Yet again this year we bring sad news of the passing of another soul
artist. It was announced on
The Masqueraders official facebook page yesterday that lead singer Sammie Hutchins died
on Monday aged 79.
Sam (Sammie 'Sam Lee Hutchins / Hutchinson) was not an original
group member, joining around 1969. He released three solo singles,
the first on Mala in 1966 followed by two on AGP in 1968 and 1969
which were written by members of The Masqueraders (who had taken him
with them to Memphis, originally as an extra) and they also sang the
backing vocals.
The group got their glimpse in the spotlight in recent years from
their appearance on season 12 of America's Got Talent in 2017 where
they touched the hearts of a nation with their endearing positive
attitude of having never stopped dreaming even after 60 years trying
to make it. The group had slimmed down from their original five man
line up to a trio consisting of founding member Robert 'Tex' Wrightsil, Harold Larry 'Sundance' Thomas and Hutchins. Sadly another member David "Cowboy" Sanders died barely two years ago. He had retired from the group some years ago suffering with Parkinson's
disease and died on 14 Aug 2020 aged 77.
I think it would be fair to say that they first came to the attention
of the UK soul scene via their 1968 flip side to "Sweet Lovin' Woman"
on Wand, "Do You Love Me Baby". It got further exposure by its
inclusion on one of the very early Northern Soul compilations by Ian
Levine on "Disco Demand's Solid Soul Sensations" in 1975. Original
copies are still hard to find with promo copies fetching four
figures.
The group was formed in Dallas, TX, in 1957 by existing member Robert 'Tex' Wrightsil and Charlie Moore as The Stairs whilst at middle school.
The line-up was completed with brothers Johnny and Lawrence Davis and
'Little' Charlie Gibson. In 1959 they recorded a few songs for Alvin
Howard's Dallas based South Town label ("Brown-Eyed Handsome Man",
"Caveman Love" and "Flossie Mae") but none saw release and soon
afterwards the Davis brothers left and in 1961 Gibson enlisted in the
Army. They were eventually replaced by Lee Westley Jones who was
working as a car valet, followed by two members of another group
that they just happened to be singing 'under the streetlamps' with,
David 'Cowboy' Sanders and Harold Larry Thomas (aka Sundance). The new
line-up was renamed The New Drifters. Thomas left to do military
service in the marines and was replaced by Orberdean 'Deano'
Deloney.
The group was so versatile that they turned up at gigs under the
guise of groups who currently had hit records as the audience were
none the wiser as they'd never seen the acts. This is how they came by
their new name The Masqueraders. In 1964 they returned to the studio
for the second time and recorded a Curtis Mayfield song recorded
earlier by Gene Chandler "Man's Temptation" (Vee-Jay 1963) as the flip
to "Lets Dance (Little Dancing Doll)" on Scotty McKays tiny M-K label
which only released one other (known) single.
Their next single was on Alvin Howard's new Soultown label (named
after a recent trip to Detroit i.e. Motown) "Talk About A Woman" /
"That's The Same Thing". The flip side featuring Lee Jones on lead has
become an in-demand item on Northern Soul dancefloors and another that
now commands four figures, if you can find one as only three are
listed on Popsike. The group's name was misspelt on the label as
The Masquaders.
Alvin Howard arranged an audition for the group with Mickey Stevenson
at Motown so the group travelled to Detroit in May 1965 on a one-way
ticket as they couldn't afford a return. On arrival at Motown they
were informed that Stevenson had moved to the West Coast operation in
L.A. but the group were heard by James Dean who told them that as a
male group they would be surplus to requirements as of course at the
time The Temptations and Four Tops were in the ascendancy.
With no means to return home the group decided to stay in Detroit and
play gigs to earn some cash by singing at the Twenty Grand Hotel. So
they made their way there with a surprise excursion enroute where they
came across Lou Beatty's La Beat studio and decided to go in. Beatty
wasn't around at the time but one of his employees was and listened to
them sing and invited them back to audition for Beatty. When Beatty
heard them he signed them to the label and also gave them
accommodation in the basement of one of the hotels he owned so it
was a fortuitous meeting. They went on to release six singles on La
Beat between 1966-67 with several of them commanding the attention
of NS DJ's i.e. "How", "I'm Gonna Make It", "I Got The Power" / "Together That's The Only Way" and the sublime "One More Chance".
After spending a year in Detroit and releasing six singles without
significant success the group moved south to Memphis where they
auditioned for Chips Moman and were duly signed to his AGP (American Group
Productions) label. Moman had his own studios American Sound Studio
which had it's own house band who became known as The Memphis Boys and
included Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn. They released three singles for
the label in 1968-69 but also recorded two other singles which Moman
managed to lease to Scepter/Wand. Their first "I Don't Want Nobody to
Lead Me On" was penned by the group and covered by former US football
star Rosie Grier, The Gentleman Four and The Exotics. They also
provided backing vocals for other artists for the studio and are
accredited as backing Arthur Conley on "Sweet Soul Music".
In between the two singles leased to Wand, the group released a
single for Larry Uttal's Amy label which, due to the contractual
obligations with Wand, the group used the pseudonym of Lee Jones And
The Sound Of Soul ("On The Other Side" / "This Heart Is Haunted").
Utall, who owned Amy / Bell Mala, was impressed by the group and
released further singles by them. The first being their biggest hit "I
Ain't Got To Love Nobody Else" (written by group members Moore, Jones
and R. Wrightsil) on his Bell imprint which reached #7 R&B and #57
Hot 100. It was later covered by Bobby Womack (who the group had
worked with) on his "Womagic" album in 1986. Owing to the success of
this single, Moman decided to release the follow up "I'm Just An
Average Guy" on his own label to the miff of Uttal. It reached #24
R&B but didn't dent the Hot 100. This may have been a
miscalculation as had it been on Bell perhaps it may have climbed
higher and who knows what the future of the group could have been as
they never troubled the R&B chart again until 1975. Utall sold
Bell to Columbia in 1969 so that door closed, although two more
singles appeared on Bell in 1970. Moman shut down AGP and the studio
in 1972.
The group returned to their home town Dallas and released a few
singles on their own label Stairway in recognition of their original
name The Stairs. The group underwent some line-up changes and this is
when Sam Hutchins became a full-time member. Apparently a third single
was released, which I am not able to find listed, titled "Wear This
Ring" which is in fact the same song as "Let Me Show The World (I Love
You)". None of the singles were successful outside of Dallas and the
group returned to Memphis with Hutchins permanently replacing Lee
Jones who had converted to Islam and changed his name to Lee Hatim.
They met Willie Mitchell through Darrly Carter, who they had worked
with at AGP, and recorded two singles at Royal Studios
released by Hi.
With no commercial success with Hi, they moved on again this time
hooking up with Isaac Hayes on his newly formed Hot Buttered Soul
label. They were connected by Eula Jean Rivers who was a member of The
Charmels and was married to Charles 'Skip' Pitts who played the
opening wah-wah guitar licks on "Shaft". He was also a member of The
Isley Brothers in 1968 on "It's your Thing" which brought him to the
attention of Hayes. Lee Jones (Hatim) re-joined the group replacing
original member Charles Moore who left owing to ill health (he died in
1999). They cut two albums but strangely only three singles whist at
the label which were all spawned from the first album, apparently it was contractual as they were obliged to release two albums. Songwriting
credits of the first album were given as The Raders which was Hayes'
abbreviation for The Masqueraders. Hayes' company was experiencing
financial pressures and whilst the group was performing in
Philadelphia they were approached by Kenny Gamble but Hayes
vetoed any ideas of collaborations whilst they were contracted to
HBS and, by the time they were released, Gamble & Huff had moved
on to other projects so an opportunity to become involved with
PIR was lost. They were loyal to Hayes but had they known that he would soon be filing for bankruptcy they would have taken up the offer. Just imagine
what the future may have held for them.
They recorded some material with Al Green's producer Paul Zalesky for
Pathfinder Records in the late 70s ("Good Hearted People", "Oh My
Love", "Paradise", "Oughta Mean Something", "Don't You Ever Take Your
Love Away", "Saving My Love", "Love Of My Life") which never saw the
light of day as it was yet another label that folded. However, the did
sing backing vocals on "I'm In Love" on the label by Ollie Nightingale which was written by Lee Jones
(Hatim).
Their next release was a self-titled album on Bang in 1980 which
spawned two singles. Another unfortunate twist of fate was that Bang
shut down the same year and the group was left hanging once again.
Bang was formed in 1965 and its name was derived from its four owners
(Bert, Ahmet, Nesuhi, Gerald) i.e. Bert Berns and Atlantic Records
co-founders Ahmet Ertegun, his brother Neshui Ertegun and Jerry
Wexler.
The group members then took up day jobs and never recorded again
until after their appearance on America's Got Talent. Their first audition on AGT, a cover of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" was released and then Soul4Real released three singles on 7" which were recordings from around 1967/68 which got shelved owing, in the main, to the assaination of Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis in Apr 1967. They are "Oh My Goodness" / "We Fell In Love" and "Prophet Of Love" / "You´re The One" released in 2018 followed by another in 2020 which consisted of "Make Me Think You Love Me", an unreleased song from 1972, with the flip being a cover of a 1961 Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield song "When Trouble Calls" (released by Jerry Butler as B side to "Find Another Girl" Vee-Jay 1961) which was 'apparently' on an 'impossible to find' cassette from 1993, although it was included on a 2000 CD compilation "15 Soulful Serenades" by Hayley.
Eli 'Paperboy' Reed collaborated with them on a single Anytime You Want Me in 2020.
Much of the information above has been gleaned from an article
written by Greg Tormo on
Solid Hit Soul
from interviews conducted with Harold Thomas and Robert Wrightsil and
also Soul Express'
Masquerader's Story from interviews with group members.
Below is their full discography with YouTube links to most of their
recordings, any help with missing tracks (preceded with '*') would be
greatly appreciated (soulstrutter@gmail.com). I think if you are not
familiar with their music this group stands
alongside many of the greatest male soul groups such as The
Temptations, Four Tops, The Dells and The O'Jays. It is such a shame
that they didn't get the breaks their talent so richly deserved, not
only as singers but also as songwriters as they wrote much of their
own material, otherwise they would also be held in the same
esteem.
There is a YouTube playlist with the all HERE
There is a superb Grapevine compilation CD from 2004 which contains
much of their earlier material. There are also four later
albums/compilations but I'm not sure whether these are re-recordings
or not (links to Spotify on title below).
Discography
Sam Hutchins
1966 -
I Can't Stop Crying
/ *I Can Make You Happy [Mala #599]
1968 -
Dang Me
/
I'm tired Of Pretending
[AGP Records #AGP 106 / Bell (UL) #BLL 1044
1969 -
Big "D" Breakdown
/
I'm The One For You
[AGPRecords #120]
The Masqueraders
Albums
1975 - Everybody Wanna Live On [Hot Buttered Soul #ABCD-921]
1980 - The Masqueraders [Bang (US) #AL 36321]
Compilations
2004 - Unmasked: The Best Of The Masqueraders 1965-1972
[Grapevine #GVCD 3013]
2006 - I Ain't Got To Love Nobody Else [Raven #RCD-750]
Digital only
2014 - The Masqueraders Refreshed [LocoBop] (on Amazon)
Singles
1964 - *Lets Dance (Little Dancing Doll) /
Man's Temptation
[M-K #101]
1965 - *Talk About A Woman /
That's The Same Thing
[Soultown #ST-201]
1966 -
A Family Pt.1
/
A Family Pt.2
[La Beat #P 6605 / Tower #281]
1966 -
I'm Gonna Make It
/
How
[La Beat #P 6606]
1967 -
Be Happy For Me
/ *Be Happy For Me (Inst) [La Beat #P 6701]
1967 -
I Got The Power
/
Together That's The Only Way
[La Beat #P 6704]
1967 -
One More Chance
/
Together That's The Only Way
[La Beat #P 6705]
1967-12 -
I Don't Want Nobody To Lead Me On
/
Let's Face Facts
[Wand #WND 1168]
As Lee Jones And The Sounds Of Soul
1968-02 -
On The Other Side
/
This Heart Is Haunted
[Amy #11,008]
1968-02 -
Sweet Lovin' Woman
/
Do You Love Me Baby
[Wand #WND 1172]
1968-08 -
I Ain't Got To Love Nobody Else
/
I Got It
[Bell #733]
1968-12 -
I'm Just An Average Guy
/
I Ain't Gonna Stop
[AGP #108]
1969-05 -
The Grass Was Green
/
Say It
[AGP #114]
1969-10 -
Tell Me You Love Me
/
Love, Peace And Understanding
[AGP #122]
1970-03 -
How Big Is Big
/
Please Take Me Back
[Bell #874]
1970-11 -
Steamroller
/ *Brotherhood [Bell #932]
1971 -
Let Me Show The World (I Love You)
/ *Masqueraders Theme [Stairway #S71]
1972 -
The Truth Is Free Pt. I
/
The Truth Is Free Pt. II
[Stairway #S72]
1973-08 -
Let The Love Bells Ring
/
Now That I've Found You
[Hi #45-2251]
1974-03 -
Wake Up Fool
/
Now That I've Found You
[Hi #45-2264]
1975-11 -
Baby It's You
/
Listen
[Hot Buttered Soul #ABC-12141]
1976-01 -
(Call Me) The Traveling Man
/
Sweet Sweetning
[Hot Buttered Soul #ABC-12157]
1976-05 -
Your Sweet Love Is A Blessing
/
Please Don't Try
[Hot Buttered Soul #ABC-12190]
1975 -
Everybody Wanna Live On
/
Please Don't Try (To Take Me Away To The Sky)
[ABC #1022-12190] Canada
1980 -
Starry Love
/
It's So Nice
[Bang #ZS9 2812]
1980 -
Desire
/
Into Your Soul
[Bang #ZS9 4806]
1990 - *Merry Christmas / *Merry Christmas (Inst.) [T.N.T.]
1992 - *When Old Man Trouble Calls / *When Old Man Trouble Calls
(Inst.) [T.N.T.]
2018-04 -
A Change is Gonna Come
[Kudzu Electric Record]
2018-02 - Oh My Goodness / We Fell In Love [Soul4Real #S4R02]
2018-12 - Prophet Of Love / You´re The One [Soul4Real #S4R05]
Eli Reed And Masqueraders
2020-09 -
Anytime You Want Me
/ Eli Reed And Hi Rhythm - That's Love
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