Marlin McNichols

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Marlin McNichols

Producer and record label owner

President CEO- Angel Dove Music Entertainment Group / CO-CEO Mar-Tel Entertainment Worldwide.

Dr. Marlin McNichols an accomplished executive with outstanding credentials and a proven track record of success, has in various incarnations, been in the music and entertainment business for more than three decades.

In the late 1960’s, Dr. McNichols began concert booking and promotions, slowly graduating to artist management, record production, radio promotion, music publishing, and even became a record label owner with distribution deals with such major record distributors such as Capitol Records, MCA Records, Central South Distribution, Columbia Records, and disco giant Sal Soul Records.

Not only is Dr. Marlin McNichols regarded favorably by the foremost executives of many of the US major record labels, his influence extends throughout the ranks of the music industry’s most successful promotional marketing operatives. As a successful radio promotion executive. Dr. McNichols was retained by such industry pillars as Atlantic Records, Warner Bros Records, Elektra Records, LaFace Records, Source/ MCA Records, for his promotional skills at radio and retail where he was instrumental in breaking such R&B as Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Brook Benton, RB Graves, Toni Braxton, Sol Soul Orchester, Loletta Holloway, etc. McNichols was also in the Pop Mix at Atlantic Records, assisting at radio in the careers of the Bee Gees, Rolling Stones, Bad Company, Crosby Stills, Nash and Young, Blind Faith, Led Zeppelin, etc.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Production credits includes, producing gospel great Dorothy Norwood’s highly acclaimed and ground breaking R & B and gospel album on GRC records, “You Got To Have Rain In Your Life.” This single with the same title went number 3 on the Billboard charts and number 1 on Cash Box music charts. Dr. McNichols and Edwin Starr's collaboration with Motown Records famed producers Johnny Bristol and Harvey Fugaw produced the gold single and Album “25 Miles” a song that Starr and McNichols wrote together three years before Motown recorded the song. McNichols says “the label copy does not reflect his name as one of the writers because in those days I did not know the ins and outs of our industry dealing with the paper work but I grow up fast.”

In the late seventies McNichols started several record labels and teamed up with artist, producer, writer, arranger Tommy Stewart and along with writer Bill Wright and Milan Bodgan Engineer at the Sound Pit Studios in Atlanta Georgia turned out some great Disco Music recording such groups as Final Approach “We Like To Boggie” / Que Pasa (Gold Plate Records) Cream De CoCo (Free Spirit Records) Tamiko Jones “Let It Flow” (TK Disco), Moses Davis (“Love To Live /”Something About You”) (Pure Silk Records), and Tommy Stewarts legendary album. All the rhythm tracks were laid by home grown Atlanta Musicians, Tommy and Marlin McNichols would fly into Detroit and use the same horn and string players that played on all those great sounding Motown Records on their Atlanta Recordings bringing together southern funk blended with soft and lush strings and horns. All artists were from Atlanta.

Final Approach was a studio group and after Bill Wright and Tommy Stewart wrote the song ‘We Like To Boggie” and “Que Pasa and brought the song to Dr. Marlin McNichols he loved the songs so while he created a studio group make up of Cream De CoCo and some more people that was hanging around the studio at that time and produced the session. Cream De CoCo was four female students discovered by Tommy Stewart while they were attending Spellman College, Tamiko Jones and industry veteran need a hit song and the ideal of “Let Your Love Flow” came from Marlin McNichols and co-wrote the song with Tommy Stewart, Bill Wright and Tamiko Jones.

Mose Davis was a member of the Fabulous Counts and when he went solo he turned to group’s then manager Marlin McNichols to co-produce his project. The Third World Band was a self contained band from Atlanta and by Tommy Stewart being a great musician himself and when the label was looking for a self contained band this was a perfect fit and the song “Boogie At The Disco” was born.

At the present time Dr. Marlin McNichols and his writer, author, and producer wife Joyce Dozier McNichols are working on several productions that will be released in early 2007. Tommy Stewart lives in Alabama and there has been rumors that Dr. Marlin McNichols and Tommy Stewart are going to team up again and make some more great dance music with a techno feel.

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The following is from e-mail correspondences with Mr. McNichols in the fall of 2006 regarding his 1970s output especially with Tommy Stewart.

Great to hear back from you. We produced all the Tommy Stewart rhythm tracks in Atlanta, GA. Tommy and myself then took a plane into Detroit and put the horns and strings on using the same string and horn sections that played a major role in making Motown Records.

When Motown Records left Detroit and went to LA in the early seventies although I had major success working with Motown artist Edwin Starr, I did not move to LA at that time. A new label was in the makings in Atlanta called GRC and I was asked to join their team. I took my groups the Fabulous Counts, and Deep Velvet and moved to Atlanta.

My good friend Floyd Smith from Chicago also made the jump to Atlanta bringing with him his female artist Loletta Holloway, male artist John Edwards. I wrote John's first hit "Exercise My Love". After GRC Records went out of business I started the production company along with Tommy Stewart that produced Tommy Stewart, Cream De CoCo, Final Approach, Mose Davis, Tamiko Jones, etc.

Although I brought Motown's Funk Brothers into Atlanta from Detroit using them on many recordings, but all the recordings done on Tommy, Cream De CoCo, Tamiko Jones, Mose Davis, Sid Austin, Third World Band, SOS Band, ect were home grown Atlanta musicians

All these sessions were engineed by Milan Bodgan and mixed by Milan and myself at the Sound Pit recording studios. Hopefully this information will give you some of the information seeking. Look at my website www.mtcge.com and the site will give you an update on what I am up to.

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