In the history of soul music in Washington, the Rainbows are remembered less for their several minor hits than for a trio of major talents who were, at one point or another, part of the vocal ensemble in the mid '50s. One, Marvin Gaye, is a certified giant. Another is Don Covay, an often-overlooked artist whose song closet has been raided by everyone from Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones. The last is Billy Stewart, a superb vocalist who died more than three decades ago and is now sadly forgotten.
Two of Washington's greatest old-school soul bands, Eddie Jones & the Young Bucks and the Mustangs, celebrate not only soul music, but the Rainbows' legacy with a free Weekend's Weekend show Friday at Carter Barron Ampitheatre in Northwest Washington. Expect not only a stroll down memory lane with songs from the Gaye-Covay-Stewart trifecta, but also a trip back in time with Mustangs vocalist Skip Mahoney, who had substantial regional hits in the '70s while fronting the Casuals.
Mahoney, David Akers and Barbara Malone are the powerhouse vocal trio fronting the 11-piece Mustangs, who have been serving up classic soul (heavy on Stax and Motown) since 1992. "We want to be representative of all the various incarnations of R&B," says founder and guitarist David Panzer, who says his job has been made easier by "the music's deep roots in Washington and the fact that there are a lot of different age groups here that appreciate different eras of R&B. There's also a huge talent base of people who have been playing this music all their lives." Panzer, for example, spent years touring the world with Wilson Pickett, and Ackers was with the Wicked One for 12 years as backup singer, trumpet player and MC. Drummer Ignatius Mason and percussionist Earl "Applejack" Freeman often play with Clarence Carter.
The Young Bucks have three strong vocalists, as well: guitarist Jones, who joined the group in 1966 at age 14; brother Earl Jones, who joined in 1971; and keyboardist Johnell Gray. The band was founded by Earl Simpson in 1955, when much of the music they played was still several decades away from being called classic soul.
"The '50s, that was my era," Eddie Jones says, "probably because the music wasn't always that great but the singing was, and that is pretty much what's interested me since I've been at the helm of this group [Simpson retired in 1971]. I put the singing first -- some nights the music is not going to click, but if the singing does, nobody's going to care! The music got more sophisticated in the '60s, but for me, the '50s was the highlight."
In the '50s, when Washington was a hotbed of R&B, the Rainbows recorded three doo-wop singles titled after women's names: 1955's rousing "Mary Lee" (the best-known), "Shirley" and "Minnie." The original group included lead singer Ronald Miles, John Berry and members whose frequent departures opened the door for a string of replacements. Berry recruited Chester Simmons and Covay to form the best-known lineup; Covay and Gaye were subs in 1956 but didn't record with the original Rainbows, who never succeeded beyond Washington and Baltimore and disbanded in 1957. Miles formed a new Rainbows in 1961; one of its latter-day members, tenor Joe Walls, still performs locally under the Rainbows name.
In 1957, Gaye, Simmons and part-time Rainbows James Nolan and Reese Palmer graduated to the Bo Diddley-produced Marquees ("Hey Little Schoolgirl"), who, after hooking up with Harvey Fuqua, became the new Moonglows. Fuqua then took Gaye to Detroit, where he would find his original voice at Motown, becoming one of soul music's greats and recording dozens of classic hits before his death in 1984. Expect to hear a few of them tonight.
Also in 1957, Don Covay hooked up with Little Richard as both chauffeur and opening act. When the pompadoured one decided to retire that year, he named Covay his replacement and inheritor of his backup band, the Upsetters. That same year, under the name Pretty Boy, Covay recorded the raucous Richard-like rocker, "Bip Bop Bip." His next success, co-authored with Berry, was 1960's "Pony Time." Covay's version didn't do well, but Chubby Checker's cover topped both the pop and R&B charts a year later, and from then on Covay would be better known as a songwriter than as a vocalist, though he had considerable influence as a singer, as well. His 1964 single, "Mercy Mercy," only went to No. 35 on the R&B charts, but Mick Jagger was so enthralled with Covay's vocal style that he virtually copied him when the Rolling Stones included it as the opening track to the U.S. version of their 1965 album, "Out of Our Heads." Jagger would later acknowledge Covay as "a major creative influence."
While continuing to record as Don Covay and the Goodtimers, the artist began supplying hit material to many artists: Aretha Franklin ("Chain of Fools" and "See Saw," which had been Covay's biggest R&B hit as a performer, reaching No. 5 on the chart), Wilson Pickett ("I'm Gonna Cry" and "Three Time Loser") and Gladys Knight & the Pips ("Letter Full of Tears"). Rockers loved Covay's tunes -- "Sookie Sookie" was a staple for Steppenwolf, the Small Faces covered "Take This Hurt Off Me" and the Spencer Davis Group did "Please Do Something." Even teen idols dug him: Fabian recorded "Hold On" and "Tongue Tied" and Connie Francis did "Mr. Twister." In 1973, Covay's classic adultery song, "I Was Checkin' Out, She Was Checkin' In," became his last hit (No. 6 R&B, No. 29 pop).
After Covay's wife died in the early '80s, he quit the music business, coming back only when Keith Richards invited him to work on the Stones' 1986 album, "Dirty Work." Six years later, after Covay suffered a stroke, he was honored with a tribute album featuring covers by an all-star gathering that included Ron Wood, Robert Cray, Bobby Womack, Iggy Pop and Jimmy Witherspoon. Jagger and the Stones did more than pay lip service: After his stroke, they bought Covay a van with a lift, as well as a wheelchair; it enabled Covay to get around, including a visit to FedEx Field last year as a special guest at the Stones' concert.
In 1994, Covay received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, and in 2000, he was inducted into the Washington Area Music Hall of Fame. That same year, Covay returned to the studio to record "Adlib." Covay will be on hand tonight and hopes to sing a line or two of "Mercy Mercy."
"I think it's great," Covay says of the concert. "I worked hard, and to see people want to honor me, that's one of the greatest things that could happen."
Pianist and singer Billy Stewart, the third of the Rainbows' major talents who was inducted into the WAMA Hall of Fame earlier this year, was a distinctive stylist whose stuttering delivery and word-doubling technique earned him the nickname "Motormouth." Born here in 1937, Stewart started in gospel, moved to secular music with Rainbows and, under the tutelage of Bo Diddley, cut his first single, "Billy's Blues," for Chess in 1956. He was backed by the Marquees on 1957's "Billy's Heartache." Other early singles included "Fat Boy" (Stewart weighed 350 pounds) and "Reap What You Sow." His breakthrough came in 1965 with two gorgeous ballads, "I Do Love You" and "Sitting in the Park"; in 1966 he scored a crossover hit with a radical reinterpretation of the Gerswhin pop standard, "Summertime," soon followed by a less-radical reading of the Doris Day hit, "Secret Love." But the hits dried up and Stewart battled weight-generated health problems until Jan. 17, 1970, when his Thunderbird plunged into the Neuse River in North Carolina, killing Stewart and the three band members riding with him. He was 32.
"Being a kid in the neighborhood, I would see Billy quite often," Mahoney says of Stewart, noting that Stewart "was a great swimmer, and he used to come down to the Banneker swimming pool. He could dive pretty good, too. He'd yell and everybody would stop and look at him and he would dive off the board on the high tower and very gracefully do a one-and-a-half gainer. [Given his weight], it was something to see. People would go crazy, but eventually they banned him after he broke the high board!"
Stewart actually kick-started Mahoney's career: After he and some friends were ejected from a weekend house party, they were walking home when they heard "I Do Love You" blasting out of the radio in a passing car. That prompted the 15-year-old Mahoney to sing the tune, with his pals quickly chiming in a cappella. "It was the first time I sang out loud in front of anyone, and all my friends were looking at me," Mahoney recalls. "I didn't even know I was singing out loud, though I always had all the music in my head. From that day on, I continued to sing."
Thus were born the Casuals. Success wouldn't arrive until 1973, when D.C. International Records released a single, "Your Funny Moods." Local jocks flipped the record, and its B-side, "I Need Your Love," lit up the request lines and quickly became a major hit in the region. Other local hits included "Bless My Soul" and "Wherever You Go." Skip Mahoney and the Casuals disbanded in 1979, but got back together in 1994 to perform at a New Year's Eve concert. They've continued since then with shifting personnel: only Mahoney and George Norris remain from the original street-corner gathering. Mahoney also sings, as do Eddie Jones and the Marquees' Reese Palmer, with the Orioles, the seminal R&B ensemble that's in the Rock and Roll, R&B and Doo Wop halls of fame.
Mahoney, who possesses a soaring tenor and smooth baritone as well as a piercing falsetto, sees the ongoing resurgence of '70s soul music as a variation on the '50s boom that ironically first took hold in the '70s. "There's a lot of baby boomers out there buying the music and the younger generation is hearing it through sampling," he says. "This music is woven into the fabric of our culture, and as the years go on it's more evident just how strong the music is. And when people hear us sing, they really appreciate it."
Mustangs vocalists Barbara Malone, David Akers and Skip Mahoney rehearse for Friday's Weekend's Weekend show.
