History

Sam & Dave and Henry Stone

May 102013

Sam & Dave

Ask any real soul connoisseur who their favorite group is and Sam & Dave will likely be in their top 5. Likewise, ask anybody age 5 to 95 if they’ve ever heard the song “Hold On, I’m Comin’,” or “Soul Man,” and they’ll probably sing you the words.

That’s because Sam & Dave are one of the most successful pop duos in the history of recorded music. From 1964-70 they ruled the Hot 100 with 13 straight appearances and two top 10 singles.

But most people don’t know that the group hails from Miami and were discovered by, and first recorded for Henry Stone and Steve Alaimo.

There was a little club in the heart of the Liberty City projects called the King Of Hearts owned by one John Lomelo. In later years he would become ‘mayor for life’ of the small burg of Sunrise, FL before eventually being indicted for corruption and then being re-elected.

Steve Alaimo used to work the club sometimes as a singer, and Henry used to hang out there a couple nights a week. “John Lomelo was a great guy. I used to love that place,” says Stone.

Sam & Dave were on the talent show circuit of the era, and were known for an explosive live performance that brought the church-feel to the nightclub, and through a combination of powerful singing, dance moves, and on-stage chemistry, they would turn the club out every time they hit the stage.

Alaimo produced and Stone released a few sides on his Marlin and Alston labels. Then he leased a couple of em’ to Roulette Records produced by Henry Glover. They sold what they sold, which wasn’t much, but the group’s talent would not be denied.

One night Henry Stone took Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records to watch them play at King Of Hearts and he was blown away. Soon Sam and Dave signed a recording contract with Atlantic.

Wexler asked Stone what he thought of his recording them through STAX, and Stone suggested he have a couple of young producers he’d been keeping tabs on produce the records. So Isaac Hayes and David Porter took on the project, had Booker T & The MGs back the group, and the rest is history.

James Brown and Larry King rap about Henry Stone

May 102013

James Brown talks to Larry King about his friendship with Henry Stone.

Larry King Interviews James Brown about Henry Stone

Runtime: 1:50
View count: 32,721

Henry Stone and James Brown through the years:

Me and James Brown were great friends since about 1954. At the time I was working with Syd Nathan of King Records on a label we had a 50-50% deal on called DeLuxe Records. I was working a record called “Hearts Of Stone” by Otis Williams and The Charms that would go on to be the first million selling r&b record to cross over into the pop charts. Anyway, I was sitting in my office in Miami when I got a call from Syd. He said, “Henry, there’s guy in Macon, Georgia by the name of James Brown whos got a hot acetate for this song “Please, Please, Please.” I want you to get your ass up there as fast as you can and sign him to DeLuxe.”

So right away I hopped in my little blue Buick and drove up the coast of Florida as fast as I could. Meanwhile, Syd had made a very similar phone call to his A&R for Federal Records, the legendary Ralph Bass. Well Ralph was just one state over from Georgia at the time, so he ended up beating me to Macon by a day. He offered James a recording contract, and he took it and signed to Federal Records.

Early photo of James Brown and Henry Stone c. 1968

So, I got there a day later and met the guy, and ya know what, we really hit it off. I listened to his song and I said “Man this is a hit. I’m gonna take it on the road with me while I’m promoting Hearts Of Stone and give it some DJs I know.” He was real cool and appreciative, and of course his King recordings really started to take off.

James Brown hanging out in Henry Stone’s office.

When I got back to Miami I had a conversation with my buddy Ernie Busker who ran a concert hall called the Million Dollar Palms of Hallandale. It was just barely north of Miami, a nice big outdoorish venue with a huge long bar off a dirt road almost in the middle of nowhere like. Ernie used to throw these huge dances with all the big R&B acts of the time from Wynonie Harris to Willis “Gator Tail” Jackson. ANyway, he asked me if I had a lead on any new talent and I told him all about James Brown. He booked him for a weekend of gigs and made a lot of money. He asked me about booking him again so I said “Listen, Ernie, this kid is gonna be a big star, you saw how he performed out there. You better give him a couple thousand bucks now so you can get him back later.” He agreed, and I took James Brown a nice big wad of cash, and James Brown had a great memory. He never forgot that.

James Brown and Henry Stone out on the town.

We were really tight throughout the years and he wouldn’t sign a contract or put out an album without letting me read every word and hear every song first. When Poygram wanted to sign him, I told them they had to give him a private jet. And they did! All through my TK years he used to call me all the time, and come down to Miami to hang out every few weeks.

We also had a record label together called BrownStone.

James Brown was great friend and I still miss our conversations to this day. I can picture it so perfectly in my mind, sending young KC to M&M Liquors any time James came through, and drinking Cognac with him in the bar I had in my office at TK Records.

Henry Stone and Hank Ballard Created The Twist Dance Craze

Feb 182013

Before Chubby Checker’s version of The Twist took the world by storm, spawning a Dick Clark fueled dance craze, and a series of answer records that continues till today, it was just another record cut by Henry Stone and Hank Ballard (of The Midnighters fame) at the North Miami Armory. The back story is little known outside the music industry, but is a documented fact in a recent book called “Peppermint Twist: The Mob, Music, and The Most Famous Dance Club of the ’60s” by John Johnson Jr., Joel Selvin, and Dick Cami.

It all started when Henry took a Chitlin Circuit run with Hank Ballard and The Midnighters. He remembers, “I got a call around ’61 or ’62 to go on the road with The Midnighters for like 2 weeks. I was out promoting my records and the Midnighters records along with em’. I was the white man, so I had to buy food for the band and bring it to the car. While we were on the road Hank said, “My contract is about to be up with King. I wanna get with either Veejay or Chess.” I said no problem. I called Ewart Abner and said “How would you like to sign Hank Ballard?” He said “Record him now, and I’ll give you 5,000 free records and half the publishing on the song. I didn’t have a studio yet, but Mack Emmerman (Criteria Recording Studios) had a lot of portable recording equipment. I brought Hank up to the Armory in North Miami and he came up with The Twist, but like a blues grind. It was originally gonna be a blues numba. Hank’s guitar player Cal Green was tuning up his guitar and I said how bout we do it like a dance song and that’s how we recorded it. I sent the masters up to Ewart at Veejay, but somehow, Syd Nathan found out about it. He said ‘Oh that sonofabitch Henry Stone…Hank still owes me $300 on his contract! You better give me that master or I’m gonna sue your ass off.’ Ewart didn’t wanna do anything with the courts so he just sent him the tapes and it came out as a B-Side on Federal.

“Later, Cameo-Parkway sent Chubby Checker down to perform at one of my sock hops I used to run with DJ Bob Green. Chubby came by the studio when I was cutting James Brown doin the “Mashed Potato.” I told Chubby that if he’s looking for a song, to go look at this little B Side that came out on Federal Records, and so I’m the man responsible for “The Twist.” But these were just things I did to make a living, I never thought twice about it at the time. –And thats how history is made.

History of Henry Stone Music

Mar 082011

History of Henry Stone Music

Henry Stone, T.K. Office, Hialeah, Florida (1975)

AMG Biography
Born June 3, 1921, in the Bronx, NY, Henry Stone began playing the trumpet in his teens, inspired by jazz great Louis Armstrong. Later at a military camp in New Jersey, he played in bands. After being discharged in 1946, he began selling records out of the back of his car in Los Angeles.

Later he became a 78 rpm record salesman for the Bihari Brothers’ Modern Records, selling to jukebox owners throughout California. He was not solely employed by them as a salesman. He did sell for them but also had his own things going on the side… one of which was the ‘Indi Index’, the forerunner to the ‘Phono-Log’. In 1952, he established his own recording studio, Crystal Recording Company, and started a blues label, Rockin’, and a gospel music label, Glory, in Florida. A big hit on Glory was Rev. A. Johnson’s God Don’t Like It.

Ray Charles
Stone did some pre-stardom recording with Ray Charles at his Flagler Street Studio, in Miami, Florida. The resulting songs were released on Rockin and Delux labels.

Otis Williams and the Charms
Stone leased some of his labels’ other releases to DeLuxe Records. Most notable was the Cincinnati, OH, vocal group Otis Williams and the Charms. Originally recording for Stone’s Rockin’ label in 1953, the group scored a few hits: “Hearts of Stone” (number one R&B for nine weeks); “Ling, Ting, Tong” (number five R&B) and its flip side, “Bazoom (I Need Your Lovin’),” which went to number five R&B in January 1955; and “Two Hearts,” which hit number eight R&B in March 1955.

Stone formed Chart Records in 1955 and two music publishing companies, Pelican and Sherlyn. His roster included the Champions, the Evergreens, and bandleader/pianist Sonny Thompson.

At the end of the decade, he formed two other labels, Glades and Marlin.

James Brown & Henry Stone

In 1960, Stone cut “(Do The) Mashed Potatoes” by Nat Kendrick and the Swans for the Dade label. The group was James Brown’s backup band, the JBs, and scored a number eight R&B hit in February of that year. Many years later, Stone recorded Brown himself on his TK imprint: “Rapp Payback” in 1980 and “Stay With Me” in April 1981.

Betty Wright, Timmy Thomas & Clarence Reid
During the late ’60s, Stone began Alston Records, signing Betty Wright, Timmy Thomas, and Clarence Reid. Wright’s “Clean Up Woman” was a gold number two R&B/number six pop hit single in November 1971. Reid’s biggest hit was “Nobody but You Babe,” a number seven R&B hit in July 1969.

Latimore
For Stone’s Glades label, Benny Latimore aka Latimore hit with the late-night blues anthem “Let’s Straighten It Out,” which stayed at number one R&B for two weeks in September 1974. The singer/songwriter also broke the R&B Top Ten with “Keep the Home Fire Burnin’” and “Something ‘Bout ‘Cha.”

K.C. & The Sunshine Band – 1977
With the signing of KC and the Sunshine Band to his TK label, Stone found his pot of gold (and platinum) at the end of the rainbow. The band racked up five number one pop singles, four number one R&B singles, and gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums.

Richard Finch, Henry Stone & Harry Casey
While working at a record store, young Harry Wayne “KC” Casey came in contact with Tone Distributors and TK Records. KC began hanging around Tone/TK. Stone gave KC the double-duty job of sweeping floors and packing records for shipment in the warehouse. While packing records in 1972, KC met bassist and occasional recording engineer Richard Finch. The two teens formed a creative partnership. Stone let the young men work and experiment in the recording studio when it wasn’t booked and during after-midnight hours.

The two cut numerous demos on themselves, just jamming. KC felt an almost paternal connection to Stone, who reminded him of his father. Soon afterwards at a wedding reception for Clarence Reid in January 1973, KC was exposed to junkanoo, the highly festive, heavily rhythmic, horn-punctuated musical genre that originated in the Bahamas. Later while accompanying TK artist Timmy Thomas to a Washington, D.C., concert as his assistant and booking agent, KC got an idea for a song after hearing the audience approvingly blowing whistles. The song, “Blow Your Whistle,” was KC and Finch’s first professional recording and went to number 27 R&B in September 1973. While cutting a demo on one of their unrecorded original songs, KC and Finch decided that the song was in a key that was too high for KC’s singing range.

Steve Alaimo & Henry Stone
Stone and TK A&R man Steve Alaimo suggested that they give the song to singer George McCrae.

Henry Stone & George McCrae
Released in early summer 1974, “Rock Your Baby” rolled quickly up the charts, holding the number one spot on both the R&B and pop charts for two weeks during July 1974. The worldwide sales of “Rock Your Baby” totaled over six million singles. KC and the Sunshine Band’s second single, “Sound Your Funky Horn,” did a little better than their first, going to number 21 R&B in February 1974. With an approving nod from TK, KC and Finch brought in lead guitarist Jerome Smith, drummer Robert Johnson, and conga player Femin Goytisolo.

The band’s debut LP Do It Good garnered little attention in the U.S. but took off in Europe due in part to “Queen of Clubs,” which was a Top Ten hit in both England and Germany. A band was hastily assembled for a European tour in 1975 and expanded to include eight more musicians and singers. The fourth single, “Get Down Tonight,” took off, hitting number one R&B in April 1975 and held the number one pop for two weeks in August 1975.

Their second album, KC and the Sunshine Band, was released in July 1975. To capitalize on the band’s success, TK released instrumental singles by the Sunshine Band. An instrumental album, The Sound of Sunshine, was released in 1979. “That’s the Way I Like It,” another single from their self-titled album, echoed the success of “Get Down…,” hitting both number one R&B and pop in 1975. The LP went multi-platinum.

In 1976, the band won five Grammys. “(Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty” was the group’s third number one hit, topping the R&B charts for a month during July. The mega-platinum-selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack included KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Boogie Shoes.” The band selling tens of millions of records brought prestige to the little independent record label based in Hialeah, FL, no doubt bolstering other acts on the label.

Other TK Top Ten hits from that period include: Little Beaver’s (aka Willie Hale) “Party Down” and Peter Brown’s “Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me,” “Dance With Me,” and “Crank It Up (Funk Town) Pt. 1.”

In 1979, crooner Bobby Caldwell signed with TK Records. It seemed an odd signing at the time, as the label was the home to disco/soul/blues-oriented artists and Caldwell was a jazzy, romantic balladeer. No matter, since Caldwell’s first single, “What You Won’t Do for Love,” climbed to number six R&B and number nine pop in the fall of 1978. Several tracks from his albums were in heavy rotation on R&B-oriented FM stations. Later, Caldwell and his manager Henry Marx started Sindrome Records, buying the rights from TK and reissuing the albums and new Caldwell material perfectly suited for the smooth jazz radio format.

Anita Ward
TK also struck gold with Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell.” Written and produced by artist Frederick Knight (“I’ve Been Lonely So Long”), “Ring My Bell” rung its way up to the number one R&B spot in just six weeks and stayed there for five weeks. The catchy track stayed at number one pop for two weeks during summer 1979. “Ring My Bell” started a trend with its use of a “boingy” syndrome with several acts duplicating the sound on numerous records that came after it. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince did a million-selling Top Twenty R&B/pop cover of the tune in 1991.

Gwen MacCrae
George McCrae’s wife Gwen MacCrae had three hits: “For Your Love,” the number one R&B “Rockin’ Chair,” and “Love Insurance.”

Foxy
Rock group Foxy’s “Get Off” was number one R&B for two weeks in summer 1978.

Around the end of the ’70s, KC and Finch and TK began to have conflicts. Some say that this was reflected in the relatively poor chart showings of their releases. Of course, it also could have meant that public tastes were changing. The title track of KC and the Sunshine Band’s fifth album Do You Wanna Go Party (June 1979) went to number eight R&B in 1979…. Ed Hogan – AMG Biography

In addition to being one of the more colorful characters in the biz, he’s one of the last independent label executives still standing who was totally in the mix with many of the heavyweight labels owners and artists from the 40s, 50s and 60s (label heads including Syd Nathan, George Goldner, the Bihari Brothers, Ewart Abner, the Erteguns, Jerry Wexler, Hy Weiss, Morris Levy, etc…). What can I say? From blues to R&B, doo-wop, soul, funk, disco and rap, this dude’s been AROUND!

Stone began his career in the music industry in 1948 selling vinyl out of the trunk of his car to jukebox operators and along the way worked as a producer, promoter, talent scout, distributor and label owner.

In the early 70s, Stone was pivotal in launching the the disco sound via his T.K. and Marlin labels. Over the years he also owned or had an interest in Alston, Dade, Glades, Deep City, Saadia, Rockin’, Chart, CAT, Deluxe, Deep City, Reid’s World and many more (much of this is well documented in the excellent liners for the recent Soul Jazz “Miami Sound” comp).

Stone also worked with James Brown, Hank Ballard, Sam & Dave, Ray Charles, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Gwen and George McCrae, Timmy Thomas, Betty Wright, K.C. & The Sunshine Band, L’Trimm, The 2 Live Jews and tons more.

Special thanks to DJ Monica Lynch – WFMU 91.1 FM Radio – NYC for writing the above text. She conducted an interview with living legend, Henry Stone that aired Friday, June 27th, Noon – 3pm. The show will be archived for future internet listening.
RealAudio stream.

Henry Stone is an Honorary Member of the Disco DJ Hall of Fame™ and a member of the Disco Hall of Fame™.

Who is this Living Legend?

Sep 162008

The Living Legend is Henry Stone, I’ll tell the story both from his words and what he has shared with me over the years.

Henry Stone Music

Sep 162008

This is the first writing from me as I think about how I want to start this story, one that should be written because it is the beginning of the history of the music business from the point of view of one of the living legends, there are not to many left, most of them are no longer with us, so the importance of getting this down from the man himself and the stories he has to tell is of the utmost importance. A friend once told me that if you don’t document the history it is lost forever and no truer words were spoken. I’m going to begin at the beginning, Born in the Bronx, New York raised on the streets of N.Y. until age 7 when he went to an orphanage until he was 15, this part of my story is a short bio of those first 15 years, how music came into his life and the roads and paths it took him down, I hope you find it as interesting as I have.

‘The Twist’, First Recorded and Produced by Henry Stone, Just Named Billboard Hot 100 Era Number 1 Song Of All Time

Sep 122008

Hank Ballard came into my Tone Distributing office one day and said to me, “Henry, my contract with King Records is over.” I pretty much knew this information because of my involvement with King Records and remembered him signing a three-year contract. Ballard implied to me that he was shopping for a new record label and asked me if I could get him signed with Chicago’s Chess or Vee Jay record labels.

I told him that I did not think that would be a problem and that I would make a couple of phone calls and see what I could do. I called Leonard Chess, who thought he might be interested. I next called Ewart Abner at Vee Jay, who was definitely interested.

As it turned out, Ballard had pretty much made the decision that he would like to go with Abner at Vee-Jay. I called Abner and said, “Would you like to have Hank Ballard on your label?” He said, “Yeah, he’s a great artist and he’s had quite a few hits on the King label. Is his contract over?” I told him I was 100% positive that his contract had expired and that he was getting ready to sign a contract with somebody.

Abner said that he would sign him up under one condition, that I record him in Miami, while he was down here. I told Abner that there was one slight problem, that we did not have a recording studio in Miami at the time. At this stage I was focusing on my distribution company and had shut down my recording studio.

Mack Emerman’s Criteria Recording Studio, located in North Miami, had not yet officially opened its doors. Emerman had quite a bit of portable equipment and he was recording out of his house. He was also recording live at the North Miami Armory, so we decided to take Ballard into the Armory and we recorded him there for Vee Jay.

While recording, I was working with Ballard on material. Ballard had some terrific records on King such as “Work With Me Annie” and “Annie Had A Baby”, considered very risqué for their time. During the recording session at the Armory, Ballard played for me a very slow Bluesy tempo song that he called “The Twist”.

I remember Ballard’s guitar player, Cal Green, tuning up his guitar for “The Twist” in a much faster tempo than the slower Bluesy version. Green’s faster riff while tuning his guitar fit into the chord structure of what Ballard was singing to me. I turned to Ballard

and said, “Why don’t we take this Blues version and merge it with Green’s up tempo guitar riff and turn ‘The Twist’ into a dance record?”

We did just that and sent the tapes to Abner at Vee Jay in Chicago. After Abner received the tapes, he got a call from Syd Nathan, who stated, “That son-of-a-bitch Henry Stone had no right recording Hank Ballard. Ballard’s contract is up, but he owes me $300.00. If Ballard don’t pay me the $300.00, I’m going to sue you and Henry Stone and the whole world.” That was Nathan’s forte.

Abner called me and said, “Henry, I don’t want to get into a lawsuit with Nathan, he’s a pain in the ass! What do you want to do?” I told Abner that I would send him the $300.00 to give to Nathan to shut him up, but he had to send me all the copyrights for the $300.00. Abner agreed and said he would call Nathan with my proposal. A loss I have remembered for years! On an agreement we had made previously, Abner then sent me 10,000 free records as payment for my recording session with Ballard.

After Syd Nathan received the more up tempo version of “The Twist” from Abner, the version that I produced, Syd released “The Twist” as the B-side to Ballard’s #4 national hit, “Teardrops On Your Letter”. Chubby Checker (real name Earnest Evans) covered the song and took it to #1 twice in 1960 – 1962! “The Twist” would in time become the biggest teenage and adult dance craze in all of Rock history.

The version playing is a very rare alternative tke with no official ending that I found in my vaults after 44 years.