News — beach music

The Chashers’ “Without My Girl” is one of the more obscure releases and not that well known even among rare soul collectors, partly due to the record being one of the more recent discoveries on the northern scene. The track may have been first played in the UK at the Middleton all-nighters by DJs Carl Willingham and Phil Shields. By the time “Without My Girl” came out in late 1968, The Chashers had evolved from a merger of earlier bands.  The two writers, Lamar (aka Tom) Collins, lead singer and Roy Thompson, guitar, were members of The Avalons, originally from...

The Embers were formed in Raleigh, NC in 1958 by Bobby Tomlinson (drums) and Jackie Gore (vocals, guitar). They mainly played frat parties and Raleigh clubs. The Embers are one of the longest running beach music bands and one of the most widely known, both within and outside the region.  In the late fifties until around 1963/1964 they toured and recorded as The Swinging Embers, before the name change. The Embers had a very prolific recording career for both singles and albums. However UK soul collectors are likely to be most interested in their recording career between 1964 and 1969...

The Soul Six story is a little unorthodox for an investigation of the history behind soul recordings. This band did some time in the studio but never actually made it to vinyl. The Soul Six will be unknown to most even the most experienced rare soul collector over in the UK or Europe. These guys were popular locally, however, and if you were a Wilmington resident or were going to gigs in North Carolina and Virginia between 1966 and 1969 you may well be familiar with them.  Chuck Shipton from The Generation (who recorded their take of the O'Jays' "Hold...

The Delacardos were an all black vocal and instrumental group from Charlotte NC, and formed at high school. They made at least nine records between 1959 and 1967, some of which received national release on major labels. Vocalists included Vernon Hill, Chris Harris, Harold Ford and Robert Gates and later George Morris. Publicity shots generally featured the vocalists only, but regular musicians included Luther Maxwell (tenor saxophone and band leader), Amos Williams (guitar), Ronnie Grier (bass), Dallas Steele (drums), Timothy Donald (baritone saxophone), and on piano and guitar, Jeremiah Shepherd and James Knight. Ronnie Grier wrote most of their sides...

Bob Collins and the Fabulous Five from Greensboro, NC were a popular booking throughout the Carolinas and Virginia. Venues in the 1960s included the Polo Club (Winston, Salem), the Casino (Nags Head, NC) and the National Guard Armoury (Greenville, NC). Their largest mainstream hit in the mid 1960s was “If I Didn’t Have a Dime” a.k.a. “Jukebox”, a previous minor hit for Gene Pitney. Their version was released on the Greensboro label Jokers 3. The band was originally formed in 1961 and continued until 2007. It had at least twenty-five members in its long history. From a northern soul perspective,...