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Patrice Holloway -- Those DJ Shows (1965)
Patrice is the younger sister of Brenda Holloway. Like her big sister she was a child prodigy proficient on guitar, drums, cello, and violin. And like her big sister she composed music alone and as a collaborator with Brenda.
Patrice was invited to join Motown after her sister’s first hit. But she had only one single release on the VIP label and the rest of her output was shelved in the infamous “vault.”
Whenever Motown throws us crumbs from the “vault” I always run to purchase the collections quickly before they go OOP (out of print). This is one of those songs from one of my treasured CD collections, by Patrice, that certainly was chart worthy IMHO. You can tell it is a classic Smokey composition after the first few notes.
Patrice recorded this vocal January 1965: the song had previously been recorded by The Supremes. Neither version was released in that era. What do you think about it? I’d like to hear your opinion.
Patrice’s contract was terminated in 1965 but she went on to have a rich and varied musical career just as she did before Motown. She has been a solo act, a studio session singer, a composer, and even voiced the character “Valerie” when the comic book “Josie & The Pussycats” was brought to TV as a cartoon series.
Musically yours,
Updated post 9/28/09
Listen to Patrice Holloway, as the character Valerie, singing the theme song to the 1968-68 animated TV show “Josie and the Pussycats.” According to WIKI:
The show’s theme song, titled “Josie and the Pussycats”, was written by Hoyt Curtin, William Hanna (under the pseudonym “Denby Williams”), and Joseph Barbera (under the pseudonym “Joseph Roland”).
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The Elgins – How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You (1966)
Marvin Gaye originally released the song in 1965 and had a chart buster on it in 1965. Of course to reap the benefits of Gaye’s success there were many covers of the song released to try for more hits on the track.
The Elgins made a great cover of HSIITBLBY — don’t you agree? Hard to believe that the following year (1967) this great group disbanded.
I had a post last year on the Motown versions of “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) ” made from 1964 – 1966. In it I mentioned there was one Motown cover of the song, by the Elgins, that I did not have a digital version of to share with you at the time.
I always keeps my promises (maybe latter than earlier) so here is the Elgins version and a poll so that you can finally select your favorite version of this awesome tune.
To refresh your memory here is the link to the original posting from 1/1/08 right here so that you can listen again to the other three versions before you vote.
I am so looking forward to seeing what the results of the poll will be so please vote.
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The Elgins – Darling Baby (1966) #4 R&B, #72 Pop
The Elgins came about from a merger of Motown/Tamla artists Saundra Mallett and The Downbeats.
It took three years before the group’s first single, “Darling Baby,” was released on the Motown/VIP label. With a little more promotion I am sure in would have been a national hit, but you know how Motown did things, hiring many, many great talented artists but only promoting a select few!
Amazingly, even without promotion “Darling Baby” made the top Pop 100. Just goes to show you that good music will find a way! Of course this was another great song composed by Holland, Dozier and Holland so it just had to be a hit — didn’t it?
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The Spinners – It’s A Shame (1970) #4 R&B, #14 Pop
The Spinners had some mild success while at Motown, with a few R&B hits, but it wasn’t until Stevie Wonder gave them this song (co-written by a barely 20 year old Stevie Wonder and Lee Garrett) that they finally charted big.
Lucky for The Spinners, Motown still virtually ignored the group after this big hit and subsequently dismissed them, so that they were able to move on the Atlantic Records where they ultimately became a huge cross-over success in the music industry!
I, for one, first heard of The Spinners when my first beau introduced me to “It’s A Shame.” I played the grooves off of that 45 rpm whether he was visiting the house or not: it was just so good to listen to and to dance too!
Later, when the group had smash after smash hits at Atlantic — I also wore out those LPs, especially “The Spinners,” “Mighty Love” and “Live!,” while at college. Those are three of the best albums ever released IMHO. Every song was a gem – no duds.
TRIVA: In addition to “It’s A Shame,” songwriter Lee Garrett also co-wrote Steve Wonder’s #1 R&B hit “Signed, Sealed and Delivered I’m Yours” and Jermaine Jackson’s #1 R&B hit “Let’s Get Serious.”
[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/1397162_qzp2k/elvelettes-NeedleInAHaystack.mp3] The Velvelettes – Needle in a Haystack (1964) #45 R&B, #45 Pop
I vividly recall seeing the Blossoms perform this great song on Shindig. This is my first recollection of the song, but I knew it sounded like a Motown song. It wasn’t until many years later that I found out the the song belonged to The Velvelettes. (BTW Darlene Love can sing anything! Can’t she? That woman should be a superstar!)
The Velvelettes obviously are another of the super talented Motown groups that would probably have had much more attention and success if they had left the label as did The Isley Brothers and Gladys Knight and the Pips.
Unfortunately The Velvelettes only did a few singles for Motown in the Sixties with the most memorable being “Needle” and “He Was Really Saying Something”. Shamefully, an album was never released on them.
The single “Needle” only charted at #45 — obviously with no promotion. Imagine what these ladies could have done it they had been promoted even just a little.
In 2005 The Velvelettes reunited for this performance. It is amazing that over forty years later they sound just as great singing the song as they did back in 1964!
Thanks for stopping by and keep enjoying the music.
The original Motown single release of Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet It Is” was in September 1964. The song, composed by Motown’s own Edward Holland, Jr., Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland, went to #6 on the Pop Singles chart in January 1965, and #3 on Billboard’s Soul Singles chart. It was also released on the Marvin Gaye album of the same name.
According to WIKI this was Gaye’s most successful single to that point in his career with record sales well over 900,000 copies
[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/922878_rppst/JWATAS-HowSweetItIsToBeLovedByYou_.mp3] Jr. Walker & The Allstars – How Sweet It (Is To Be Loved By You) (1966)
I loved this version when it came out. I recall playing the 45rpm over and over again. The song also appeared on the “Road Runner” LP pictured above.
According to WIKI — Walker was born, Autry DeWalt Mixon, Jr, in Blytheville, Arkansas and grew up in South Bend, Indiana. His unmistakable saxophone style was the anchor for the band’s rambunctious sound. The other members of the group were drummer James Graves, guitarist Willie Woods, and keyboardist Vic Thomas.
The group was spotted by Johnny Bristol. He recommended them to Harvey Fuqua, in 1961, who had his own recording labels. When Fuqua’s labels were taken over by Berry Gordy, Jr. Walker & The All Stars became members of the Motown Records family, recording for Motown’s Soul imprint.
This wonderful version of HSIITBLBY charted #18 US Pop, #3 US R&B and #22 UK . I think it is my favorite of them all. And I must add here, that this another great group, that Motown failed to promote as much as they could have.
[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/922879_86jje/3.IsleyBrothers-HowSweetItIs.mp3] The Isley Brothers – How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) (1966)
While at Motown. the under-promoted and under-utilized Isley Brothers, recorded many cover tunes on the Tamla label. Their version of HSIITBLBY was recorded July 27-28, 1966, but not released until 1998’s “Motown sings Motown Treasures Vol#1″. I sure would like to know what else is in the proverbial “Motown Vault” that still hasn’t seen the light of day! Wouldn’t you?
There is one final Motown cover of this song by The Elgins (October 1966) from thier “Darlin’ Baby lp on Motown/VIPS 400. I will update this post when I get hold of the digital version of the song anda follow-up with a poll per usual.
Until then, this ends this Month’s “Motown Cover Motown” Theme. When I first started at the beginning of January, I was worried that I would not come up with enough to make posts for the entire month. Instead I have aquired a long list of Motown Covers that will be the basis for at least two more month’s worth of posts in the future.
I have come up with a new theme for the month of February so check back soon and keep on listening and loving the music.
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Update 07/09/09
The Elgins version of “HSIITBLBY” is now available for your listening pleasure along with a poll to vote on your favorite version of four as promised. Just click here.
