I'm curious to know from the East Coasters, was Solar and its artists big over there? I know they were hot out West and here in the Midwest (they had The Deele, so ya know), but did this sound catch on for you guys?

Timmy84 said:

Apparently Casablanca was one of those labels that openly hooked up their artists w/ dope and girls (or boys). That was far from uncommon, but they seemed to take it to another level. They had KISS signed, so who should be surprised?

According to my mom, Shalamar was huge-my family is east coast based

I got into shalamar last year and i'm only 21 lol my mom was a fan I believe , So I'm interested in seeing this unsung.

brooksie said:

Oh hell yes. Shalamar's music was the soundtrack to our lives here
on the east coast particularly if you were in high school. Me and
my sister often talk about how our mom's deceased friend introduced
us to shalamar. She would always play shalamar's Second Time Around
to death. I was in middle school then. In high school, me and my friends
would ride around town after high school games to the nearest burger and
shake joint jammin to Make that move. I remember being on the marching
band in high school and our jazz band would always play Somewhere there's
a love for me. Classic.

bboy87 said:

The same thing can be said about hip-hop/rap labels of yesteryear.

Motown was THE only r&b label that didn't go out. But that's only because Universal owns it.

TonyVanDam said:

That and their catalogue.
[Edited 6/17/09 13:33pm]

brooksie said:

Shalamar was big in the East and the South. So were the Whispers and Midnight Starr. As for the others? Not so much even though we played Dynasty's "I Don't Wanna Be a Freak" just as much over here and "I Just Begun to Love You".

TD3 said:

THAT was funny in context!

Just so everyone knows, Dick Griffey is Suge Knight's uncle. The now-former Death Row Studio is located with the same building where SOLAR studio once existed.

TonyVanDam said:

A chip off the old block.

brooksie said:

.....yeah, at the risk of having their YT accounts removed.

I wonder if jeffrey is going to talk about beating up stephanie mills

Graycap23 said:

Sad but true.

babybugz said:

I doubt it.

TV one posts the unsung eps and other yt users have posted clips from the show and they are still up

Edmonds Entertainment, Babyface's company is in the old Solar Building on Cahuenga. I work there every once in a while. Suge Knight used to roll up as regularly as 3 years ago, looking for people owing him money. Needless to say, security is no joke there.

Graycap23 said:

Well Stax is back from the dead. Very small, true, but now relasing new material. They're behind the new Teena Marie joint and have Lalah Hatathway and Angie Stone.

Timmy84 said:

Yeah...I'm glad to hear y'all say they had an East Coast profile back then. I knew they were big in the South cuz so much of the LA sound was. Funny thing was that they has so many Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana derived artists they couldn't help but be big here.

I do recall Lakeside's music tho. Maybe they were before my time.

brooksie said:

Oh yeah I forgot about Lakeside! They were definitely BIG in the South!

scriptgirl said:

What role did Ruthless and Death Row play w/ SOLAR? I saw a doc about Death Row and it seems some of SOLAR's downfall may have been connected to it, but I don't know the details.

I'm not sure. All that ish is before my time. I know no one really wants to talk about Suge-allegedly, there are still bullet holes that can be found in the walls of the building-and I had no idea that it housed Solar until an old timer told me.

brooksie said:

Is the sky blue???

Hell fucking yeah, man! Shit, you should see my vinyl collection from the early 80s - nothing but SOLAR jams!!

yeah...gotta see this one

vainandy said:

Yeah, until that pretty motherf***er (Micki Free) stole the women's attention from Howard Hewitt!

Timmy84 said:

You mean like losing "HALF!" from his ex-wife Nia Peeples?!?
[Edited 6/17/09 19:22pm]

I never knew Mickey Free was native american till recently

TonyVanDam said:

Well I'll be

TD3 said:

They do look alike tho.

Howard Hewitt really dogged Jody and Jeffrey I remember in 1983 when they left the group (shortly after "Dead Giveaway" became a big hit),he paraded the new member around (Micki Free) and the two of them held a highly publicized "audition" to replace Jody Watley.This was covered in magazines like Black Beat and Right On!.Worse of all,he filmed a video for "Over And Over" (the last single that featured Howard,Jody and Jeffrey) as a solo performance! It's as if he's saying "See? I don't need you losers".


Howard was acting as if Jody and Jeffrey were easily replaceable but karma has a way of catching up to people.The "new" Shalamar released the album 'Heartbreak' in 1984 and it bombed.Howard pursued a solo career,but Jody got the last laugh when her own solo album was released in 1987.It went platinum,had a whopping five hit singles,and won her a Grammy for Best New Artist.

SoulAlive said:

I wasn't aware... Your the new kid on the block an interloper at best and you're trying to pull rank? I'm the leader? WTF? When Mr. Hewitt said, "We were full of ourselves...." Why do I think Ms. Watley and Mr. Daniel's were probably saying, "speak for yourself jerk." Yeah, karma is a motherf&$!@#!

Oops.

The REASON why Jody won't return to Shalamar is simple as ABC's, Howard was a damn JERK to her and Jeffrey. Sure Jeffrey returned for the sake of probably the group's legacy but I don't know if their reunion even continued anyway.