Soul Strutter: R.I.P. John Rhys-Eddins (1941- 27 Aug 2023) 'Time Will Pass You By'

Monday, 28 August 2023

R.I.P. John Rhys-Eddins (1941- 27 Aug 2023) 'Time Will Pass You By'

We learned yesterday of the passing of John Rhys-Eddins via a Mark Hanson post on Soul Source which was relayed to him by singer Matt Lucas. Who? .. you might ask, especially if you have no interest or affiliation with Northern Soul and we would guess even the majority of those may still have no idea who he was.

He is responsible, along with Dino George Fekaris (a prolific writer who also co-wrote and co-produced "I Will Survive") and Nick Zesses, for writing one of the true classics of the genre "Time Will Pass You By" by Tobi Legend. The term 'classic' is overused but this is truly a Wigan Casino anthem and one of the best ever Northern 'Soul' records discovered full stop!

It was played as the second of the legendary 'Three Before Eight' so, 'arguably', well overplayed but even so it is still a very moving song to this day. For those who don't already know, the 'Three Before Eight' were the three records played at the end of every Wigan Casino All-Nighter by Russ Winstanley.

We don't know for sure who discovered it, or when, but assume that it must have been Casino organiser Russ Winstanley and also assume that it must have been played before the 'Three Before Eight' was instigated.

Rhys-Eddins began writing the song in 1965 whilst working at Golden World but was incomplete until the following year when he joined Impact and met Fekaris and Zesses who completed the second verse. It was recorded, or at least released, in Feb 1968 on Bell imprint Mala by Tobi/Toby Lark (born Bessie Grace Upton and recorded previously as Bessie Watson) under the pseudonym Tobi Legend. We recall reading that Lark was unaware of its release until much later as she believed that she recorded it as a demo only. Only one other recording was released under the name, "No Good To Cry" / "Heartbreaker" also on Mala in Apr '68.

Rhys-Eddins was born in Saxmundham, Suffolk, but moved to Georgia at a very young age. He found his way to Detroit by the mid 60s and worked for Ed Wingate's Golden World setup (Golden World, Ric-Tic, Wingate and J&W) and had a few of his songs released on Wingate in 1965. By 1966 he was working at Harry Balk's Impact Records where he wrote and produced. He produced all five of Shades of Blue's releases for the label, the best known being, the Edwin Starr written, "Oh How Happy" which was the label's biggest seller. He also co-wrote The Volumes evergreen "That Same Old Feeling" for the label, and even released one himself as John Rhys And The Lively Set with two instrumentals "Boy Watchers Theme" / "Nothing But Love" which were sufficiently popular/in-demand to warrant bootlegging.

As an artist he released two singles, the one above and the first, a garage/pop tune, in 1965 ("The Beginning Of The End" / "All I Ask") as Little John and Tony (Anthony Raye aka Pete Saputo who he co-wrote "That Same Old Feeling" with) on Golden World imprint Volkano headed up by John. The label released just three or four singles, all with at least one side written (or co-written with Dennis Coffey) by John in 1965. NB only three are listed but there 'appears' to be a missing number (V-5003?)

In 2015 UKs Outta Sight label reissued Tobi Legend and on the B side included the original demo version recorded by the three writers on which Rhys-Eddins played piano and sang the high notes and the other two sang the lead and background vocals. Included as the intro of the recording, Rhys-Eddins gives a commentary and states that he met Tobi Lark/Legend at a party in Detroit in the mid 60s. He thanks 'the gentleman who dubbed Tobi's voice' on the Mala release. The Mala single has 'Imagineered by Joey" under the title on the label, who we assume to be Joey Pinto (aka Joey Reynolds) who was the co-writer of the B Side ( "Heartbreaker") and a radio DJ who worked at numerous stations including WNBC. At the time of the record's release he was working at WDRC in Hartford, CT, having previously been at WXYZ, Detroit. How, and why, Tobi Lark was renamed Tobi Legend is a mystery except perhaps to disguise her identity to avoid paying royalties? Outta Sight also reissued the "Three Before Eight" earlier this year, presumably owing to Wigan Casino's 50th Anniversary next month.

We've always wondered why such a great song has never been covered, except as a self-titled album track by Kylie Minogue in 1994 (arranged by M People). It was scheduled for release as single with remixes but (thankfully!) never released.

We always suspected that perhaps it was because it's a particularly difficult song to sing and that was confirmed by Ady Croasdel who flew Tobi over to perform at the Cleethorpes weekender in 2009. He says that Tobi herself said that it was such a tough song to sing that she recorded it in segments that were then later spliced together. She stated that she has never sung the song in it's entirety which is why she declined to sing it when she appeared at the weekender. However, we found footage of her performing it several years later at Skegness Weekender in 2017 aged 77/78 (ironically born the same year as Rhys-Eddins)!

Like so many others before me, this one is slotted for play at my funeral as it is most definitely one of the soundtracks of my, and so many other's, life. Thank you John, Dino and Nick (without the latter two's contribution the song may never have been completed) for such a beautiful and meaningful song. Lyrics HERE.

In 2010 a UK broadsheet, The Guardian, published an article written by Laura Barton about the song.