E. Mark Windle. 13 Oct 2021 Mike and Roger Branch formed Insight Talent, a booking and promotional agency in 1974. However, Roger was being tempted by an opportunity to take up a position as Polydor promotional representative for North Carolina. Weighing up the pros and cons, rather than take a risk on a new companyContinue reading “The Tempests (pt 12): Insight Talent and Surfside Records”
Tag Archives: southern soul
The Tempests (Pt. 10): The Split, and a New Band Forms
E. Mark Windle 23 September 2021 The initial choice of rehearsal venue for The Holidays, the band formed immediately after The Tempests split, was down to bass player Gerry Dionne. As a vice president with American Motor Inns, the largest franchiser of Holiday Inns in the country at that time, Gerry’s father agreed to letContinue reading “The Tempests (Pt. 10): The Split, and a New Band Forms”
The Tempests (pt. 9): Winds of Change
E. Mark Windle 29 August 2021 “We were always messing around” says Nelson Lemmond. “At one point, Ray Alexander had joined us to replace Jim Butt who quit to go to college by late 1968. Ray’s a talented musician; one hell of a trumpet player and had been with The Rivieras before us. In muchContinue reading “The Tempests (pt. 9): Winds of Change”
The Tempests (pt. 8): Touring, Boston’s Sugar Shack, and the LP release
E. Mark Windle 19 August 2021 Touring was relentless. In between it all, the Premier Talent Agency pushed The Tempests through a couple of multi-artist events, at The Mariners Festival, a USO show at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Then it was onto another at Trenton, New Jersey where a local promoter took all the money andContinue reading “The Tempests (pt. 8): Touring, Boston’s Sugar Shack, and the LP release”
The Tempests (pt.7): The Mercury-Smash Sessions Begin
E. Mark Windle. 2 August 2021 Mercury was a prominent player in the recording industry, owing much of its commercial success to astute activities of the founding fathers in the Chicago R&B and jazz recording industry through the 1940s and 1950s. The label had its ear to the ground and anticipated potential in exploiting theContinue reading “The Tempests (pt.7): The Mercury-Smash Sessions Begin”
The Tempests (pt. 6): Ted Bodnar and the Road to Mercury-Smash
E. Mark Windle July 2021. The Tempests were ready to take on the world, no doubt about that. Musicianship, vocal talent and enthusiasm for live performance were all there. What was needed now was a new industry link to point them solidly towards a fresh recording contract. Someone with local knowledge, connections, and production andContinue reading “The Tempests (pt. 6): Ted Bodnar and the Road to Mercury-Smash”
The Tempests (part 5): Hit Attractions
E. Mark Windle 13 June 2021 Whether the decision to extend the horn section in The Tempests was a conscious one or just natural evolution, was unclear. Movement of personnel in and out of the band in the early days had been pretty fluid, though Jim Butt (on trumpet) and Rick White (tenor sax) hadContinue reading “The Tempests (part 5): Hit Attractions”
The Tempests (part 4): Ready for the Soul Explosion
E. Mark Windle, June 2021. Whilst new bass guitarist Van Coble was an only child whose birth father who was killed in service during World War II, his childhood was otherwise reasonably comfortable. His mother Helen, who was a nurse, eventually remarried. The musical talent came from his Helen Coble and her sister: “My motherContinue reading “The Tempests (part 4): Ready for the Soul Explosion”
Moments in Time. The Reflection Sound Studios Story
E. Mark Windle 30 July 2020 “Looking back, I’m really proud of what we achieved in the 1960s” drummer Nelson Lemmond once told me. “As The Tempests, out of Charlotte, North Carolina, we made some great R&B and played with some great talent too. We never got a chance to perform with Otis Redding orContinue reading “Moments in Time. The Reflection Sound Studios Story”
House of Broken Hearts: The Northern Soul of a Southern City
E. Mark Windle, 27 July 2020 Regarding what has been pretty much an obsession with 1960s southern soul themes since I started writing around ten years ago, House of Broken Hearts was taken on to resolve one nagging omission. A fair chunk of my travels (virtual and otherwise) has been spent researching the Carolinas, Virginia,Continue reading “House of Broken Hearts: The Northern Soul of a Southern City”