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Motown M 1004 (A), November 1960
b/w That’s Why I Love You So Much
(Written by Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson and Brian Holland)
Another landmark Motown “first” here; in this instance, it’s the first Motown duet. Apparently spurred on by Etta (James) & Harvey (Fuqua)’s If I Can’t Have You, Berry Gordy decided that now his burgeoning roster contained vocal groups, instrumental bands, and both female and male solo vocalists, the next step was to get in on the duet action. It was a formula Motown would turn to frequently in future years; team up an established vocalist with a talented newcomer and rack up both hits and welcome exposure.
Here, Singin’ Sammy Ward we’ve already met; the talented newcomer in this case was saucy, sandpaper-voiced Sherri Taylor, who’d written the Taylor Tones’ jaunty little girl group rocker Too Young To Love (sources are unclear as to whether Sherri was actually in the Taylor Tones as a performer as well).
In addition, Taylor had also cut a solo single, the bristling R&B rocker He’s The One That Rings My Bell for another Detroit label, Gloreco; that song was co-written by Billy “Roquel” Davis, frequent songwriting partner of Berry Gordy and co-owner of the Anna Records label with Berry’s sister Gwen. Further, He’s The One That Rings My Bell would have been perfect for a Motown release, which is unlikely to have escaped Gordy’s attention.
Either way, Sherri was signed up for a Motown single, but rather than release a solo record on her, Gordy instead opted to pair her with Singin’ Sammy Ward for this fun duet.
One of the few instances where both Brian Holland and Smokey Robinson share a songwriting credit, this is a rough and ready R&B rocker much closer in feel to Sherri’s previous record than Etta & Harvey’s hit.
Neither of the two singers was much in favour of keeping things restrained, both had excellent strong blues voices, and here they both trade lines like barbs in an energetic one-two attack over a sparse, bluesy backing replete with finger-clicks and a simple, repeating guitar riff.
Both Sherri and Sammy escalate the volume as the song goes on, heading out towards Aretha Franklin and James Brown territory respectively, and as we reach the 2:30 mark the backing picks up and gets more raucous (the drums get louder, the bass gets more prominent and the guitarist starts thrashing more violently at his instrument, making a few noticeable mistakes in the process), leaving our two leads almost screaming to each other as the music begins to fade.
Sure, it’s not exactly Marvin and Tammi, but nobody’s claiming that; what it is is plenty of fun, and there’s extra satisfaction to be gained from knowing this is the record that started Motown down the duet path.
VERDICT
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6 / 10
(I’ve had MY say, now it’s your turn. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, or click the thumbs at the bottom there. Dissent is encouraged!)
You’re reading Motown Junkies, an attempt to review every Motown A- and B-side ever released. Click on the “previous” and “next” buttons below to go back and forth through the catalogue, or visit the Master Index for a full list of reviews so far.
(Or maybe you’re only interested in Singin’ Sammy Ward or Sherri Taylor? Click for more.)
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| Herman Griffin “It’s You” |
Sherri Taylor & Singin’ Sammy Ward “That’s Why I Love You So Much” |
Motown Junkies 
I’ve read many times that Sherri Taylor and her mother, Clara Taylor were The Taylor Tones on C & T Records and Starmaker Records. Some sources have mentioned that a friend of Sherri’s also sang with them at times. Researcher, Graham Finch listed Clara and Sherri Taylor as The Taylor Tones. Ron Murphy also stated that. I have no reason to doubt that Sherri Taylor was a member of The Taylor Tones.
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I thought it was likely, but in the absence of access to anything approaching hard information I thought it best to err on the side of caution. Thanks for the confirmation!
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This song didn’t hit nationally but does anyone know how it was received in Detroit at the time? It’s understandable that it wasn’t a hit.
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Footnote: Some were pressed saying “Lover”
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The first pressing listed the song title as “Oh Lover” with the artists being “Singin'” Sammy Ward and Sherri Taylor. The second pressing issued about a month later did indeed abreviate the song title to “Lover” and also reversed the order of the artists names.
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We never heard this song in Chicago (unlike some of the other early Motowns and Tamlas). I know it got a little radio play in Detroit (as did almost all Motown’s releases), but I don’t think it sold much at all even in Detroit. At that time, Motown didn’t have a national distribution (thus, the lease/distribution deal with Chess). But, they had regional distribution to Chicago, Indianapolis, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. But Motown 1004 probably was dropped before it even got to all those places. It surely didn’t get the push that Mary Wells, The Satintones, Barrett Strong, and a few others got.
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It would appear that the chronology is wrong here – Sherri and Sammy’s single was released in November 1960, whilst He’s The One Who Rings My Bell was released on Gloreco in 1961. The Taylor Tones’ releases don’t appear to have been issued until 1962, so this still leaves the question of how come Berry Gordy came across Sherri Taylor.
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I always thought that The Taylor Tones’ release on C&T Records was released in 1960 (BEFORE) the Motown duet, as the label design and print font are exactly the same as Robert West’s labels of 1959 and 1960 (Flick, Bumble Bee and Contour). The C&T record has a similar pressing plant cut number to those of the Contour and Bumble Bee and Flick (all in the 200s).
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I wonder where Sherri Taylor is today and why did she only record these two songs? Who is she? What does she look like? She is a good singer
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So this is the first Motown duet. Pretty good, but I can’t imagine this being a big hit. Singin’ Sammy sounds great, but Sherri Taylor steals the show. Hopefully, I’ll see more of her on this blog, but something tells me I will not (lol).
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Not only wasn’t it a hit, but it certainly didn’t get play outside Detroit and, possibly Toledo. I doubt that it had more than a few hundred sales. It was a pretty rare record to find over the years.
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I can vouch for this record’s rarity. The only way I was able to get both sides on vinyl was to buy the reissue in the 80s of the 1961 Various Artists’ album “Tamla Special #1”.
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Thank you and Mr Robb for answering my question of how rare this record was/is.
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I like thiis track only a bit better than the A-side. The vocals are fine but the arrangement is meh. I don’t think either side was played on radio on the East Coast. The first time I ever heard either track was in the 80s on a public radio station Motown specialty program. Rating: 5/10.
That Sherri was paired with Sammy suggests she may have been singing blues locally around Detroit. We know Gordy loved the blues and signed them to the label, only to unceremoniously kick all of them to the curb when they didn’t fit into the master plan.
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I’d be mildly surprised if Sherri(e) Taylor was singing Blues in her local appearances. Everything I’ve heard from her was R&B?Soul/Girls Group style. I never heard anything bluesy from her other than these 2 cuts. She certainly was capable of it. I just think that Berry liked her voice and tried her out together with Sammy. She may have told him she wanted to sing bluesy songs.
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I still wonder how she came to Berry’s attention. I’ve never seen her name referenced as a popular local act in Detroit. Maybe she was a girlfriend of someone who was friend’s with Berry. Or she’s someone’s cousin, niece or sister-in-law and signed recorded as a favor. LOL!
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She appeared locally in Detroit from 1959-at least 1964. She was a known singer. I think both her Gloreco record and her C & T records charted, locally, in Detroit. Berry frequented the clubs and always was on the lookout for talent. But, yes, she may have been referred to him through a mutual friend, family member or connection. But, the music industry in Detroit in the late ’50s and early ’60s was small, and everyone seemed to know each other (or, at least, know OF each other. I’m not surprised, at all, that he signed Sherrie Taylor. I’m always MORE surprised, when I find out about a Detroit artist, producer, arranger, musician who was around in the ’60s for more than a year, who NEVER worked for Motown Record corp. There were VERY FEW,
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Just for the record, before Aron Hicks released `He’s the One That Rings my Bell` on Gloreco, 2001B it was originally issued on the tiny P G label, #1171 as by Sherri Taylor with George Martin and his Cruisers. Penned by Tony Clard (sic) and produced by Paul Gerranni. On the Gloreco label the writing credits are Tony Clark and Roquel Davis, producer Paul Ciranni and George Martin is not mentioned. On P G, the duration is 3:02 but on Gloreco it is 2:34, which is a mighty big edit.
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Thanks Keith. For the record, if anyone hasn’t yet got a copy of Keith’s amazing book Groovesville USA, it comes highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the wider Detroit scene of the ’60s and Motown’s place in that landscape – it’s full of new information and pictures, and a cracking read.
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I wonder whether it was B. Holland or Smokey who came up with the great idea of replacing the final I chord of the 12-bar blues with II7 V7 – very clever and I can’t think of another example of it (not that I have anything approaching an encycopedic knowledge of the full “repertoire”). The bridge is standard fare but that II7 V7 might be an early stirring of Holland’s later genius … or a continuation of Robinson’s already developing genius?
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