Black Ivory / Leroy Burgess question

[discodjinn]

Can anyone identify the lead singer on "Mainline?" The "Hangin' Heavy" lp from which the cut is taken shows Black Ivory reduced to Russell Patterson and Stuart Bascome; by this point Leroy Burgess was contributing as a songwriter, arranger, and back-up vocalist. My guess is that "Mainline" was sung by Patterson, but I was hoping someone knew for sure.

[The Lord of Flatbush]

On 2002-08-03 10:20, discodjinn wrote:
Can anyone identify the lead singer on "Mainline?" The "Hangin' Heavy" lp from which the cut is taken shows Black Ivory reduced to Russell Patterson and Stuart Bascome; by this point Leroy Burgess was contributing as a songwriter, arranger, and back-up vocalist. My guess is that "Mainline" was sung by Patterson, but I was hoping someone knew for sure.

Leroy Burgess was the lead vocalist on "Mainline" by Black Ivory.

[discodjinn]

OK, so now I'm confused. The album's cover photo shows the group reduced to a duo-- Burgess is not pictured. The credits list Burgess for background vocals and arranging. So if he gave the great lead in "Mainline," how did it go so uncredited? Had "Mainline" been released as a single long before the "Hangin' Heavy" lp, included on the album from a later studio session? Why are disco album notes sometimes so damn cryptic??

[The Lord of Flatbush]

Take this for example: Change - Angel In My Pocket was lead vocal by Jocelyn Shaw aka Jocelyn Brown. It happens in the business all of the time, studio vocalists or musicians doesn't get the credit for various reasons. Drummer Courtney Williams played on "Perfection" by Run-DMC but only received "Thank You" credit because he was under eighteen at the time of the "Raising Hell" LP release.

[hotdiscomix]

Maybe you find more hints to Leroy's website:
http://www.leroyburgess.com/

[discodjinn]

Thanks for the info-- especially the Burgess website. It was here that I discovered that the second volume of the Leroy Burgess Anthology has been released in Europe, but not in the States!

I just got my copy of the cd from amazon.uk, and thought I'd pass along some interesting information. In the liner notes, Burgess clarifies that he had left the group Black Ivory in 1977-- two years before the release of "Mainline." He continued to make contributions behind the scenes, but was not one of the lead vocalists. Burgess writes that Russell Patterson sang lead on "Mainline."

I think perhaps the general misperception that Burgess sang lead on this great single is because Burgess wrote it-- and his songwriting seems to have such a unique "fingerprint" that it comes across as his singing even when it is not.