MOTOWN LEGEND: NORMAN WHITFIELD

 

Norman Jesse Whitfield 5/12/1940- 09/16/ 2008 This weekend I saw a bit about Norman on VH1 or one of those shows. It got me thinking about just was an influence he has been on my life and also my musical collection. I wrote about "I Know I am Losing You" which The Temptations and The Faces both had hits with. Also take a look at "Heard it Through the Grapevine" which was a hit for Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye and Creedance Clearwater Revival.

What is most interesting to me is that Norman's music was cool to young audiences period. The Motown fans loved it, soul music fans loved it, white rock n rollers loved it, blues cats dug it... See what I mean? Even country music fans dug Norman Whitfield! Norman Whitfield was an American songwriter and producer, best known for his work with Motown during the 1960s/1970s.

He is credited as being one of the ultimate creators of the Motown Sound, as well as a major figure in the late-60s sub-genre of psychedelic soul. Blending soul music with white rock n roll changed the face of music and the climate of racial equality is this country forever. His career was the envy of the music business for 20 years and beyond.
 
From 1966 to 1974, Whitfield produced most all of material, experimenting with sound effects and other production techniques. He found a songwriting collaborator in lyricist Barrett Strong the performer on Motown's first hit record, "Money." Norman wrote material for The Temptations and many other Motown artists such as Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips, both of whom recorded Whitfield's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". The Gladys Knight & the Pips version was the best version in my opinion I loved the drums and that raw opening with Gladys's emotional voice., but Marvin's version outsold it by a long shot.

 

After Temptations lead singer David Ruffin was fired and Dennis Edwards stepped into the lead role in 1968, Whitfield moved the group into a harder, darker sound that featured a blend of psychedelic rock and funk heavily inspired by the work of Sly & the Family Stone and Funkadelic and also began changing the subject matter of the songs, moving away from love songs to the social issues of the time, such as war, poverty and politics.

The first Temptations single to feature this new "psychedelic soul" style was "Cloud Nine" in late 1968, which earned Motown its first Grammy award (for Best Rhythm & Blues Performance by a Duo or Group).

A second Best R&B Group Performance Grammy for Whitfield and the Temptations came in 1973 with "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone". The single's instrumental B-side earned Whitfield a Grammy with arranger Paul Riser for Best R&B Instrumental Performance, and Whitfield and Strong shared the songwriters' award for Best R&B Song Take a look at this man's discography... Definitely was the soundtrack to Detroit life.

Production and Songwriting at Motown *

1963: "Pride & Joy" - Marvin Gaye * 1964: "Too Many Fish in the Sea" - The Marvelettes * 1964: "Needle in a Haystack" - The Velvelettes * 1964: "Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)" - The Temptations * 1966: "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" - The Temptations * 1966: "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" - The Temptations * 1966: "(I Know) I'm Losing You" - The Temptations * 1967: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" - Gladys Knight & the Pips, * 1967: "You're My Everything" - The Temptations * 1967: "I Wish It Would Rain" - The Temptations * 1968: "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)" - The Temptations * 1968: "The End of Our Road" - Gladys Knight & The Pips * 1968: "Cloud Nine" - The Temptations * 1969: "Friendship Train" - Gladys Knight & the Pips * 1969: "Runaway Child, Running Wild" - The Temptations * 1969: "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" - Marvin Gaye * 1969: "I Can't Get Next to You" - The Temptations * 1970: "Ball of Confusion" - The Temptations * 1970: "War" - Edwin Starr * 1971: "Smiling Faces Sometimes" - The Undisputed Truth, * 1971: "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" - The Temptations * 1972: "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" - The Temptations * 1973: "Masterpiece" - The Temptations
 

 

Norman Jesse Whitfield

I have met some people recently that have worked with Norman and they all tell me the same thing. He was difficult to work for... but oh what a genius behind the boards. He was a bit of a recluse and did not suffer fools. Seems that most of our truly amazing musicians and producers were a bit odd. Phil Specter, Keith Richards, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Fred Sonic Smith. All gifted with genius but somewhat lacking in social skills... I know that is a huge understatement... Magical Norman Whitfield...what an accomplished career. So proud to have had him in Detroit for many years... Read More on RK Florence Ballard Shindig and Hullabaloo Lou Christie
 

GARY GRAFF: DETROIT ROCKETS TAKING OFF ON ANOTHER FLIGHT

 Really good piece on the Rockets written by Gary Graff of the Oakland Press...

GARY GRAFF/OAKLAND PRESS DECEMBER 23,2013

The Rockets are launching once again. And this time they’re planning for a long ride. The latest incarnation of the venerable Detroit rock group debuts this weekend with the release of a new EP, “Greetings From Detroit,” and a show on Saturday, Dec. 28, at the Fillmore Detroit. It’s the resumption of a reunion that began during 2009 as the Helldrivers but was interrupted when guitarist Jim McCarty decided to quit in the fall of 2011, focusing now on the band Cactus and his own group.

READ FULL STORY HERE

DETROIT ROCK LEGEND: RUSS GIBB

Russ Gibb GrandeBallroom.Com

Had a fun conversation with my friend Jack Ashton the promoter from Los Angeles the other day. We were talking business mostly but the topic of Detroit Rock Impresario Russ Gibb came up...

Jack Ashton and Russ Gibb

Russ of course is the famous creator of The Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan... The Grande featured local, national and international rock bands of the day... some of which were.... Cream, Jeff Beck, SRC, Thyme, Prime Movers, The Chosen Few, The UP, and Iggy and The Stooges.

The "house" band at The Grande was The MC5 (Motor City 5). The 5 were famous for being rowdy and always getting in the faces of bands who didn't bring it... or "Kick Out The Jams".

Street Sign Outside the Grande (photo by Kimmer)

"Uncle" Russ Gibb made a brilliant choice in having the MC5 as his guide to all that was cool during this time. According to many friends Russ and I have in common, it was the MC5 that picked such an eclectic group of bands that lifted The Grande Ballroom into Detroit Rock legend.

The MC5 photo: Robert Matheu

The combination of Uncle Russ, the MC5, the emcees Stanley T Madhatter, Dave Miller, famed poster artist Gary Grimshaw and the very low ticket price helped create one of the most happening places to catch a rock show in Detroit, heck maybe even the world...

The MC5 postcard photo: Leni Sinclair

"Uncle" Russ Gibb (born 1931) is a former concert promoter, and media personality from Dearborn, Michigan, probably most famous for his role in the Paul is Dead phenomenon, a story he broke as a DJ on WKNR-FM. After a visit to the Fillmore West and a talk with promoter Bill Graham, he operated Detroit's Grande Ballroom and was a major player in the late sixties/early seventies Motor City music scene. He was instrumental in giving the MC5, Ted Nugent and Iggy Pop their start. The Grande Ballroom also was where the Who played their rock opera, "Tommy," for the first time in the United States.

Gibb also owned or leased other live music venues around the Mid-West including the Eastown Ballroom, Michigan Theater . He expanded his music endeavors when he invested in Creem magazine.

ORIGINALLY POSTED HERE

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

SCOTT MORGAN AND GUARDIAN ANGEL ON THE LOOSE JAN 2014!

KEN SETTLE: BOB SEGER WITH THE BORNEO BAND 1973

 Marcy Levy and Bob Seger

 Purchase this image from Ken Settle Photography

From the film archives: Here's a shot I took from sidestage of Bob Seger onstage with Marcy Levy as he played with The Borneo Band at Lakeview High School in St Clair Shores, Michigan in April, 1973. Seger brought legendary Skip VanWinkle onstage to sit in on the Hammond B-3 for a couple songs. They were having so much fun, Skip stayed onstage and banged a cowbell for the rest of the show when Borneo Band organist Dick Sims came back to the keyboard.

Seger was just brought back out for the third encore. The high school auditorium was getting rowdy and when Bob stepped up to the microphone onstage, a lady, I'm guessing a teacher or principal, came out and touched Bob's arm and said, "I think we better stop now"!!!! lollll Seger said, "We're doing one more," and called a funky guitar version of Jackie Wilson's, "Higher and Higher," with Marcy and Stoney Reese (aka Shaun Murphy) trading lead vocals with Bob!

I just regret not getting Shaun in this shot!! Not too long after this shot, The Borneo Band broke up, and Marcy, Dick Sims on organ, and Jamie Oldaker on drums joined up with Clapton for the next decade or so. Percussionist, Sergio Pastora joined on with Carol King. Of course, Drew, Alto, and Shaun Murphy stayed on for years with Seger. Alto and Shaun, of course are still with him! four or five months after this show, Seger formed the Silver Bullet Band.

DETROIT GUITARIST ROBERT GILLESPIE!

Detroit's Amazing Guitarist Robert Gillespie

Had a great time chatting with Bad ass Detroit Axe man Robert Gillespie the other day.  It has been a long time coming as i know damn near everyone he played with! We almost met at a gig at Alvin's in 2009.  I thought it was time to share the man with my readers...He has a long history and is a founding father of Detroit Rock n Roll.  He is so smooth but right on the money... as Stanley T. Madhatter used to say...."ARE YOU READY TO ROCK N ROLL?"

 Robert Gillespie

Detroit Guitarist Robert Gillespie has had an interest in guitar since the early age of six or seven; his grandmother, Martha played piano and a little banjo and his grandfather, Jesse, played fiddle and mandolin.

There was an old guitar in granny’s closet that Robert wanted to play with all the time and finally Martha got it out and tuned to to an open chord Hawaiian style and laid it across his lap and would use a butter knife to play chords and slide up and down the neck. Robert was hooked but still too small hold it up-right and play it properly.

The Torpedos

At the age of ten Robert got a cheap acoustic and started banging around with that and finally took lessons after seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan show like many other young people.

After a year and a half of lessons he was ready and got organized with some older guys and played in a garage band called The Wise Guys they played one back-yard party and a wedding, then broke up.

All through school the interest continued and Robert was very into the English wave of Rock bands like Rolling Stones / Kinks / Animals and most of all the Yardbirds and The Who.

Robert Gillespie

Robert played with a cool East-Side band called Lickin’ Stick that performed at the Cinderella Ballroom in 1971, and also backed up Chuck Berry at the Allen Theater in Cleveland, Ohio that fall.

Lickin’ Stick turned into Limousine and they recorded a few songs that Robert wrote and one caught the interest of a local D.J. Johnny Williams.  The new 18 year old vote had just came into effect and Johnny Williams added some lyrics.

"This is my 50's Les Paul Gold-top; "Goldie" I bought her from Paul Warren from Rod Stewart's band......she's smooth like "butta"..." Robert Gillespie

The song  “You’ve Got The Power” b/w “Natural Fact” written by Gillespie and vocalist John Ogen, a great singer from downriver received airplay locally and in Flint. That band turned into Northstar with Motown bassist Tony Newton. 

The summer of 1976 Robert was jamming at the infamous Red Carpet, a popular east-side club with the Rockets. Robert met guitarist Jimmy McCarty and drummer Johnny Bee Bandanjek, the cream of the crop of Detroit musicians from the Detroit Wheels, whom Robert admired blaring from the transistor radio in 1965.

One special night Robert found himself on stage with Rob Tyner from the MC5. They both hit it off and starting rehearsing, writing songs.

Robert Gillespie with Rob Tyner

Their new band the New MC5 played their first show the next year at the Red Carpet. They soon signed with Brass Ring Productions and began playing arenas all over the tri-state area, mostly Michigan. They opened for big headliners like AC-DC, Alice Cooper, Cheap Trick, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush,  and recorded some tracks for Atlantic Records.

By late 1978, Robert and Johnny Angelos started the Torpedos with Mike Marshall on bass and Ralph Serafino on drums (both from the Tyner band). They began writing and recording then became very big in Detroit creating a buzz with record people on a national level.

The Torpedos

The late Johnny Angelos a brilliant pop songwriter and much more. — with Tom Curry, Robert Gillespie, Johnny Angelos, and Ralph Serafino.  Johnny quit the Torpedos just as things were getting hot on the scene.  He went on to front another smaller band then sadly committed suicide. Robert and the Detroit rock scene were devastated.

Robert is very proud of the music the Torpedos created. In recent years Johnny's son Mitchell Angelos has been fronting the reunited Torpedos. My pals Robin and Trudi went with me in 2009 to see Helldrivers/Torpedos/Circus Boy at Alvin's in Detroit.

 Robert Gillespie and Mitch Ryder

Though they were all great...to me the Torpedos stole the show! We danced their entire set. Barely got any photographs due to having so much fun.  Didn't get to meet Robert that night but we will meet soon I am certain.

ROBERT SMOKES THIS TUNE......................

During the 1980′s Robert started a band with vocalist Dennis Quinn and Mike Marshall on bass plus Greg Calder on drums called The Finnz.

They recorded two singles and performed on Doug Podell’s T.V. show called The Beat. The Finnz’s were finished in early ’83 when Robert heard "When You Were Mine" on the radio from Mitch Ryder and just had to have that gig.

He auditioned and got hired spring of ’83 and toured the US and Europe and recorded five albums and a DVD over the 19 years with Mitch (longer than anyone else BTW).

L2R Andy Frost Chris Taylor Robert Gillespie and Scott Morgan

In 2001 Robert formed Powertrane with Scott Morgan of the Rationals and Sonic’s Rendezvous Band. They performed and recorded two CD’s, two singles and did gigs sporadically over the next eight years.

Ron Asheton Robert Gillespie Scott Morgan

When Geoff Ginsberg, president of Real O Minds Records (Philadelphia), brought Robert Gillespie into Forty-Ounce Studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan to overdub the guitar work on Morgan's song, "Satisfier", the chemistry between Morgan and Gillespie was immediately apparent.

Powertrane's combination of young talented rockers with Detroit legendary musicians has created a unity and cohesion which has drawn out the talent and creative energy evident in this lineup.

 Ron Asheton, Robert Gillespie, Deniz Tek, Chris Taylor Scott Morgan

Their first show was at the Magic Bag on St. Patrick's Day 2001.  Powertrane played sold-out, high-profile gigs in New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Cincinnati, not to mention Detroit and Ann Arbor. They were been joined on stage by Mitch Ryder, Ron Asheton and Deniz Tek.

Robert Gillespie and Mike Marshall

Then in 2010  Robert had the idea to start an instrumental band. He called his long time pals bass man Mike Marshall and drummer Greg Calder. Will be writing more on these guys soon...K

Robert Gillespie Greg Calder and Mike Marshall

DETROIT DAGGERS WEBSITE

Guitarist Robert Gillespie along with Mike Marshall on bass & Greg Calder on drums. They play instrumental Guitar-Rock; from Dickie Dale to Jimi Hendrix and exciting originals.

Together they formed The Detroit Daggers.. I am anxious to see them play..Loved their videos..