Gordon Keith (producer)

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Gordon Keith (aka William Henry Adams Jr.) (August 12, 1939 – November 17, 2020)

VeeJay Records, and the Spaniels, a prominent doo-wop group, are examples of Gary's musical culture. Keith states that each Steeltown partner individually discovered, signed, and took the responsibility and any profit for each signed individual or group, using Steeltown Records (Steeltown label) as an umbrella to promote name recognition.[b]
Keith also points out that he had himself went solo as a vocalist in the 1960s because he wearied of the lack of discipline and commitment of so many of the young singers he sang doo-wop songs with. Therefore, he was looking not only for talent, but talent with a disciplined professional attitude and commitment.

Resumé

Keith recorded and produced four Jackson 5 tracks on the Steeltown label in 1967.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
owns a copy of one of the original "Big Boy"/"You Changed" records (Steeltown #681), and this was on display there in 2010.

Discovers Jackson 5

Keith kept seeing placards around Gary advertising performances by a young group called the Jackson Five Plus Johnny (Johnny Jackson on drums who was not related to the five).[8] He was intrigued by what the frequency and regularity of these signs implied about the high level of their commitment to their music.

Keith wanted to meet and talk with the Jackson 5 and their father

Just My Imagination'. Well, I was flabbergasted. Knocked out. Blown away. Speechless."[9]

Signs Jackson 5

Michael Jackson was just over nine years old when Keith signed the Jackson Five to a management and recording contract in 1967. He had done what no one else had managed to do, although every record company in the area was aware of them. Although Keith had a recording studio in the basement of his home in Gary, he took them to the Sunny Sawyer's studio in Chicago (formerly the Morrison Sound Studio) because of its sound and his wanting to use harmonizing vocalists and musicians of the caliber more plentiful there. The masterpiece of these recording sessions is Big Boy, written by Chicago musician and songwriter Eddie Silvers. "Big Boy" received substantial radio play in the Chicago-Northwest Indiana area after it was initially broadcast from WWCA-AM 1270 radio in Gary, and it was the first time Michael Jackson and his brothers heard themselves on the radio. In a two-part TV movie miniseries about the Jackson family (The Jacksons: An American Dream) produced by Motown and shown in 1992 on ABC, the first Jackson 5 song was incorrectly identified as "Kansas City" (released in 1959), which was actually recorded later. "Big Boy" featured a prominent lead by Michael, poignant lyrics in light of his life course, formidable vocal harmonies and, as Michael Jackson said, "a killer bass line".[10] It showcased the more soulful sound of Michael's early style, very different from the more nasal, pop sound of Motown.

To accomplish all this, Keith needed to obtain releases from others who were trying to work with the Jacksons at the time. Powerful, now legendary, disc jockeys E. Rodney Jones and Pervis Spann of Chicago's fabled black AM radio station WVON, told Keith they had spent $40,000 on the Jacksons and still could not get them a record deal. There were dozens of record labels in Chicago at the time, and Motown also returned tapes sent to them by Joe Jackson, without comment.[11] The disc jockeys told Keith to take them if he thought he could get anywhere. Keith then spoke to the Leaner Brothers who owned a prominent local record label named One-derful! (1962–1969). George and Ernie Leaner also released the Jacksons to Keith. Silvers was the music director for One-derful! Records at the time. Keith's relating of this story to a local journalist led to the August 2009 discovery by the Leaners’ children of a master recording in the One-derful! archives of the Jackson Five recording "I'm A Big Boy Now" ("Big Boy") on July 13, 1967. This recording predating Keith's Steeltown recording of "Big Boy" (the Leaner brothers had told Keith, that they did not have any Jackson Five recordings).[12] It may be worth noting, that a young singing group of siblings, the Five Stairsteps, were contemporaries of the Jacksons and were then being produced in Chicago by the late Curtis Mayfield. They ultimately had only one major hit, but may have been part of the reason the Jackson 5 group could not get signed in Chicago, just as Berry Gordy, the owner of Motown, did not yet want the trouble of working with minors which he was experiencing with Stevie Wonder over in Detroit.[13]

In May 2009, Keith had put items from the Steeltown era that he kept in a vault up for auction, including "a sizable number of mint-condition copies of "Big Boy" in

45 rpm format and 100 copies of "We Don't Have To Be Over 21 (to Fall in Love)". Keith stated, "I could use the money ... I got these guys off the ground ... I didn't truly get real money for it".[14]

Death

Gordon Keith died on November 17, 2020.[1]

Other singers and groups

Keith also managed and produced for the following:

  • Maxine Crayton – "Don't Take Your Love" / "You Better Stop": Steeltown (#670, 1967)
  • Ripples & Waves Plus Michael – "Let Me Carry Your Schoolbooks" / "I Never Had A Girl": Steeltown (#688, 1971)

Songs and records by Gordon Keith

Keith was a vocalist, his own songs on '45' records:

  • "A Teenagers Answer": Tower Records (Promotional #383)
  • Why Do't You Write (Lee Bates) / "Look Ahead" (Keith): Dragon Records
  • "I'll Try To Please You" / "This Is How I Feel": One-Derful! Records (#4844, January 14, 1963)
  • "Sweet And Kind" / "Don't Listen to the Grapevine": Steeltown (#686, 1968)
  • "Look Ahead" / "Where Do I Go From Here": Calumet Records (#682, 1975)
  • "I'll Try To Please You": Steel Town Records (#688, A/B)
  • "Tell the Story" / "Don't Take Kindness For Weakness": Steeltown Records (1981)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Keith put the company together.
  2. ^ Keith was the first president, and the secretary of Steeltown Records.

References

  1. ^ a b "William Adams Obituary (1939 - 2020) - Post Tribune". Legacy.com. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  2. ISBN 978-0446564748
  3. ISBN 978-0761357629
  4. ISBN 978-0415120838
  5. ^ "Indiana Soul". Midwest45s.org. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  6. ^ "Steeltown Records - Indiana Local Labels". 45rpmrecords.com. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  7. ^ "Big Boy 40 Jackson 5". www.jackson5abc.com. Archived from the original on December 14, 2007. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  8. ^ "Jackson 5 and Johnny |". Indiana45s.com. August 28, 2010. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  9. ^ Interviews with this author, 2009–2010, source of all attributions to Gordon Keith.
  10. ISBN 0385247125
    .
  11. ^ Grant, Adrian, Michael Jackson, The Visual Documentary, Omnibus, numerous eds.
  12. ^ Margasak, Peter. "The Jackson Find | Music Feature". Chicago Reader. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  13. ^ "Berry Gordy – Michael Jackson 1958 – 2009". Time. June 26, 2009. Archived from the original on February 19, 2010. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  14. ^ Kostanczuk, Bob (April 30, 2009). "Jackson 5 collection for sale". Post Tribune. Archived from the original on May 3, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2009.
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