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jsoulsmith, on 07 February 2010 - 09:01 PM, said:
I believe (from reading Manifeasto) that Simon White (along with many many others) is a really big fan of Debbie Taylor.
SO HERE GOES .....
............some of this info is copied across from the thread on Shiptown Records ….
Debbie Taylor (later to record for the likes of GWP and Arista) and another friend told a third acquaintance, Barbara Holmes, about Shiptown Records in 1967. Intrigued, the three girls went to see Mr. Biggs to determine if they could get themselves a shot at fame. Norfolk also had a thriving gospel music scene and it was in church that Debbie and Barbara had first learnt to enjoy singing. Another acquaintance who also followed the same career path was their contemporary, Shirley Johnson. Luckily the day Debbie and Barbara turned up, Noah was in his office and he asked them why they had come to see him. Barbara spoke up, saying that she had come down to sing and so she was asked to perform a song. Not one to pass up a chance, Barbara sang an Aretha Franklin number, perhaps not the easiest choice a young singer could make. However before she had even finished the song, Noah hired her and asked if she was ready to work. The next thing she knew, she was under contract and singing with the Idets on backing vocals for several other artists. Noah was really impressed with Barbara and soon decided that her vocal talent was not being fully realized in a group setting. He decided that she should be developed as a solo artist and Ida came up with her stage name, Barbara Stant.
Some answers to questions I fired off to Barbara Stant ... it turns out that .... she started to sing in her church choir at about age 10 or 11. Maybe about a year later she was asked to join this gospel group. They were all pre-teens and all in the same church ..... They sounded good but there was something missing (she says). One night they were on a program and a young lady sang with another group (all the other members of which were adults). She had the VOICE and played the piano too. It became their mission to get her into "Barbara's" group. Her name was Maddie, now known to the world as Debbie Taylor. The pair (Barbara & Debbie) have been friends ever since.
Barbara met Noah Biggs in 1967. After she finished high school, she got a job at a theatre on Church Street, Norfolk. Around a year later, she was introduced to Mr. Biggs when she visited his Shiptown Record’s office.
Chicago based (but brought up in Norfolk, Va) Shirley Johnson also sang with Debbie Taylor in church & in gospel group's in the 1960's (Shirley was born in 1949 or 1950, can't recall exactly which year at present) ... so was also a contemporary of Debbies back then.
Shirley would also record for Shiptown in the 70's BUT for some reason Debbie had travelled down to Memphis in the 60's to record her 1st 45 release there (perhaps she was spotted on a show in Norfolk by a Memphis based artist OR maybe she had family ties to Memphis). She didn't tie up with Shiptown or any other Norfolk based record outfit but poped up in NY for her next record deal.
MORE ON DEBBIE TAYLOR ... moving onto the mid 70’s … Arista doesn't have the rights to the single they released on Debbie back in 1975 (“I Don’t Wanna Leave You / Just Don’t Pay”). That is the reason nobody has been able to license it. A complete album on Debbie was finished back then and available to Arista but David Jordan was told that Arista wasn't interested in any more records like her 45. Tom Moulton believes that David got the single rights back. Tom worked on this Debbie Taylor album project for David Jordan not the label. Andrew Smith died about 10 years back and Debbie plus David Jordan just seemed to disappear after that time.
Some of the tracks on the ‘unrleased album’ were … “Such a lovely day”; “Dreaming of a brighter day”; “When you came into my life”; “Bad luck Friday”
Our own Dave Thorley has the above songs, as demo’d by Andrew Smith on an acetate.
David Jordan was last heard of working on Ed Summers “I Can Tell” (released as a Soya 45) in 1980. Summers was originally from Detroit.
Its highly likely then that Debbie was born around the late 1940's / very early 1950's and that she was either born & raised in Norfolk or just grew up there.
Any other info on this fine singer much appreciated.
SO HERE GOES .....
............some of this info is copied across from the thread on Shiptown Records ….
Debbie Taylor (later to record for the likes of GWP and Arista) and another friend told a third acquaintance, Barbara Holmes, about Shiptown Records in 1967. Intrigued, the three girls went to see Mr. Biggs to determine if they could get themselves a shot at fame. Norfolk also had a thriving gospel music scene and it was in church that Debbie and Barbara had first learnt to enjoy singing. Another acquaintance who also followed the same career path was their contemporary, Shirley Johnson. Luckily the day Debbie and Barbara turned up, Noah was in his office and he asked them why they had come to see him. Barbara spoke up, saying that she had come down to sing and so she was asked to perform a song. Not one to pass up a chance, Barbara sang an Aretha Franklin number, perhaps not the easiest choice a young singer could make. However before she had even finished the song, Noah hired her and asked if she was ready to work. The next thing she knew, she was under contract and singing with the Idets on backing vocals for several other artists. Noah was really impressed with Barbara and soon decided that her vocal talent was not being fully realized in a group setting. He decided that she should be developed as a solo artist and Ida came up with her stage name, Barbara Stant.
Some answers to questions I fired off to Barbara Stant ... it turns out that .... she started to sing in her church choir at about age 10 or 11. Maybe about a year later she was asked to join this gospel group. They were all pre-teens and all in the same church ..... They sounded good but there was something missing (she says). One night they were on a program and a young lady sang with another group (all the other members of which were adults). She had the VOICE and played the piano too. It became their mission to get her into "Barbara's" group. Her name was Maddie, now known to the world as Debbie Taylor. The pair (Barbara & Debbie) have been friends ever since.
Barbara met Noah Biggs in 1967. After she finished high school, she got a job at a theatre on Church Street, Norfolk. Around a year later, she was introduced to Mr. Biggs when she visited his Shiptown Record’s office.
Chicago based (but brought up in Norfolk, Va) Shirley Johnson also sang with Debbie Taylor in church & in gospel group's in the 1960's (Shirley was born in 1949 or 1950, can't recall exactly which year at present) ... so was also a contemporary of Debbies back then.
Shirley would also record for Shiptown in the 70's BUT for some reason Debbie had travelled down to Memphis in the 60's to record her 1st 45 release there (perhaps she was spotted on a show in Norfolk by a Memphis based artist OR maybe she had family ties to Memphis). She didn't tie up with Shiptown or any other Norfolk based record outfit but poped up in NY for her next record deal.
MORE ON DEBBIE TAYLOR ... moving onto the mid 70’s … Arista doesn't have the rights to the single they released on Debbie back in 1975 (“I Don’t Wanna Leave You / Just Don’t Pay”). That is the reason nobody has been able to license it. A complete album on Debbie was finished back then and available to Arista but David Jordan was told that Arista wasn't interested in any more records like her 45. Tom Moulton believes that David got the single rights back. Tom worked on this Debbie Taylor album project for David Jordan not the label. Andrew Smith died about 10 years back and Debbie plus David Jordan just seemed to disappear after that time.
Some of the tracks on the ‘unrleased album’ were … “Such a lovely day”; “Dreaming of a brighter day”; “When you came into my life”; “Bad luck Friday”
Our own Dave Thorley has the above songs, as demo’d by Andrew Smith on an acetate.
David Jordan was last heard of working on Ed Summers “I Can Tell” (released as a Soya 45) in 1980. Summers was originally from Detroit.
Its highly likely then that Debbie was born around the late 1940's / very early 1950's and that she was either born & raised in Norfolk or just grew up there.
Any other info on this fine singer much appreciated.
**FOR SALE**I HAVE 2 BARBARA STANT: MY MIND HOLDS ON TO YESTERDAY'/ YOU'VE GOT TO TRY IT AGAIN" ON SHIPTOWN' COND. MINT!
DSC00825.JPG (960.28K)
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