Let me be the one - CANUSA 505

Party Bros.

The Majors – later the Mighty Majors – came out of Greensboro, NC and were formed by George Bishop while he was studying at North Carolina’s A & T – hence the title of the flip to this 45. But it is the top side that concerns us here. ListenLet Me Be The One is a quality tuneful ballad with a very soulful harmony lead vocal. The Majors play some well judged backing too. The track was produced by Jamo Thomas who I suspect gave the band the Party Brothers name. He’d already used it on his hit Chicago track “I Spy For The FBI” and may well have carried the name forward to the new group playing here. Thomas may also feature on vocals as well and I suspect that the Mighty Majors continued to back him on his SS7 and Decca 45s too.

The group carried on after Thomas moved away from the Carolinas, providing backing to any number of stars on their through the state, and also cutting a few45s for such tiny labels as Gate City, House Of Big Brother and Platinum Star under a bewildering range of names. The last one mentioned appeared un der Bishop’s own name and featured a good 80s male/female duet ballad “At The End Of The Tunnel”. But apart from the Canusa disc my other favourite from the group is the superb sweet soul “You Can Never Go Back (To A Love That’s Lost” for Dave Smith’s Bandit concern. But it’s not for this website.

 

Discography

As THE PARTY BROTHERS

ListenLet me be the one / A & T’s party ~ CANUSA 505 (1967?)
Do the groundhog / Nassau daddy ~ REVUE 11034 (1970)

As JAMO THOMAS & THE PARTY BROS

Nassau daddy / Jive brother in law ~ SS7 2584 (1967)
Bahama mama / Pt 2 ~ SS7 2596 (1967) / DECCA 32406 (1968)
Education’s where it’s at / Pt 2 ~ DECCA 32293 (1968)
Only 45s with these “Party Bros” included – I hope!

 

Note ~ You can read more about George Bishop and the Mighty Majors history at Jason Perlmutter’s excellent website on Carolina Soul here.

 

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