| Author | Message | ||
  JSmith (jsmith) 6-Zenith Username: jsmith Post Number: 5917 Registered: 4-2004 |
This group were from DC and cut some fine records back in the day. Can anyone put names to the guys in the photos below & confirm that the Ko-Ko Lounge was a club in DC in the mid to late 60's.   The Soul Harmony Singles book names the group's members as ....... B Croft; Johnny Williams, Jerome Everette, Keith Illidge (with William Franklin replacing Croft in 67). | ||
JSmith (jsmith) 6-Zenith Username: jsmith Post Number: 5918 Registered: 4-2004 |
Billboard items that have 'Cavaliers' connections ....    | ||
JSmith (jsmith) 6-Zenith Username: jsmith Post Number: 5919 Registered: 4-2004 |
Doing a bit of checking; it seems I can answer my own question (about the Ko-Ko Lounge) .... ... an ad for the club from a DC newspaper ....  | ||
JSmith (jsmith) 6-Zenith Username: jsmith Post Number: 5920 Registered: 4-2004 |
.... INFO on the area where the Ko Ko Lounge was located ..... 8th and H Retail Center; 721 H Street N.E. H Street CDC developed the 6,500-square-foot retail facility at 8th and H Streets N.E., on property that had been vacant, abandoned, and a neighborhood eyesore and center of criminal activity for many years. The Center includes a Foot Locker store, a SunTrust ATM facility, a Sprint Wireless store, and Wilson-Epes Printing.  Back in the day, tickets for shows held at the Ko Ko Lounge were sold in 2 local record shops .... Your Record Hut; 1219 H St. Mr's B's Record Hut; 1245 H St. | ||
Robb_K (robb_k) 6-Zenith Username: robb_k Post Number: 10607 Registered: 4-2004 |
I thought that The Cavaliers that recorded for Pied Piper on RCA were a local Detroit group, with no connection to The East Coast group that recorded for Juggy Murray (possibly the DC group?). | ||
JSmith (jsmith) 6-Zenith Username: jsmith Post Number: 5921 Registered: 4-2004 |
The Shrine group included Billy Jones (lead) & Theotrice Gamble in their line-up. In autumn 1966, the 5 strong DC outfit went into Edgewood Studios on K St. to record “Do What I Want” for Shrine. They were old guys (30-ish) & had obviously started out many years earlier as a doo-wop group. The RCA outfit were cutting in Detroit for Pied Piper at the end of 1966 ... BUT I 'think' the Detroit connection came about because two of the guys were related to 'Temptations' and so through family ties, the link to Pied Piper was established. When the RCA group linked up with David Ruffin (under the revised name of the Fellas) they seemed to be based out of DC where the Temptations also seemed to spend a lot of their time back then. I'd like to establish if the 2 groups were linked in any way. They certainly recorded within the same time frame (the last 3 months of 1966) and to me it would seem unusual for 2 groups from a similar area to record under the same name around the same time. | ||
JSmith (jsmith) 6-Zenith Username: jsmith Post Number: 5922 Registered: 4-2004 |
The fact that the Fellas (really the RCA Cavaliers) were slated to sign a record deal with NY / NJ based Gemini Star Records would seem to indicate (to me at least) that they were an east coast based group. | ||
Graham Finch (acooolcat) 6-Zenith Username: acooolcat Post Number: 1815 Registered: 4-2004 |
I was in touch with Bobby Croft - he is in Detroit - and he wrote a few songs that were recorded by other Detroit artists in the 1960s. | ||
Erik T (erik_t) 6-Zenith Username: erik_t Post Number: 618 Registered: 4-2004 |
Thanks for that post, JSmith- I really love "Do What I Want", I had it on a northern soul comp and have a better sounding copy on the Shrine Records comp. I surprised it's not more widely known, every soul fan I've played it for absolutely loved it. | ||
DLM (dlm) 1-Arriviste Username: dlm Post Number: 43 Registered: 7-2010 |
Great scans. Wasn't there was another group with that same name besides the DC and Detroit group? | ||
JSmith (jsmith) 6-Zenith Username: jsmith Post Number: 5937 Registered: 4-2004 |
I contact Ady (of Ace / Kent) & he confirmed that info on the DC (Shrine) Cavaliers is included in the Kent 'Shrine' CD booklet notes (I don't have this CD as I have the much earlier 'Shrine' LP that Ady put outmany years back). He also says info on the RCA Cavaliers is included in the CD booklet of the 2nd Kent RCA compilation booklet notes. I'm away from home at present & so can't check what is said in this RCA CD notes ... BUT .... Ady seemed to recall that the RCA Cavaliers were from the New York area rather than DC area. If that was the case, it would seem that these two groups had no connection at all (apart from sharing the same name). | ||
JSmith (jsmith) 6-Zenith Username: jsmith Post Number: 5938 Registered: 4-2004 |
Robb, ...... can you post details of the tracks made by the East Coast group that recorded for Juggy Murray & when these were released. If the RCA outfit were from NY, it could well be that they were the same group that cut for Juggy Murray. | ||
Robb_K (robb_k) 6-Zenith Username: robb_k Post Number: 10615 Registered: 4-2004 |
I looked at the record I was thinking of on Sue Records 761. It turns out that I was remembering the group name incorrectly. That group's name was The Chandeliers, NOT The Cavaliers. The reason I had thought there was a Detroit connection in that situation was that both sides were written by Jesse Greer, who had been based in Detroit, and had written almost all the songs for the Peppermints/Barons (of Lee Rogers/Roger Craton). But, we see that The Chandeliers were NOT The Cavaliers. However, there were several Cavaliers operating out of New York in the 1950s and 1960s. And there were a few others with that group name from other East Coast locations. I am sure that one of those is also the RCA Cavaliers. And, certainly another of those must be the DC group. | ||
JAI NANCE (rhythm66) 6-Zenith Username: rhythm66 Post Number: 6339 Registered: 2-2005 |
I'VE BEEN TO THE KO-KO LOUNGE MANY TIMES BACK IN THE DAY AND ALWAYS HAD A BALL,AS FOR THE CAVALIERS I RECALL A LOCAL GROUP WITH THAT NAME BUT THERE WAS ALSO THE MORE FAMOUS GROUP OUT OF CLEVELAND THAT LEGEND HAS IT THAT EDDIE KENDRICKS WAS ONCE A MEMBER OF...AND THERE IS A RARE PHOTO OF THE CLEVELAND GROUP WITH A GUY THAT LOOKS AND LOT LIKE EDDIE,NO JOKE! |
