ABC-Paramount was a New York company that signed The Impressions in 1961, after the group left Vee-Jay Records. Everything started brilliantly, with their first release on the new label going to number two on the R&B chart and number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100, their best results up to that point. The single “Gypsy Woman” was inspired, according to author Curtis Mayfield, by a scene in a film in which a woman is dancing around a fire. The arrangements are generally simple with a hint of latin rhythm and castanets adding an unusual touch. Mayfield’s voice is light, in the higher tenor register, with bursts of falsetto, which gave the group a unique vocal sound, different from that of other groups in and around Chicago.
The eight follow-up releases were less successful, resulting in the departure of the Brooks brothers. The group decided to return to Chicago as a trio and began working with Johnny Pate, whose arrangements added a smoother, richer quality to the group’s sound. This gave them a competitive edge over their contemporaries, especially The Temptations, who were the most popular vocal group at the time. The improvement brought them a gold single. “It’s All Right”, released in 1963, reached number one on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles Chart week-ending 9th November 1963 (2 weeks) and number four on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.
On the strength of this single, ABC-Paramount decided to open an office in Chicago and to appoint Johnny Pate as A&R director in 1964. It was a good decision! The group embarked on a hugely successful phase of their career, with most of the recordings being made at Universal Recording Corporation in Chicago. Pate was also able to add to the company’s R&B roster by signing the Marvelows, the Trends, the Kittens, and Betty Everett, who had also been at Vee-Jay.
Between 1964 and 1968, ABC released twenty-three Impressions singles and seven studio albums, up to 1967 on the ABC-Paramount label and then simply on ABC. Eighteen of the singles entered the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, fourteen entered the Billboard R&B Chart, with five deprived of the opportunity by Billboard’s decision not to issue an R&B chart between November 1963 and January 1965. The most successful of them was “We’re A Winner”, which reached number fourteen on the Pop chart and number one on the R&B chart in 1967. Of the seven studio albums, five made the top four of the R&B Albums chart, and all seven entered the Billboard 200 Albums chart. The group achieved a remarkable level of consistency and clearly made a big impression on all sectors of the market.
“We’re A Winner” is the culmination of a new strand in Mayfield’s songwriting, that began in 1964 with the release of “Keep On Pushing”. This song encapsulates why Curtis Mayfield is such an important figure in the music industry. He set out to focus many of his songs on issues affecting his community and to do so in a positive way. Black pride and ambitions were given an enormous boost by the success of The Impressions in this period and later by Mayfield’s solo work. The social and political impact of his work makes Chicago Soul outstanding, so let us consider three songs amongst many from the ABC-Paramount years.
“Keep On Pushing” reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent two weeks at number one on the Cashbox R&B chart in 1964. Johnny Pate’s arrangements added punchy horns and drums to the lush falsetto-laden harmonies of the three voices.
“People Get Ready”, issued the following year, is a masterpiece. It is a Gospel-inspired anthem, with a simple melody and lush strings, that Rolling Stone Magazine nominated as the twenty-fourth greatest song of all time. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. The secret to its success is warmth of the voices and the “singability” of the tune. The message is positive and full of joy. A lot of people did indeed get on board, as the song rose to number three on the R&B chart and number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a perfect song that rallied the Black community without a threat to other communities. Dr. Martin Luther King made this song the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, and in 2015 it was chosen for preservation in the Library of Congress by reason of its “cultural, historic, or artistic significance”. It was probably all three!
“We’re A Winner” from 1967 is the third in the sequence, providing the clearest example of the three of Mayfield’s focus on issues of Black Pride. The idea for the song came to Mayfield in a dream:
“No more tears do we cry, The Black boy done dried his eyes, We’re movin’ on up” (song lyrics).
In 1968, Mayfield set up Curtom Records with Eddie Thomas, The Impressions’ manager, and the group moved to the new label, leaving behind a very strong body of work at ABC.
Johnny Pate signed The Marvelows to ABC-Paramount in 1964 and recorded five singles with them. Only one of their songs broke into the charts, “I Do”, in 1965, reaching number seven on the R&B chart and number thirty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100. The group’s sound was very influenced by Doo-Wop.
The Trends formed in 1964 and signed for ABC two years later, going on to release seven singles. The Thomas Dorsey song “No One There” is representative of their style, smooth vocals backed by very bright horns.
The Kittens were a group of Chicago high school students who started singing together in 1962. Johnny Pate signed them to ABC-Paramount in 1964, where they recorded four singles in a style that is very like that of some of the Motown girl groups. The trio moved to Chess Records in 1967. None of their songs charted, but they have since become popular amongst the Northern Soul fans in the UK. “Lookie Lookie” is typical of their repertoire.
Betty Everett left Vee-Jay when the company folded. She signed for ABC in 1966 and stayed for only one year. In that time, she managed to record four singles.
“Bye Bye Baby” is an up-tempo dance track, a cover of a Mary Wells’ Motown song. The B-side, “Your Love Is Important To Me”, originally recorded at One-derful in 1962, is an excellent Blues ballad. “I Can’t Say” changes style again. It is a slow Soul ballad, with a certain swing to the beat. “Love Comes Tumbling Down” is a Billy Butler song, with an exciting arrangement by Johnny Pate. It is the best of Everett’s ABC collection. Johnny Pate worked on all the songs, with producer Al Smith.
From 1968 until 1972, Johnny Pate worked at Curtom with Curtis Mayfield. Without him, Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions, ABC-Paramount’s contribution to the R&B music of Chicago faded away.
