In Jan we came across a Numero release on Lou Ragland's Casino imprint
(Numero now owns the Casino catalogue) of a previously unreleased song,
"Sunday Afternoon", billed as Gigi Copeland & Lou Ragland even though
Ragland's voice was not in evidence.
.
At the weekend we came across another, this time billed
Ron Parris & Lou Ragland with two songs, "Never Gonna Give It Up" / "Love Is Real". We can't be certain, but a Ronnie Paris was a member of The Stereos
from Ohio where Ragland originated.
However, we found a gospel album by The First Light released in 1986 on
Spirit Of Nevada (a subsidiary of Casino) on which Ragland and
Parris performed with Parris writing two of the songs, so it's possible that these
two songs originated around the same time.
Once again there is no indication that Ragland is singing on either
song but he is credited as writer on both. Parris' vocals sound remarkably similar to Al Jarreau on both songs.
Cleveland, OH, born Lou Ragland is a singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, producer and label owner who has been making music since the early 60s. Whilst a breakthrough hit eluded him, several of his recordings have been revered on the rare soul circuit such as "I Travel Alone", "Since You Said You'd Be Mine" (with it's killer deep soul flip "I Didn't Mean To Leave You") along with his "Understand Each Other" solo album and as a member of Hot Chocolate who released a solitary album in 1971 and last, but not least, his 2-stepper "Making Love".
After forming a band, The Monclairs, at high school he released his first recording "Never Let Me Go" / "Party at Lester's" in 1964 on Cleveland's Way Out label as Lou Ragland & The Bandmasters. He spent some time as a member of Billy Ward & The Dominos (past members include Clyde McPhatter and Jackie Wilson) and then became friendly with fellow Clevelander Edwin Starr who's career was beginning to take off after signing to Ric-Tic. Starr helped him secure a deal with Bell Records where he released his next single, "I Travel Alone" / "Big Wheel", on their Amy imprint in 1967. It didn't even dent the R&B chart but was picked up on years later by the Northern Soul scene and is regarded as a classic featuring in the NS all-time Top 500.
His next single was under the name Volcanic Eruption, again on Way Out. Interestingly, the A side was co-written with a R. Parish, could that be a misspelling of R. Parris? He then formed the band Hot Chocolate who released an eponymous album and three singles on his own Co Co Cleveland label in the early 70s.
It would appear that his luck was changing by being signed to a major, Warner Bros., in 1973 and released "Since You Said You Would Be Mine" but, alas, chart success still eluded him. However, yet again, the record was picked up on much later on the UK rare soul scene and is quite an in-demander nowadays, not only for the A side, but as we said previously, for the stunning deep soul flipside.
Back to the drawing board, Ragland's next venture was forming another label SMH and releasing a single "What Should I Do" / "Understand Each Other" (a popular 2-stepper) in 1974 and in 1977 an album, "Understand Each Other", which included a longer re-recording of "Since You Said You'd Be Mine". The label released just one other single by a group named Wildfire in 1975, which Ragland was a member of.
Ragland then moved to Las Vegas and formed Great Lakes Orchestra and launched Casino records releasing "Love Moods" in 1985 which produced another song loved on the 2-step scene, "Making Love".
Around the same time he hooked up again with Edwin Starr who was touring the UK with his Ric-Tic Revue and invited Ragland to join him.
In 1986 he joined The Inkspots and later he formed the gospel group The First Light releasing two albums on his Casino imprint. A couple more albums appeared on Great Lakes Records in the 90s.
In 2012 he was approached by Numero Group who released a three CD set of his work spanning several decades, titled "I Travel Alone". It would appear that Numero has either acquired or has licensed access to his material.
We have posted many of Raglands recordings over the years (HERE). An unsung hero for sure apart from the soul aficionado underground scenes.
Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.
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