ANOTHER BILLBOARD CLASSIC ‘SOUL’ RECORD AD: ’66

A BILLBOARD KING RECORDS AD PAGE RIP: “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” James Brown May 7, 1966 (click on image 2x for largest view)
JAMES BROWN * 1966

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MOTOWN SOUND GOES ITALIANA! . . . MAY 6, 1967

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1967

First England, France, Germany . . .  Motown Now Sets Sights On Italy and Spain

 

 

 

 

 

DETROIT — Tamla-Motown Records will launch an Italia language “Motown Sound” in Italy in June and may do the same for Spain. Berry Gordy Jr., president of the record company, recently flew in Peter Ricci of RCA-Italiana, to supervise recording sessions of the firm’s top acts, these included the Supremes, the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Jimmy Ruffin, Stevie Wonder, and the Temptations.

Motown product has been highly successful in Italy, but these records were all English versions, said Phil Jones, marketing director. “Sales were fantastic.” He postulated that a hit record in English released for the Italian market could hit as high as 200,000 in sales. “It’s the sound that the kids buy.”

Italian versions are expected to do much better because of the larger potential market. “The Four Tops doing ‘I Can’t Help Myself’ and their ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’ in Italian is almost unbelievable,” Jones said. Some of the tunes being released in Italian versions were previously hit records in English. The Italian versions will be released as singles, as well as an album packaging several of the artists together.

Motown Records has become established in nearly all foreign countries, Jones said. “The sound has caught on there the same as it did here. We’ve had top 10 records in almost every major country, including Argentina, Israel, England, and Spain.” All were in English. “Reach Out I’ll Be There” by the Four Tops went to No. 1 in Spain, he said. END

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(Information and source source: Billboard; May 6, 1967)

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FUNNY STUFF: BABY BOOMERS’ NOVELTY MEMORY! ’66

MRS. MILLER debut LP on Capitol Records peaked #15 on the Billboard LP chart in 1966

 

MRS. MILLER’S GREATEST HITS (Complete Album) * 1966

 

 

 

ABOUT MRS. MILLER

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Her real name was Elva Ruby Miller. At the age of 59, Mrs. Miller produced two singles, both having made her 1966 Capitol Records LP, “Mrs. Miller’s Greatest Hits.” “Downtown” (#82) and “A Lover’s Concerto” (#95) cracked the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year.

Albeit a short time, Mrs. Miller would become a national singing sensation. She made various guest appearances on various prime-time TV network shows, entertained troops in Vietnam, sang at The Hollywood Bowl, and she was even tapped for a singing part in a major motion picture, ‘The Cool Ones’ (released in 1967) when it was shot in 1966. Mrs. Miller went on to record 4 albums within a three-year span in the late-1960s.

In the book, ‘The Book Of Lists 2,’ Mrs. Miller’s voice was described as “singing in an untrained, ‘Mermanesque’ (as in Ethel Merman; a phrase punctuated by the book’s authors), vibrato-laden style.” Seriously. Nevertheless, if all else, she was just as entertaining listening to as any artist having cut a few records for a major recording label.

 

There you have it. Mrs. Miller! Just for fun 🙂

 

 

MRS. MILLER in a scene from the film ‘The Cool Ones’ 1967 (photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images)

 

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