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Mike Little is a member of the Electric City Shag Club in Anderson,
South Carolina. He is also a member of the Association of Beach & Shag Club
DJ’s and the National Association of Rhythm & Blues Deejays. He hosted
for 3-1/2 years The Saturday Morning Beach Party on WANS, 1280 AM in Anderson, which was rated by Arbitron as the highest
rated AM show listened to and number three overall for that time slot. In 2004,
he was awarded the Rufus Oates Award by the National Association of Rhythm & Blues Dee Jays for his writing contributions. He now serves on the Board of Directors of the NARBDJ.
Have You Heard...
by
Mike
Little
I trust you have heard about the new release from Forevermore Records, I Love Beach
Music. This hot album carries the smash hit from Terri Gore, You Made
A Believer Out Of Me, as well as the fast rising hit from Craig Woolard, Love Is On Out Side. Russell Thompkins, Jr. of The Stylistics Fame joins in with two numbers, his hit of If I Only Had
Three Wishes and Between Love Songs. With Johnny Moore's passing,
The English Drifters have gone by the wayside. We now have The Royal Drifters,
and they continue to churn out hits. As a part of I Love Beach Music,
The Royal Drifters give us No One (Can Ever Take The Place Of You). Susan
Trexler joins in with a little up-tempo tune, What I Need Is Love. Terri
Gore comes back again, this time with a beautiful ballad, Forever Be The One. Rochester,
New York's Mitty & The Followers have been drawing attention with their new album.
However, I Love Beach Music carries a new song from the group that you won't find on the releasealbum. Check out Mitty's Whenever You Call My Name.
You also will find music on the album from The Legends Of Beach, Danny & The Juniors and Jay Proctor of Jay & The Techniques fame, as well as a bonus track from The Legendary Dukes. The disc is rounded out with a new version and the title track, I Love Beach Music
by Jackie Gore & The Original Members. Producer Chris Biehler has done an
excellent job of choosing and arranging the music for yet another great compilation from Forevermore Music.
Ms. Jody's Still Strokin' still hovers around the upper part of the charts, if not still on the top in some
areas. But have you heard The Rock by Ms. Jody? Surely you have. It hit the charts running and is rapidly
rose to the top position. This hot song first came out on Ecko Records' latest
compilation, Blues Mix 12, which carries a few previously unreleased songs, as well as previously recorded
songs and remixes. Shorty thereafter, Ecko released Ms. Jody's new full album,
It's All About Me! I'm Taking Back My Life with the key song
also being The Rock. With the song now being at the top of the charts,
this is the album you should buy. Also, this is not a one-song album. Check out Every Woman For Herself, I'm Gonna Stand By You and You're The Best No Good Man
I've Ever Had. There is also included a duet with Donnie Ray, I'm Gonna
Keep My Love At Home. Ms. Jody was born in Chicago and raised in Bay Springs,
Mississippi, where she presently lives. With her father a minister, Ms. Jody
has been singing all of her life, especially in church. With one album already
released, she visited Ecko Records in Memphis in 2006, shortly thereafter joining the Ecko Records family. Ms. Jody has a number of albums released now and has won numerous awards over the years, most recently
Song of the Year for Still Strokin' at the 2013 Carolina Beach Music Awards.
It is very possible that she might followup with two in a row with The Rock.
KHP Records' release of the Marsha Morgan Band album already boasts of two hits on
the charts, and there should be more to come. Rockin' The Beach carries
the hit duet with Gary Lowder, Private Number, as well Shag All Night, penned by Larry Donahue. Marsha also does a great job with Carly Simon's You're So Vain.
Another number that caught my attention was Don't Snap Your Fingers. As
a bonus track for the CD, Marsha does wonders with Karen Carpenter's Merry Christmas Darling. Rockin' The Beach was co-produced by Julian B. Fowler, Keith Houston and Marsha Morgan. The Band of Oz's lead guitarist and vocalist, Jerry West, appears on the album as
lead guitarist and vocalist for the project. Marsha started her career in the
entertainment business 25 years ago, performing in a variety of venues. In the
eighties, she worked with Paul Davis and released her first album. She later
performed in We Are The World under the direction of Quincy Jones. This
led to a performance on the American Music Awards in Los Angeles.
Have you heard that Summerdaze band has released their second CD called Keep Movin'? And that is exactly what this band has done. Headlining the
album is the group's mega-hit Give Me Something Fried. The song has been
on the charts now going on five months and has neared the top on some. The album
also features the band's 2010 release, a smoothie called Someone's Gonna Fall In Love.
Summerdaze's very first single, Dixie Hummingbird, recorded and produced by Freddy Tripp of Fantastic Shakers
and Tripp & Carpenter fame, also takes its place on the new album. Freddy
continues to remain as the band's producer. Other songs of note are Sho Been
Good To Me, Somebody Throw;d Bad Luck On Me and Foolish Heart. The
release also features a bonus track, the seasonal What I Want For Christmas. The
song was released in 2007 and was also produced by Freddy Tripp. Summerdaze was
founded in 2005 by Mitch Simpson, who also founded and played with The East Coast
Rivieras. One of the most interesting things about Summerdize is that every
member of the band takes the lead on vocals at one time or another. This include
Carrie Kessler on keyboards, Shaun Quan on bass, James Jones on guitar and saxophone, Ted Matthews on drums and Adam Rouse
on saxophone, guitar and harmonica, as well as Mitch Simpson of keyboards. Keep
Movin' by the Summerdaze Dance & Show Band is released on the KHP Music label.
Paul Craver has come to be known as the “Emperor of Beach Music” after releasing his super-hit, Emperor
Of My Baby's Heart. Now The Emperor his built his pyramid, as a result of
the popularity of his latest hit, Pyramid. As a result, Paul has now released
his latest full studio CD, Pyramid on the KHP Music label. The song was
first released last year on the KHP compilation, Beach Music Treasures and quickly drew attention in the Beach Music
world. Recently, Paul released another single, a souped up version of Marvin
Gaye's Got To Give It Up. Popularity of the song is spreading quickly. It is hard to determine what the next hit will be after this one. There is so much to choose from. The album contains a slow
smoothie version of At Last, as well Paul's rendition of Dinah Washington's September In The Rain, Sam Cooke's
Send For Me, Benny Spellman's Lipstick Traces as done by The O'Jays and a smooth version of What A Difference
A Day Makes. You will also find an up-tempo number on the album. Paul jumps with Good Rockin' Tonight. Going back to
the smoothie arena, “The Emperor” outdoes himself with Canadian Sunset, as well as taking on The Futures'
Sunshine And You. Pyramid also contains a gospel number, an up-tempo
version of A Closer Walk With Thee. A native of Greensboro, North Carolina,
Paul Craver was attracted to the sounds of Rhythm & Blues in the late sixties and joined his first group in the early
seventies. In 1981, Paul moved to Columbia and teamed with Willis Blume to form
ShagTime, producing a number of hits in the early eighties, including Mr. Beach.
In 1983, The Men of Distinction was formed with Paul joining the group as lead singer. The Men of Distinction had a number of hits, including It Won't Be This Way Always, Brand New Me and
Don't Be Afraid. In the early part of the new millennium, Paul embarked
on his solo career giving us numerous award winning hits over the past decade. In
2002, Paul was inducted into the Beach Music Hall of Fame. In 2008, he retired
from The Men of Distinction, devoting more time to his solo career and starting a new career in deejaying.
Another album to be looking for during SOS is the debut album of Classic Soul … After All These Years. The album features, of course, classic soul music. Already the single release, High Blood Pressure, is on the charts and is steadily moving in an upward
direction. The release features a number of classics of which you will recognize,
such as Sammy Turner's Symphony, The Impressions' First Impressions and Bobby Hebb's Sunny. The album also contains a number of songs that you just don't hear very often, such as The Four Tops'
Just Ask The Lonely, The Young Rascals' How Can I Be Sure and Brooklyn Bridge's The Worst That Could Happen. The title track of the album, After All These Years is an original written
by group co-founder Warren McDonald. Warren McDonald teamed together with Jeff
Bundy to form Classic Soul. Their first full CD release, of course, is After
All These Years, and has been released just in time for SOS.
In time for SOS, KHP Music will be releasing a new compilation, Party
On The Ocean. The title track of the release will be the Carolina remix of
Party On The Ocean by The Dana Robbins Band, featuring Jimmy Hall on the lead vocals.
The album will also feature a new number from Hip Pocket called C'mon Get Your Man.
The song features Jim Quick as lead vocalist. Also, Phil Wilson is
a part of the new record with his rendition of Sunday Morning Woman. The
release is highlighted by the hits of Ken Knox and Company with I'm Ready, Willin' And
Able, The Boulevard Boys' Kiss Me On The Mouth and Classic Soul's High Blood Pressure. You will also find on the album new music from the Blackwater Rhythm & Blues Band, the Big Time
Party Band, The Fantastic Shakers featuring Doug Winstead and The Carolina Breakers.
Party On The Ocean is destined to the hit the beach running for the Spring Safari of SOS.
Be
looking for Gary Lowder's new release. The album is titled Gary Lowder & Smokin' Hot...Playin' With Fire. Steve Owens & Summertime's new CD, Shaggin' The Night Away, is also breaking
out for SOS. The first single off the CD will be a rendition of the O'Jays' I
Just Want To Satisfy that only Steve Owens and his group could give us. Also
look for new music from Rhonda McDaniel, The Band of Oz and Sea-Cruz.
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