The Lovelites – With Love From The Lovelites ( 1970 )
https://www.discogs.com/The-Lovelites-With-Love-From-The-Lovelites/release/2108160
- Arranged By – Johnny Cameron
https://www.discogs.com/artist/2555006-The-Lovelites
The Lovelites were a 1960s Chicago high-school female trio. Their first hit was “How Can I Tell My Mom & Dad” in 1969. Though it was never directly stated in the song, its implicit theme was teen pregnancy and abortion, still regarded then as a fate worse than death in many circles.
Patti Hamilton, her sister Rozena Petty, and Barbara Peterman formed the original group, with Ardell McDaniel replacing Peterman in 1968. Deniece Williams was also briefly a member but left when asked to join Stevie Wonder's Wonderlove. Joni Berlman replaced Petty in 1970, and Rhonda Grayson replaced McDaniel in 1971. The first single did well enough for the group to start its own label, Lovelite Records, in 1970. It continued until 1973, while one single from their label made the R&B Top 40, “My Conscience,” in 1971.
They disbanded in 1973.
Patti Hamilton, her sister Rozena Petty, and Barbara Peterman formed the original group, with Ardell McDaniel replacing Peterman in 1968. Deniece Williams was also briefly a member but left when asked to join Stevie Wonder's Wonderlove. Joni Berlman replaced Petty in 1970, and Rhonda Grayson replaced McDaniel in 1971. The first single did well enough for the group to start its own label, Lovelite Records, in 1970. It continued until 1973, while one single from their label made the R&B Top 40, “My Conscience,” in 1971.
They disbanded in 1973.
https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/voices-from-the-vault/Content?oid=901316
Three years ago a bootleg compilation called Divas of the 70s began popping up in south-side record stores, and among its contents were three tracks by a Chicago soul group called the Lovelites. The female vocal trio had caused a minor stir in 1969 with a sweet, catchy midtempo tune called "How Can I Tell My Mom and Dad," in which lead singer Patti Hamilton wondered how to break the news to her folks that she was pregnant. That single, produced by an up-and-comer named Clarence Johnson, sold 55,000 copies locally and 400,000 nationally, peaking at number 15 on Billboard's soul chart and landing the group a deal with Uni Records, a division of MCA.
When Johnson, who's now 58 and still works as a producer in the area, heard about the bootleg, he set about getting his due. "I found out who was doing it, where they were doing, and I talked to my attorney," he says across the desk in the office of his Chi-City Productions, in an Alsip strip mall. "He said if I wanted to do something about it I should just put it out myself." So last month he released a 20-song CD, The Lovelite Years, on Lovelite Records, an imprint he briefly used in the early 70s. At the moment it's available only in Chicago and mostly on the south and west sides--though the north-side specialty shop Dusty Groove is also selling it via the Web--but Johnson is looking for distribution in the U.S. and Europe.
Hamilton's pretty, exuberant teenage vocals and the close harmonies of her bandmates are swaddled in lush strings, bright brass, and slinky grooves--a sound along the lines of the one developed by Chicago producers like Carl Davis and Curtis Mayfield--and though she was only 15 at the time, she showed promising talent as a songwriter. Unfortunately, "How Can I Tell Mom and Dad," with the line "Oh, he made me mother-to-be," was considered too risque for pop radio, and the group never made another record of the same magnitude--although "My Conscience," from 1970, came close.
But though the Lovelites may be only a footnote in the Billboard version of music history, the new CD is significant for a couple reasons. First, it's yet more proof of the astounding depth of talent this city boasted in the 60s and 70s. And second, although countless vintage soul reissues have been turning up in this country, few of them are made here. Japanese and especially British companies (including Sequel and Westside, Edsel, Goldmine, and Charly) have cornered the market in the last decade, reissuing loads of material from old Chicago greats like Gene Chandler, Barbara Acklin, the Artistics, the Chi-Lites, Otis Clay, Harold Burrage, and Tyrone Davis as well as far more obscure acts. Even Johnson, who produced only a handful of certified hits, has licensed 158 of the tracks he produced in that era--including the Lovelites' only full-length album, With Love From the Lovelites, in its entirety--to the Japanese reissue label P-Vine over the last decade, and has worked with a variety of British labels, including the UK division of BMG.
Johnson started out as a doo-wop singer in the 50s; he recorded with the Chaunteurs and was in the earliest incarnation of the Chi-Lites. He heard the Lovelites singing at a talent show near the Altgeld Gardens housing project, where the girls lived, and auditioned them at Hamilton's home a few days later. Satisfied, he rushed them into the studio to cut "How Can I Tell My Mom and Dad", which he cowrote with Hamilton, for Lock Records, a label in which he had part ownership. The group became huge in the Chicago area, but they were still in high school, so touring opportunities were limited. (Eventually someone capitalized on this situation by touring the midwest under the group's name and performing their hit songs. Johnson made sure there were pictures of the singers on the next record.) The Uni album flopped, and in 1972, the group recorded its last singles for the Altantic subsidiary Cotillion.
Typical for the time, Hamilton and her fellow singers--her sister Rozena and Ardell McDaniel, later replaced by Joan Berlmon and Rhonda Grayson--knew nothing about publishing rights, so they failed to notice until too late that Johnson had claimed them for himself. Hamilton says he also copyrighted their name without telling them or her mother, Bernice, who acted as the group's manager. Now 49, she says the girls were too busy swooning over their brushes with stardom--including a raucous food fight with Marvin Gaye while they were recording the album in LA. "[Johnson] was telling me he was going to give me the world and feeding me beans," says Hamilton, who currently drives a CTA bus and is trying to launch a career as a gospel singer. "But I don't have any malice toward the man." She says Johnson only told her about the compilation when it was a month or two from completion, and our conversation was the first she'd heard of the Lovelites stuff Johnson has licensed overseas. "Outside of the publicity there's really nothing I'm getting out of it," she says. "If there's money to be made, I don't think I'm going to see any."
In 1973, the Lovelites broke up. "Tension in the group kept growing," says Hamilton. "We were jumping from one of his labels to the next, and eventually [Johnson] decided our name should change to Patti & the Lovelites. I was against it, but he insisted that it was a good idea. It caused some animosity in the group and we started snapping at one another." Berlmon and Grayson became successful studio backup singers, but Hamilton never fronted another group. Johnson went on to produce records by Brighter Side of Darkness, Heaven and Earth, and Coffee; he also worked with Denise Chandler (aka Deniece Williams of "Let's Hear It for the Boy" fame), four of whose songs for Lock are tacked on to the end of The Lovelite Years. He had financial interest in a profusion of small labels, including Lovelite, Lock, G.E.C., and Starvue. But in 1975, the legendary soul station WVON--which was owned in its prime by Leonard Chess and had broken quite a few hits for Johnson--shut down, a casualty of the migration of the entertainment industry to the coasts, and Johnson's career ran up against the wall.
Though he hasn't had a hit in 20 years, he says he's more interested in making new records than rereleasing his old ones. He recently released an EP of nondescript contemporary R & B by the female vocal trio C-nario on his new Chi-City imprint, and an album by former Heaven and Earth singer Dean Williams is forthcoming. But fans of vintage soul will be pleased to hear that he's also planning to issue several more compilations that collect his productions from the 60s and 70s.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Nathan Mandell.
https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/recordings-history/Content?oid=901486
Recordings History
By Clarence JohnsonRef: Rebuttal to "Post No Bills" comments from Ms. Patricia Hamilton/Lovelites [January 28]
Dear Mr. Margasak,
Publishing Rights:
In 1969, a few of my friends and I started Lock Record Company and Moo-lah Publishing Company. Our first artist was the Lovelites. It was my idea and my hook and melody along with Patti Hamilton's collaboration that created the song "How Can I Tell My Mom and Dad."
Publishing rights are considered one hundred percent (100%) as a whole. Fifty percent goes to the publishing company for administration, etc. Also when a small record label makes a deal with a major record label, the major record label usually wants half of the publishing rights. The remaining half (50%) is divided between the composers of the song.
In this case, half of Moo-lah's share of the publishing was assigned to 20th Century Music Publishing Company. As composers of the song, Patti received Twenty-five percent (25%) of the writers' share and I received Twenty-five (25%) of the writers' share.
Throughout our relationship, Patti received her writer's share of all compositions that she composed. If you will look on the compilation albums The Lovelite Years and With Love From the Lovelites you see her name on every song of which she had written or co-written.
Change of Name: Patti and the Lovelites:
In 1969 when "How Can I Tell My Mom and Dad" was recorded, Rozena Hamilton was an original member of the Lovelites. Before the song was released, she quit the group and got married. Joan Berlmon replaced her. When Ardell Upton quit the group, she was replaced by Rhonda Grayson. When Rhonda Grayson quit the group, she was replaced by Kay Jones. When Kay Jones quit the group, she was replaced by Denise ?. I don't even remember her last name. That is why I changed the name. I chose to make Patti the out-front identity of the group because of the numerous member changes that were forever happening. Patti, nor her mother, objected to the change.
Copyright of Name:
When the bogus Lovelite group began touring and capitalizing off of the popularity of the Lovelites, Lock Records had to take legal steps to protect the name of the group by some legal means. Patenting the name was our only option because we didn't have a legal agreement with the Lovelites because of their ages. They were all teenagers.
"Give Me the World and Feeding Me Beans"
There were four different photographs with various sets of Lovelites on them and a photograph of Patti by herself when she went as a solo act. Lock Records paid for them. "Music Talks to Me," "Nothing Can Stop Me Now," "I Need Some Space," and possibly a few more titles of which I can't remember were songs recorded and never released. There were approximately 30 or more songs recorded on the Lovelites with only two of them making a buzz as singles. Lock Records paid for them. When the Lovelites went to Disneyland and took pictures for their With Love From the Lovelites, Lock Records paid all expenses.
Lock Records spent Thousands of dollars on this group trying to make them happen. I did make promises, I believed that the group was going to be huge. They made money doing shows; Lock Records lost big money spending it on them.
"Tension in the Group"
Tension in the Lovelites was a result of several factors. Factor number one: Patti was a prolific performer, both on live performances as well as on recordings. There was another member in the group that felt that she should be allowed the same privileges as Patti when it came to performing live and recording. She wasn't up to this task and wasn't allowed to do so. Factor number two: The other members of the group (not Patti) were treated as background singers instead of equal members of the Lovelites by management. Factor number three: all groups whether female or male are going to have tensions and problems within the group.
Compilation Album:
When I found out that Lovelite product was being bootlegged locally, on advice from my attorney, I decided to release a compilation album on the Lovelites myself. I asked Patti for her help and she refused. That was over a year ago. I called her several months before I had completed the project to inform her of my progress. When I had finished the project, I called Patti one morning and played snippets of the album over the phone. She told me that it brought tears to her eyes. I also told her that I was going to dedicate the album to the memory of her mother, Ms. Bernice Hamilton, who was like family.
As far as the music that had been licensed overseas, that music was a reissue of With Love From the Lovelites, licensed from 20th Century by P-Vine, a Japanese company. I had nothing to do with that.
When I was informed that Mr. Margasak was interested in doing an article on me and the Lovelite compilation album, I began trying to get in touch with Patti so that we could do the interview and photo shoot together. She returned none of my numerous messages left on her answering machine concerning the interview and the date of the photo shoot.
I finally reached Patti the morning of the photo shoot for the article and she stated that I had woke her up and that she couldn't make the shoot. She informed me that Mr. Margasak had interviewed her the previous day. Our last words were that we would get together in the very near future to discuss the possibility of us co-producing a gospel album on her together for release on my label.
Prior to this article, Patti has come by my office twice to pick up CDs of the new compilation album. I witnessed no hostilities or anger. When I read this article, I was stunned by Patti's remarks. They exhibited a bitterness of which I now attribute to her lack of knowledge of the music business.
Unlike the 70s, there are numerous books about the music industry that can be purchased or borrowed from a public library that any aspiring artists can obtain to educate themselves on the industry. This could possibly erase her ignorance, bitterness, and grievances of the past.
Because of the advent of the CD, an independent record company can now compete in the marketplace with major record labels. I am appreciative of the time I spent with the Lovelites, Brighter Side of Darkness, Heaven and Earth, Coffee, and the many other groups that I have been associated. Because of time spent with each of them, I am now a better producer with a profound knowledge of the business. Former members of some of the aforementioned groups are working with me as managers, producers, and songwriters. Together we shall introduce a new Chicago-based label to Chicago called Chi-City Music.
In closing, I wish Patti all the luck in the world in her pursuit of her gospel solo career and I advise her as I do all of my new artists. Please buy the book entitled This Business of Music by Sidney Shemel and M. William Krasilovsky.
God Bless,
Clarence Johnson
Peter Margasak replies:
Patti Hamilton didn't claim that she didn't receive any songwriting royalties but that she was unaware that Johnson used his own publishing company for her songs, something she chalked up to naivete. During my interview with Johnson I was led to believe that he was involved in licensing the album With Love From the Lovelites to P-Vine; my apologies for the misunderstanding.
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