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VINYL KNIGHTS: MAESTRO, MUSIC PLEASE! . . . FROM CHAPTER 13
AS TOLD BY LEE ROGERS:
The "D" in D-Town stands for Detroit. In 1954, a kind of town where the recording industry was non-existence and the talent was plentiful. The Other Side of the Motor City Tracks started in a beauty shop of Carmen C. Murphy, the owner of the "House of Beauty". Ms. Murphy's dream was to create the first black owned beauty supply company and along the way she ended up creating The Sound Of Detroit. Ms. Murphy's successful cosmetic's company established her as the first black female millionaire in the area, and she was starting to venture into the recording field. Jack Ellis' experiences with local singing groups proved to be a gold mine for Ms. Murphy. He introduced her to James Cleveland, and her first products were released on her House of Beauty Records label. The name was shorten to HOB Records. HOB's success with the gospel music venue was fueled by the fact that she was a sponsor of a Sunday morning church service that was aired over WBLD-AM. Ms. Murphy signed the guarantee papers and pressing bond of $5,000 to create an account to press MAH's Records, which became D-Town and as she did for ANNA Records, the first name for Motown Records. Not just anyone could press records. You had to have a license. The original name for the label was MAH's Records. D-Town Records was the new name, Mike Hanks went with in 1959. His first release was "Sad Affair" by Lee Rogers. It was the beginning of a monumental task that would change the history of music forever. Detroit had this group of traveling musicians that went from Motown/Hitsville studios to D-Town's Pig Pen studios at least three times per week. Jamie Jameson and the boys played on every recording in Detroit -- for years -- the good, the bad, the ugly and the mega mega hits. In these days, the Detroit music business was dominated by the Bhari Brothers out of Culver City, California with their Modern/Kent Records group. The label's main shooters were Lowell Fusion, B.B. King, Etta James, and The Rhythm Kings featuring Ike Turner. Detroit was ripe for a recording revolution. The players were very young, and novices to the business. In order to get your records pressed, you had to be sponsored by a reparable business or agent of the recording business. The distribution was owned by The Music Distribution Company, which owned a percentage of a pressing plant in Memphis, Tennessee. They manufactured records for all of the independents on the east coast. She was approached by Jack Ellis who was an engineer at the radio station. Jack produced the gospel morning show and wrote the House of Beauty commercials that were inserted into the show. Jack had been working with a local teen group called the Peppermints and the lead singer was Lee Rogers. ©2003 Published by Coleman, Kestin & Smith Publishers, distributed by SDC OmniMedia. All rights reserved. From the eBook, Vinyl Knights, Chapter 13, The Other Side Of The Motor City Tracks.
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