written by Don Davis, the flip co-written with James Hendrix who set up the Carrie label and would later form La Beat with Lou Beatty. The record was subsequently released on Rich twice in 1961 and 1962. 

Brown was a mail man who overheard Barnes and his sister Ortheia singing whilst delivering mail and he had just started his own label Kabel along with Mickay's and duly signed them both. Musicians on the first single not only included Hunter on piano, but also others who would go on to form the backbone of The Funk Brothers, Benny Benjamin (drums), Don Davis (lead guitar) and James Jamerson (bass) with an early incarnation of Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, known then as The Del! Fi's aka The Del-Phis, on backing vocals who then recorded an answer song to "Won't You Let Me Know" which was "I’ll Let You Know" on Check-Mate in 1961.

He then released five singles for Mickay's in 1963-64 with the last one "Just One More Time" / "Hey Child, I Love You" gaining national distribution on Scepter. Another single appeared on Ring before he signed with Ric-Tic where he released four singles in 1965-66. It was these singles that initially brought him to the attention of the burgeoning Northern Soul scene in England with songs like "Please Let Me In" and "Real Humdinger" in particular. Ric-Tic became a very collectible label alongside Golden World and Okeh to the Northern Soul fraternity.

Golden World was founded in 1962 by Joanne Bratton and Ed Wingate. The Ric-Tic imprint came in Jul 1964 and was named after Joanne's son with boxer Johnny Bratton, Derek, who was nicknamed Ricky or Ric-Tic who died in 1962 aged 11. Berry Gordy was so concerned about the competition from both labels for Motown that he bought them in 1967 taking many of the artists to Motown. Probably the most successful being Edwin Starr but others, such as Barnes, fell by the wayside and Barnes later re-joined Don Davis at Groovesville. Other artists included The Fantastic Four, Detroit Emeralds, Laura Lee and Freddie Gorman who had earlier left Motown to join Ric-Tic/Golden World and then returned and went on to be a member of The Originals.

Barnes served as a songwriter at Motown for a short period but no material by him was released as an artist, apparently because Marvin Gaye had told Berry Gordy that Barnes sounded too much like him (which is quite evident on the unreleased song "Everytime I See You, I Go Wild!" in particular), but many unreleased songs have surfaced on compilations, such as Cellarful of Motown, over the years with songs like "Show Me the Way", "Every Time I See You, I Go Wild".

He was a member of the Holidays, a trio made up of Edwin Starr (aka Charles Hatcher) and Steve Mancha (aka Clyde Wilson) who had a #7 R&B hit in Jun 1966 with "I'll Love You Forever". Barnes' biggest hit was "Baby Please Come Back Home" on the Groovesville in 1967 which reached #9 on the R&B chart but he was never able to match or improve on this success.

His only 'true' album was "Born Again" on Perception in 1973, having released a joint album, "Rare Stamps", with Steve Mancha on Volt in 1969. On the recommendation of Edwin Starr, and the popularity of his recordings on the NS scene, Barnes moved to England in the 70s and signed to Blues & Soul's Contempo label releasing around six singles and two albums. The first album was a compilation of earlier Groovesville recordings titled "The Groovesville Masters" in 1975 followed by "Sara Smile" in 1977 which included a few covers, the Hall & Oates title track, a version of Ace's "How Long" and Larry Santos' "We Can't Hide It Anymore". 

In the 90s he recorded some NS tailor-mades for Ian Levine's Motorcity label which included some re-recordings of several of his classic songs such as "Our Love Is In The Pocket", "Please Let Me In", "Real Humdinger" and "Sweet Sherry". It has been claimed that he recorded the Frank Wilson song ("Do I Love You") which I don't recall ever hearing, but it was released on Neil Rushon's Inferno label on 12" in 1984. I thought perhaps it would have been one of Mr. Levine's 'wonders' but it was produced by Rushton and Chris King, so the Dr Who fanatic was nowhere to be seen!

Unsurprisingly, not a great deal of his material is available on Spotify but I've pulled together the best of what is there, but have also created a YouTube playlist of most of his singles. The ones marked with an asterisk below were not found but all the others were. In addition, tagged onto the end on the YouTube playlist, are several unreleased recordings (at the time) which have later surfaced.

Discography

Albums

1969 - Rare Stamps Vol.1 [Volt]

1973 - Born Again [Perception]

1975 - The Groovesville Masters [Contempo]

1977 - Sara Smile [Contempo]

1991 - Try It One More Time [Motorcity]

1996 - King Of Nothern Soul [Motorcity]

Singles

1960-12 - My Love Came Tumbling Down / Won't You Let Me Know [Kable #437-X 45]

1961-03 - My Love Came Tumbling Down / Won't You Let Me Know [Rich #1005]

1962-02 - My Love Came Tumbling Down / Won't You Let Me Know [Rich #1737]

1963-05 - Teen Age Queen / *Some One [Mickay's #351]

1963-09 - *Love Requires Understanding / *So Far Away [Mickay's #353]

1963-11 - These Chains Of Love / Color - Green [Mickay's #300]

1964-?? - Lonely No More / *Get A Hold Of Yourself (You Belong To Me) [Mickay's #4471/4472]

1964-?? - Just One More Time / Hey Child, I Love You [Mickay's #3004]

1964-02 - Just One More Time / Hey Child, I Love You [Scepter #1266]

1964-11 - Poor Unfortunate Me (I Ain't Got Nobody) / She Ain't Ready [Ring #101]

1965-11 - Please Let Me In / I Think I Found A Love [Ric-Tic #RT-106]

1966-02 - Real Humdinger / I Ain't Gonna Do It [Ric-Tic #TR-110]

1966-05 - Day Tripper / Don't Bring Me Bad News [Ric-Tic #RT-115]

1966-08 - Say It / Deeper In Love [Ric-Tic #RT-117]

1967-04 - Baby Please Come Back Home / Chains Of Love [Groovesville #GV 1006]

1967-07 - Now That I Got You Back / Forgive Me [Groovesville #GV 1008] 

1967-07 - Easy Living / ? [Groovesville #GV 1009] (Unreleased)

1968-?? - Easy Living / I Lost You [Groove City #206] The Hollidays

1968-02 - Hold On To It / Now She's Gone [Revilot #RV-216]

1968-05 - Sad Day A' Coming / I'll Keep Coming Back [Revilot #RV-218]

1968-05 - Our Love Is In The Pocket / All Your Goodies Are Gone (instrumental) [Revilot #RV-222]

1968-08 - So Called Friends /  Now She's Gone (The LeBaron Strings) [Revilot #RV-225]

1969-06 - Evidence / I'll Keep Coming Back [Buddah #BDA 120]

1969-11 - Got To Get Rid Of You / Snow Flakes [Volt #VOA-4027]

1970-?? - *My Baby / *You're Still My Baby [Invasion #1001] 

197?-?? - Jay Rhythm - *Wouldn't It Be A Pleasure / *Soul Emotions [Leo #AR-884]

1970-?? - To An Early Grave / Cloudy Days [Magic Touch #WM 1000]

1973-12 - You Are Just A Living Doll / Touching You [Perception #PS-546]

1975-?? - I Think I've Got A Good Chance Pt. 1 / I Think I've Got A Good Chance Pt. 2 [Organic #CWO-1]

Halo Gospel Singers Featuring J. J. Barnes

1982-?? - Only Things From God (Will Last) (Part 1) / Only Things From God (Will Last) (Part Two) [Golden Age #GA-101]

J. J. Barnes And Ortheia Barnes

1990-?? - Send Some Love / I've Seen The Light [Livalot #1001]

UK Only releases (NB reissues excluded)

1974-03 - Sweet Sherry / Chains Of Love [Contempo #CS 2048]

1975-07 - Baby Please Come Home / Cloudy Days [Contempo #CS 2063]

1977-01 - The Erroll Flynn / She's Mine [Contempo #CS 2105]

1977-04 - Sara Smile / Let Me Feel The Funk [Contempo #CS 2111]

1977-08 - How Long / I'm The One Who Loves You [Contempo #CS 2123]

1984-?? - Guess I'll Try It Again / Do I Love You [Inferno #12 BURN 15]

1984 ?? - Competition Ain't Nothing / Inst [Inferno #BURN7]

1988-?? - Talk Of The Grapevine / On Top Of The World [Achievement #10011]

1990-?? - Build A Foundation / Inst [Motorcity #MOTC 25]

1991-?? - I've Seen The Light / Inst [Motorcity #12 MOTC 87]

1998-?? - Sweet Honey Baby [Goldmine Soul Supply #GS030]

2010-?? - Everytime I See You I Go Wild / Where Is The Love (Rita Wright) [Hip City Soul Club #HCSC-R4]

2002-?? - Love At First Sight / Think I Got A Good Chance [Hayley #HR006

2014-?? - Lucille / You Brought Love To My Life (J.J. Barnes & Steve Mancha) [Hayley #HR022]

2016-10 - Show Me The Way / I'm Gonna Make It Up To You (Kim Weston) [Tamla Motown #536 954-2]

2018-?? - Candy / For Your Precious Love [Super Disco Edits #SDE 39]

SoulStrutter's Dozen Top Selections

(in no particular order other than chronological. All are in the YouTube playlist below)

Lonely No More

Please Let Me In

Say It 

Our Love Is In The Pocket

Got to Get Rid Of You

You Are Just A Living Doll

Can't See Me Leaving You

I Think I've Got A Good Chance

She's Mine

How Long

I'm The One Who Loves You

Love At First Sight

J.J. Barnes Singles YouTube Playlist

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