The Showstoppers

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For the American Idol album, see American Idol Season 4: The Showstoppers.
The Showstoppers
OriginPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
GenresR&B, soul
Years active1967–1972
LabelsShowtime, Guyden, Heritage, MGM, Beacon.
Past members"Alex" Burke
"Laddie" Burke
Earl Smith
Timmy Smith

The Showstoppers (alternatively the Show Stoppers)

Heritage Records, and Beacon Records.[2]

History

The Showstoppers was formed about 1967 by brothers, Elec Edward "Alex" Burke and Vladimir H. "Laddie" Burke who were the two oldest of the five younger brothers of

Atlantic Record's star Solomon Burke, who joined with fellow Germantown High School students, brothers Earl and Timmy Smith.[1][3] The Burke brothers had been in show business since at least 1957 as part of a four-member group with two of their two younger brothers.[4]

"Ain't Nothin' But a House Party" (1967)

After rehearsing under the guidance of Solomon Burke,

hit "Ain't Nothin' But a Houseparty" b/w "What Can a Man Do?" (STR 101), sold well in Pittsburgh, and New York City,[6] and sold about 40,000 copies in Philadelphia, and reached No. 118 on the Billboard chart on May 27, 1967.[7][8] The session musicians on the song included Carl Chambers, who was later drummer with Gladys Knight & the Pips, Joe Thomas, who went on to become the guitarist with the Impressions, and Motown's Mike Terry on baritone sax.[9]

By early 1968, the

Barclay Records, and later released by Beacon in Scandinavia, the Benelux countries, Austria, Italy, Japan and New Zealand.[2]

Jerry J. Ross, the head of newly created

MGM, it failed to become a national hit,[1] spending 5 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 87 on June 22, 1968.[8][27] It was ranked No. 20 on the Soul Brothers Top 20 on August 15, 1968.[28]

"Ain't Nothin' But a House Party" was a disco hit (#33) in 1971.[29]

Regarded as a

the Corporation
.

"Eeny Meeny" (1968)

All of the Showstoppers subsequent singles were produced by

lip synched "Ain't Nothin' But a House Party" and their new release, "Eeny Meeny".[36] After Milton Samuel negotiated a deal in October 1968 to distribute Beacon Records recordings through EMI,[20] on November 13, 1968 "Eeny Meeny",[29]
(MGM 1436), entered the UK chart, where it spent the next seven weeks, peaking at No. 33.

Later releases (1968–1972)

The Showstoppers released several more singles, including "Shake Your Mini" (1968);[37] and 1969's "Just A Little Bit Of Lovin'" b/w "School Prom" (Beacon BEA 130), however none achieved chart success.

Chart success in the UK and Europe "created demand not only for the record but for live appearances as well". As the Showstoppers had disbanded, Jerry Ross sent a different group on an entire tour of the UK and Europe as the Show Stoppers,

better source needed
]

On January 17, 1971, the Showstoppers performed at the

Manchester, England. The Showstoppers made their third and final appearance on Top of the Pops on February 28, 1971, singing the disco version of "Aint' Nothing But a House Party".[39]

After their own tour of Europe, and in the absence of any other hit records, the Showstoppers disbanded finally about 1972.[5]

Group members

  • Alex Burke (born 1948) – vocalist
  • Laddie Burke (born 1949) – vocalist
  • Earl Smith (born 1949) – lead vocalist
  • Fleming Tinsley "Timmy" Smith III – vocalist[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Biography by Andrew Hamiltion". AllMusic. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  2. ^ a b Nigel Hunter, "London", Billboard (May 11, 1968) p.50
  3. ^ a b "The Showstoppers Page". Soulwalking.co.uk. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  4. ^ Ruth Rolen, "Singer Solomon Burke Lives the Lyrics; Pastors at 13", The Washington Afro-American (August 17, 1957):18.
  5. ^ a b c Frank W. Hoffmann, Rhythm and Blues, Rap, and Hip-Hop, Vol. 6 (Infobase Publishing, 2006):239.
  6. ^ "Ain't Nothin' But a Smash!", Billboard (May 27, 1967):53.
  7. ^ Billboard (May 27, 1967):20.
  8. ^ a b "The Whitewolf Zone". The Whitewolf Zone. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  9. ^ Williams, Richard (December 1, 2008). "Obituary: Mike Terry". The Guardian. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  10. ^ "Doug Flett". Doug Flett. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  11. ^ "'Party' Bows Beacon", Billboard (February 17, 1968):41.
  12. ^ a b "Soul & Funk : Billy Ward and the Dominoes : Sixty Minute Man (Rev-Ola; CD)". Shindig-magazine.com. Archived from the original on October 17, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  13. ^ a b "London", Billboard (December 16, 1967):50.
  14. ^ "Grenville Radio Ltd". Radiozdk.com. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  15. ^ Blues & Soul, Issues 576–588 (1990),
  16. ^ "Show Stoppers". ska2soul.net. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  17. ^ "'Paty' Bows Beacon", Billboard (February 17, 1968):41.
  18. ^ Nigel Hunter, London", Billboard (March 23, 1968):47.
  19. ^ "Speaking Words of Wisdom – Mersey Beat". Triumphpc.com. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  20. ^ a b Graeme Andrews, "London", Billboard (October 5, 1968):57.
  21. ^ "Showstoppers: UK Top 10 hits". Chartwatch.co.uk. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  22. ^ Billboard (March 23, 1968):50.
  23. ^ Nigel Hunter, "London" Billboard (March 30, 1968):56.
  24. ^ [1] Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ Billboard (May 4, 1968):53.
  26. ^ "'Houseparty' Disk Goes to Heritage", Billboard (April 27, 1968):12.
  27. ^ "Solomon Burke " So Many Records, So Little Time". Somanyrecordssolittletime.com. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  28. ^ "Soul Brothers Top 20", Jet (August 15, 1968):65.
  29. ^
    ISBN 978-1-904994-10-7
    .
  30. ^ Melinda Bilyeu, Hector Cook, and Andrew Môn Hughes, The Bee Gees: Tales of the Brothers Gibb, 2nd ed. (Omnibus Press, 2004):200.
  31. ^ "Yahoo Music – Exclusive New Music and Music Videos". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  32. ^ "Record Shorts", Echoes (November 8, 1986):4.
  33. ^ Brian Chin, "Dance Trax", Billboard (November 8, 1986):29.
  34. ^ [2] Archived July 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  35. ^ TV.com (April 7, 2009). "Beat! Beat! Beat!". TV.com. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  36. ^ "Beat! Beat! Beat! – Season 4, Episode 1: Show 24: November 7, 1968". TV.com. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  37. ^ Larry Grogan, "The Show Stoppers – Shake Your Mini", (August 10, 2005)
  38. ^ "Frank Pozen's Big Bad Blog: August 2010". Frankp316.blogspot.com. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  39. ^ "This section features Top of the". Homepage.ntlworld.com. Archived from the original on August 5, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2014.

Further reading

  • Larkin, Colin, ed. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 3. Guinness, 1992.
  • Larkin, Colin, ed. The Virgin Encyclopedia of R&B and Soul. Virgin (in association with Muze Inc.), 1998.

External links

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