Musical Legacy of Richard Barrett – Part 7
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The Musical Legacy of Richard Barrett – Part 7 Return to Philly: The Three Degrees and Showmen by Charlie Horner With Contributions from Pamela Horner Richard Barrett receiving a gold record the the U.K. for By late 1963, Richard Barrett had tired of the New “When Will I See You Again”. Courtesy of Julie Barrett. York City music scene. The George Goldner hit-making empire had been weakened by the payola hearings and George’s gam- bling habit, to the point that Barrett had already left Goldner to b/w “You May Not Love Me” by Harold Melvin’s re-formed Blue produce artists himself out of 1650 Broadway. From his office Notes (Harold Melvin, John Adkins, Larry Parks and Bernard on Broadway, Barrett worked as an independent to place his Wilson). “Get Out” was a Barrett composition. artists’ records with different companies. But working as an “We did this thing with Richard in 1964 called “Get independent in an extremely competitive market, he didn’t have Out” which sold a few,” Harold Melvin once told an interviewer. the control and power he wanted. He started getting homesick “There had been some personnel changes in the [Blue Notes] for his hometown of Philadelphia, where he still had music in- and that was the first record we had out as Harold Melvin and dustry contacts and a lot of friends. the Blue Notes. But really at that time records weren’t the most “During my days with Gone/End I worked with so important thing for the group. We were heavily into a cabaret many artists, so that often although I’d produce them or write thing. We weren’t concentrating on records.” [7] for them, I had little control. Talents were being abused, every- Richard then auditioned a young singer from German- one was getting ripped off,” remembered Richard. “Eventually town High School named Sheila Ferguson. Ferguson had previ- the wheeling and dealing got too much and I thought I’d move ously recorded with the Kittens, a group of five girls from the [back] to Philadelphia.” [6] Germantown section of Philadelphia that also included Jeanie Back in Philadelphia, Richard Barrett began looking Scott, older sister of future Three Degrees’ Helen Scott. While for talent to produce. Working briefly with the Landa label Sheila only attests to being on one Kittens’ record (“Count Every (owned by Jamie/Guyden) in 1964, Barrett produced “Get Out” Star” b/w “I’m Worried”, Chestnut #203), it is likely some aggre- gation of the group also backed Johnnie Alton on Chestnut and made two records for the Don-El label (see Discography). Sheila was recommended to Barrett by her high school teacher, Gene Harris. [9] After rehearsing, Barrett produced Sheila’s first solo recording, “Little Red Riding Hood” b/w “”How Did That Hap- pen” on Landa #706. The Swan Years By the end of 1964, Barrett accepted a position as A&R man for Swan Records. Swan was formed in Philadelphia in December, 1957, by TV superstar Dick Clark, Tony Mamarella (Bandstand’s producer) and Bernie Bennick. When the Payola scandal hit in November 1959, Clark was forced to divest all of his music company interests in order to remain on television. Tony Mamarella chose instead to quit Bandstand and he and Bennick became sole owners of Swan.[8] Swan’s biggest suc- cess came in early 1964, with the master they’d purchased earlier of the Beatles’ “She Loves You.” Coincidently, upon the Beatles’ first trip to the United States that same year, when asked by Murray the K, who some of their favorite American artists were, they’d named Richie Barrett! Barrett’s 1962 recording of the Leiber-Stoller song, “Some Other Guy” (Atlantic) had been a huge hit in the British club scene. Upon arriving in Philly, Richard Barrett set about try- ing to resurrect some the concepts he’d had earlier but not yet brought to fruition. One was to put together the quintessential vocal group and take them to superstardom. He’d come very close with the Teenagers, Imperials and Chantels, but that last step had eluded him. His success with the female group the Chantels, made him try that avenue again. “‘The Degrees’ is a vision I conceived in 1958 when there were five boys,” Barrett once stated. “In 1963 I wound up with four girls; Linda Turner, Shirley Poole, Fayette Pinkney and Elaine Brister. Elaine Brister did not show up for the re- cording session, thus the Three Degrees.” The “degrees con- cept” was simple yet brilliant. Richard Barrett would assemble and train the most talented singers he could find; three degrees of excellence! Fayette Pinkney, Linda Turner and Shirley Poole at- tended Overbrook High School in West Philadelphia and knew each other well. They’d often sing together and ended up audi- tioning for Richard Barrett at one of the girl’s homes. The Three Degrees’ first record, “Gee Baby (I’m Sorry)” was released on Swan in late 1964. Fayette did the lead on this emotional ballad, written by Richard. The song’s style was reminiscent of the Chantels. Released in March 1965, “Gee Baby” charted briefly (#80 on Billboard and #69 on Cashbox Pop Charts). Barrett used the single to get both the Three Degrees and Sheila Ferguson booked on Jocko’s show at the Apollo Theater, head- lined by Marvin Gaye and also featuring the Manhattans and also recommended Helen Scott. Helen was born in Richmond, Spinners. VA, and raised in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. The lack of success of the Three Degrees’ first record Through further auditions, Barrett added Janet Harmon to the disappointed Richard Barrett. He decided he didn’t have the group. right mix of voices. He let Poole and Turner go and began audi- “The Three Degrees were something special to me,” tioning new voices for the Three Degrees. The same teacher at Richard Barrett once said. “I decided that I’d like to be their Germantown High that introduced Barrett to Sheila Ferguson, manager, their writer, their producer and … their guardian an- gel. So from 1964 on, the Three Degrees story became my story. If they didn’t eat, I didn’t eat. I made a promise to get them off the ground, which I’ve done of course, but to also make them superstars.” [6] At Swan’s rehearsal room in a building on the north- west corner of 8th and Fitzwater Streets, Barrett rehearsed the Three Degrees relentlessly. In view of Barrett’s methods of teaching the Teenagers, Imperials and Chantels, this is not sur- prising. Barrett knew that to create perfection you had to work at it. Richard had the group rehearsing everyday after school until eight or nine at night and again on weekends. The re- hearsal room had a large mirror where the group could go over choreography until Barrett had them moving together. Over the next couple years, the Three Degrees would release seven more singles for Swan and Sheila Ferguson would release three. Sheila would add her voice to the back- ground of all the Three Degrees’ records while the Three De- grees would do the background on all the Sheila Ferguson re- cordings. Initially, the Three Degrees’ appearances were mostly local. They did a lot of record hops to promote their records and Sheila Ferguson would usually accompany them. General Norman Johnson & the Showmen Barrett was not alone producing black acts at Swan. Also producing records at Swan were Gene Dozier, Leon Huff (pre Gamble & Huff) and General Norman Johnson. General Johnson was from Norfolk, VA, and had been singing since 1956. Together with the Showmen (General Norman Johnson, Gene Knight, Dorsey Knight, Leslie Felton and Milton Wells) one of the original Teenagers to work on the side. He asked me if the Teenager could stay with me for a few days while he worked on it. He did and it was such a thrill to meet one of the original Teenagers.” The song “Bongos On The Beach,” how- ever was never released by Swan. It came out years later on a CD. Working with Richard Barrett, General Johnson and the Showmen recorded “In Paradise” b/w “Take It Baby” (Swan #4213). “Richard Rome from Philadelphia did the arrange- ments on it,” recalled Johnson. Barrett overdubbed the voices twice to get a wall of sound. “We recorded that song and we were really excited about it but the recording company (Swan) was at an all time low and they couldn’t get it off the ground. It got some play, especially in Philadelphia. We rocked in Phila- delphia! But other than that, sparse.” General Johnson would play his compositions on the piano and Richard Barrett would select the ones he wanted to record. The group’s second record, “Our Love Will Grow” was also written by General Norman Johnson and produced by Richard Barrett. “When I heard Johnson sing ‘Our Love Will Grow’ in a syncopated style,” recalled Barrett. “I got the idea for the rhythm – a semi-Latin beat with a novelty Latin feel.” [3] Again, the record sold in Philadelphia and the Caroli- nas but failed to breakout elsewhere. “After about a year at Swan, I got sick,” recalled Gen- General Norman Johnson, 1980. Photo by Charlie Horner. eral Johnson. “I was hospitalized with pneumonia. When I got out of the hospital, Richard gave me a song written by Leon they’d had moderate hits in the early sixties with “It Will Stand” Huff, ‘Please Try To Understand’.” Actually, “Please Try To and “39-21-46” for Minit Records.