Ollie McLaughlin
|
---|
Birth name
| Ollie Anderson McLaughlin
|
---|
Born
| (
1925-03-24
)
March 24, 1925
Carthage, Mississippi
, US
|
---|
Died
| February 19, 1984
(1984-02-19)
(aged 58)
Detroit
,
Michigan
, US
|
---|
Genres
| Jazz
,
R&B
,
pop
|
---|
Occupation(s)
| Record producer
,
record label
owner,
DJ
|
---|
Years active
| Late 1940s–1984
|
---|
Musical artist
Ollie Anderson McLaughlin
(March 24, 1925 ? February 19, 1984)
[1]
was an American record producer and record label owner. He discovered
Del Shannon
, and also organized or produced recordings by
Dave Brubeck
,
Chet Baker
,
Dorothy Ashby
,
Barbara Lewis
, and
the Capitols
, among many others.
Biography
[
edit
]
He was born in
Carthage, Mississippi
, United States,
[1]
but moved to
Ann Arbor, Michigan
, as a child. After graduating and serving in the
US Army
during
World War II
, he studied at
Columbia College
in
Chicago
,
[1]
before returning to Ann Arbor in the late 1940s to work as a
DJ
on radio station
WHRV
. He also promoted with his brother,
jazz
and
R&B
concerts.
[1]
In March 1954, he promoted a concert by the
Dave Brubeck Quartet
in Ann Arbor, parts of which were released on the album
Jazz Goes to College
, and two months later he organized
Chet Baker
's concert, issued as the
LP
Jazz at Ann Arbor
.
[2]
[3]
In 1960, he heard a
country
band led by
Charles Westover
, known at the time as Charlie Johnson, and recorded the band's
demos
, which he sent to
Harry Balk
and Irving Micahnik of Talent Artists in
Detroit
,
Michigan
. As a result, Westover was signed by
Bigtop Records
, and agreed to change his name to
Del Shannon
. McLaughlin had Shannon re-record one of his songs in
New York City
, using band member
Max Crook
's
Musitron
as lead instrument, and the resulting single, "
Runaway
", reached No. 1 in the
Billboard
chart in April 1961.
[1]
McLaughlin also produced several of Shannon's later hits, including "
Hats Off to Larry
".
[2]
[4]
In the early 1960s, McLaughlin set up Karen Records, the first of three
record labels
named after his daughters, the others being Carla and Moira.
[5]
Among the hit records he produced in the early and mid-1960s were "
Hello Stranger
", "
Baby I'm Yours
", and "
Make Me Your Baby
" by
Barbara Lewis
; "Love Makes The World Go Round" by
Deon Jackson
; and "
Cool Jerk
" by
the Capitols
.
[1]
In some cases, it is believed that McLaughlin's production credit was an outcome of his management responsibilities for the artists concerned. Many of his recordings were made in Chicago and in
Detroit
, in some cases using musicians contracted to
Motown
, and several were leased to, and released by, the
Atlantic
and
Atco
labels. Among other musicians recorded by McLaughlin were
Bettye LaVette
,
Richard Wylie
,
Ruth Copeland
, The Soul Twins,
Johnnie Mae Matthews
, and
Matt Lucas
. A number of McLaughlin's recordings from the 1960s have subsequently been reissued on
Northern soul
compilation records.
[2]
[6]
McLaughlin lived in Detroit from about 1970. He died at
Sinai Hospital
in 1984, aged 58.
[3]
McLaughlin was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2018.
[7]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Colin Larkin
, ed. (1992).
The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music
(First ed.).
Guinness Publishing
. p. 1578.
ISBN
0-85112-939-0
.
- ^
a
b
c
Biography
,
AllMusic
. Retrieved 19 April 2017
- ^
a
b
James A. Harrod, "Chet Baker Quartet: Jazz at Ann Arbor",
Jazz Research
, December 29, 2013
. Retrieved 19 April 2017
- ^
"Shannon's Back-It's On The Record",
Los Angeles Times
, 20 December 1981, Page M92.
- ^
Karen Records,
Discogs.com
. Retrieved 19 April 2017
- ^
Dave Moore, "Ollie McLaughlin - a true son of Sixties Detroit Soul",
Hitsville International Soul Club
, 2005
. Retrieved 19 April 2017
- ^
"BARBARA LEWIS - Michigan Rock and Roll Legends"
.
Michiganrockandrolllegends.com
. Retrieved
25 January
2021
.
External links
[
edit
]