News — southern soul

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...

Alpha Zoe (“First Life”) Hall is an only child, originally from Gallatin in Sumner County, Tennessee, but moved to Nashville when she was five years of age. Both parents were teachers who also had a common interest in music. Her mother was an accomplished pianist and her father was the tenor in a gospel quartet. “I started to sing as soon as I could talk. My mother was a trained pianist and had a beautiful voice. We became popular in the churches as I was a curiosity, singing at such a young age”, says Alpha Zoe. “As I grew older,...

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 origins of this group go back to 1957 when the group The Marquees were singing around town and at sock hops, and originally included Frank Howard and older brother Bruce. Frank was school friends at Meigs High with Rufus Hunter. Rufus’ older brother Herbert was at the same school, and had already released his first record.. Herbert Hunter would be Frank’s inspiration to pursue a career in singing. An early unnamed group existed which would eventually became the Commanders, before a recording contract was secured. Members at that point all worked for the same downtown department store and included...

Joe Simon was without a doubt Sound Stage 7’s greatest national success. Joe Simon (b. 1943) was Louisiana born though moved to California with his family as a child. He came from a church background, and sang with the Golden West Gospel Singers as a teenager, this group undergoing a name change to try the secular market. As The Golden Tones they had a couple of 45s on Hush label, but the label owners wanted to push Simon as an artist in his own right. His first solo efforts on Hush for the secular market came between 1960 and 1962....