The World's Rarest Soul Record Pt. 3 - For Sale Again!

Well the saga continues! After buying one of only two known copies of Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" on Soul S-35109 (a white label test pressing has subsequently turned up making three known copies on vinyl) in Aug 2020, the buyer Lee Jeffries has put it up on his Sonic Wax website for a set sale of a staggering £150,000. He, allegedly, paid £100,000 for it, so 'only' a 50% mark up in under four years! Will anyone bite?

We originally posted about the record and it's history in Sep 2009 (which has now received 10,245 views) when Edinburgh DJ Kenny Burrell auctioned his copy via John Manship Records (which he had bought for £15,000 in 1999 from record dealer Tim Brown) to an unnamed buyer for almost £26,000. In Aug 2020 we posted an update when Lee Jeffries bought that copy for what was said to be £100,000. 

It is most definitely now out of most people's league at that sort of price and only the very rich (and perhaps stupid?) are able to afford it but no doubt 'someone' will buy it for the 'kudos'.

Click to enlarge

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Frank Wilson - A Profile

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

Sonny Daye [1964-04] - Come Back Sandy / When Are You Coming Home [Power #203]

Sonny Daye [1965-02] - Long Long Road To Happiness / Bridge Of Love [Power #P-008]

Sherl Matthews & Sonny Daye [1965-05] - Come Back To Me / Ooo Wee Baby [Power #210]

Eddie Wilson [1964-11] - Just Call On Me / Toast To The Lady [Tollie #9033]

Chester St. Anthony / Chester Fields [1965-04] - Together / Without You [A&M #766 / 768]

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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The World's Rarest Soul Record Pt. 2 ... yes that one!

'That' record ... again  ... the saga continues!

I was going to change the title from rarest to most expensive to be more accurate, as there are some records nearly as rare (Don Gardner, The Inspirations, Joseph Webster, Andantes to name a few), some arguably rarer, where in some cases only one copy is know to exist.  I decided to keep it the same as the original post from 2009. On 14th Sep 2009 I posted an article outlining the history of Frank Wilson's - Do I Love You 45 on Soul S-35109 (which has almost 10,000 views) which sold to an unnamed collector in Humberside for £25,742 in May 2009, after having been previously bought by Edinburgh DJ/Collector Kenny Burrell for £15,000 from Tim Brown who sold the copy bought from Martin Koppel who acquired it from Ron Murphy (a collector and engineer at Motown) who bought it from the ARP pressing plant.

The sold copy signed by Frank Wilson in 2001

On 1st Aug 2020 it was sold again via John Manship, on behalf of the previous buyer, to Lee Jeffries, the son of DJ / Record Dealer Steve Jeffries, for an alleged, staggering £100,000!  Lee has done very well for himself by building a bottling business from scratch and running Sonic Wax records and becoming a multi-millionaire at the age of 38. In the same fortnight he bought a Ferrari 488 and got married.  I hope he doesn't mind me saying, from humble beginnings as I've visited Steve's home many years ago to buy records. No doubt there will be the 'knockers' claiming that he must be mad, but when Kenny Burrell bought the record back in 1999 for a 'snip' at £15,000 the same people were probably saying the same thing.  Who knows if it can appreciate any more in value, but if he's worth millions, does he care?  I wish him well.

I wasn't going to post the track, but John Manship uploaded a video of the 'actual' 45 being played (in July 2020), so how often are you ever likely to see this?  It may well get removed so view it while you can.

Test Pressing

In Nov. 2017 a previously unknown test pressing was discovered. There had been another allegedly found a few years earlier in 2014 which was dismissed on Soul Source as a counterfeit.

The test pressing was discovered by Denise & Dan Zieja, who own Melodies & Memories music store in Eastpointe, Michigan, in a collection that they had bought some years earlier.

The Test Pressing

Denise got in touch with UK record dealer Pete Smith for advice on selling the record and Pete started a thread on Soul Source in Nov 2017.  It is a very long thread (that goes off topic in places) but well worth reading as is packed with information on the pressing process, matrix numbers and stamp marks, if you are that way inclined. Much respect to the informed contributors.

There is a recording of the actual test pressing posted on Soul Source by Pete Smith on 7th Dec 2017 (if it's still there ... it was at the time of this post).

There was a feature in Record Collector Mag on 5th Jan 2018 titled 'Franky goes for dollars, good!' covering the background of how the disc was acquired by the couple.

The record was bought by Detroit musician Jack White of The White Stripes for an undisclosed sum, but 'rumoured' to be $75,000 on or around 6th Feb 2018.  White also owns Third Man Records who reissued it on purple vinyl for Record Store Day 2018. They stated that it would also be issued on black vinyl in future. I don't know if that ever happened.

Denise & Dan Zieja with Jack White and Test Pressing

Denise Zieja posted this notice: Frank Wilson Test Press Stays in Detroit - Jack White & Record Store Day News on Soul Source on 30th Mar 2018 informing members of the Record Store Day 45.

If you want to read the full 'definitive' story about the record then Andy Rix published it on Soul Source in 2012, but it was written before these two further developments, i.e. the discovery of the test pressing and the latest sale of the signed Kenny Burrell copy to Lee Jeffries.

To conclude the story so far, there are 2 known copies of Soul S-35109 white promos, the one above and the copy still owned by Tim Brown (below) which allegedly has an edge warp, and now there is one known copy of a test pressing. It has been suggested, without any evidence, that Berry Gordy has a copy, but I suspect that it is only speculation.  There may possibly be other 'undisclosed' copies in private collections, but the current view is that only 6 were ever pressed and that all but 2 were destroyed, but then no one knew until 2018 that the test press existed!  Watch this space as perhaps news that this one has sold for £100k may entice another out of a collection if it exists?

Tim Brown's copy

The World's Rarest Soul Record

Frank Wilson [1965] - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) [Soul 35019 White Demo]

In April 2009 one of only two known copies of this Motown / Northern Soul 45 single went to auction in the UK and achieved £25,742 (approx. $38,000). Here's a brief history of the record with links at the bottom of the post to stories from some of the previous owners / players.

The History

1965

Frank Wilson recorded a demo of 'Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)' on Soul 35019 scheduled for release Dec.1965 - 6 copies produced

Frank Wilson said that the song was recorded in Los Angeles with Carol Kaye on bass and Carol recalls Earl Palmer playing the drums. Motown were cutting lots of stuff in L.A. in the mid 60's and if you listen to this track, you can see why. They could sound just like "Motown" in L.A. and Motown needed the product.

3 copies retained in Motown archives and reputedely 3 retained by pressing plant ARP

Berry Gordy decided the record was not to be released so Frank could focus on production career

ARP destroys 2 copies to 'save space' so only a single copy retained in archives

1972

Motown (and archives) relocates to L.A. only a single copy of Soul 35019 remains in Motown library

1977

Record discovered by Tom DiePerro at Motown in L.A. a Motown historian who received the single for research purposes

Simon Soussan acquires the disc from Tom in Los Angeles - some say borrowed, Tim Brown claims 'bought' and sends acetate copies covered up as Eddie Foster to Northern Soul DJs

Simon Soussan 'presses' 2,000 copies on In (Not Soul Fox as Ian Dewhirst asserts) label as Eddie Foster - Do I Love You

1978

Simon Soussan sells his record collection (which contains Frank Wilson) to Les McCutcheon where it is discovered that the real record was by Frank Wilson

Les McCutcheon loans disc to Russ Winstanley (Wigan Casino DJ)

Jonathan Woodcliffe buys disc from Les McCutcheon for £250 - disc has developed an edge warp

1979

Tamla Motown in UK issues Frank Wilson - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) dubbed from the Eddie Foster bootleg due to 'public demand'

Kev Roberts (Wigan Casino DJ) exchanges disc with Jonathan Woodcliffe in deal worth £350 in 12", LPs & white demos

1989

Tim Brown (Anglo American / Goldmine) buys Kev Roberts copy for £5,000

1990

Martin Koppel (Canadian record dealer) discovers another copy and acquires it from Ron Murphy a Motown record collector, engineer and archivist from Detroit who bought it from presing plant ARP. Koppel eventually sells his copy to his UK partner Tim Brown

1999

Kenny Burrell (Northern Soul DJ from Edinburgh) buys Ron Murphy's copy via Tim Brown for £15,000

(Note: Tim Brown still owns the original 'edge-warped' copy acquired from Kev Roberts).

Alledgedly Frank Wilson offered Kenny £30,000 for his copy which Kenny declined.

2001

Frank Wilson performs at Fleetwood Togetherness weekender. Kenny has Frank Wilson sign his copy "To Kenny ..". Apparently Frank expressed surprise that the disc existed.

2009

In April Kenny Burrell's copy is auctioned via Jon Manship and is sold for £25,724 to an unnamed buyer ... some speculate that in may indeed be Frank Wilson himself.

Ian Dewhirst's (Frank) Story

Ian was known as DJ 'Frank' on the Northern Soul circuit and was involved with Simon Soussan producing Shalimar's 'Uptown Festival' in 1976. It was through connections with Tom DiePerro whilst attempting to get a deal with Motown for Uptown Festival that the Frank Wilson disc was unearthed.

Kev Robert's Story

Kev was a Wigan Casino DJ who once owned the first discovered copy.

Tim Brown's Story

Tim is a renown UK rare record dealer / collector who bought, and still owns, Kev Robert's copy and acquired the only other copy to be discovered by Ron Murphy via Toronto based record dealer Martin Koppel. This is the copy bought by Kenny Burrell for £15,000 and the copy subsequently auctioned by Jon Manship for £25,724 in April 2009.

Note this column is regularly updated so I have taken an excerpt as it may eventually disappear.

"I suppose the big story has been the hyping of Kenny Burrell’s Frank Wilson 45 by John Manship, the most weary aspect of which was an item on Radio 4 which yet again called into question the validity of any information we gather from the mass media so incorrect was it. Of course much of the misinformation has been created by Manship’s manipulation of the true story in order not to make any mention of myself or Martin Koppel. It has often been said that the 20th century was a victory for style over substance. Sadly, it would seem that the 21st century may well be a victory for fiction over fact sponsored largely by the internet.

As the most-told story in Northern Soul it is still surprising that the ‘Do I Love You’ saga is related inaccurately. Ian Dewhirst got as close as anybody in the March edition of Manifesto but even then is wrong on a few minor counts.

First of all Simon claimed to me that Tom DePierro actually sold him the Frank Wilson 45, not lent it him, but sold it him.

This is born out by the fact that Soussan had no other material from Motown’s archive at the time. 14 years later he had a number of unissued Motown acetates but these were from a quite different source.

For sure Simon knew the track was a total winner, but actually his bootleg of the cut as ‘Eddie Foster’ was on In, not Soul Fox (as Ian stated). Soussan once informed me that he never pressed up less than 5000 copies of anything.

As for Simon selling his collection in the early eighties it was actually 1978 and that is when we all found out who ‘Do I Love You’ was really by. Coincidentally in my occasional column in Black Echoes in ’77 I remarked that ‘Do I Love You’ sounded like a cross between ‘My Sugar Baby’ and ‘The Duck’ – even as a teenager I had my ears screwed on right! Russ meanwhile in the same publication thought that it sounded like ‘Get It Baby’ (oh dear!)

By 1979 of course it was out on UK Tamla Motown dubbed from the Eddie Foster boot. In the event Motown did have a stereo mastertape it subsequently turned out, but the mono 45 take on the box set recently was dubbed from Kenny Burrell’s copy.

When the said record passed from Jonathan Woodcliffe to Kev Roberts circa 1981 it actually wasn’t sold – it was traded for a pile of twelve inchers (not your best ever decision Jon!) And actually it was 1999 when we sold Kenny Burrell Ron Murphy’s old copy, not 1997.

Later we at Goldmine brought Frank Wilson over to the Togetherness Weekender at Fleetwood to sing his song (of course the ‘experts’ on the internet who like to pontificate over Goldmine Soul Supply know nothing of things like that) and Frank expressed his surprise that a 45 or a tape or anything existed! He told me that he had only been aware of the whole scenario for a few years.

Ron Murphy was also the guy responsible for turning up Chris Clark’s version via the original engineer from the old ARP pressing plant. As for my copy of the disc, well, it does have an edge-warp but is not unplayable as Manship has claimed – in fact at the very first ‘Rarest Of The Rare’ all-nighters at the Ritz, I played it – as witnesses can testify.

By the time you read this, the whole event will be over and either a new yardstick will have been created or the hype will have spawned an empty vessel. Personally I’m finding the whole subject rather tedious – I wonder what the winner would pay me to snap my copy in two?"

by Tim Brown

Kenny Burrell's Story

Kenny Burrell is an Edinburgh based Northern Soul DJ / collector who paid a £15,000 to Tim Brown in 1999 for the Ron Murphy copy.

Jon Manship's Story

Jon Manship is another renown UK rare record dealer based in Leicestershire who hosted the auction of Kenny Burrell's copy in April 2009 which achieved £25,724 from an unnamed buyer.

Pre Auction Interview

Post Auction Interview

Record Collector Magazine Article

There have been further devlopments in the history of this record which you can read here:World's Rarest Record Part 2