Northern Soul
The Contours

THE CONTOURS

Although legendary on the Northern Soul scene, the Contours never enjoyed the same popularity at Motown as did other Motown male groups such as the Four Tops or the Temptations, possibly because their gritty R&B style was not exactly what the young Berry Gordy Jr had in mind for the future direction of his fledgling main stream “Sound of America” recording company. The Contours were however one of the first acts to be signed by Motown and would provide much of the early financial capital enabling Berry to continue building his “Hitsville” dream. The Contours first started out as the unlikely named “Blenders”, hailing from Detroit, Michigan the four original members were Billy Gordon, Billy Hoggs, Joe Billingslea and Billy Rollins. Leroy Fair replaced Billy Rollins in 1959 and in 1960 Hubert Johnson joined the Group. Success did not come immediately to the Group and after failing an audition at "Flick and Contour Records", they decided to ditch the unappealing name of the “Blenders”. Needing a new name post-haste it is rumoured they took the second half of the studio’s name where they failed their first audition and so became the Contours.

It was Berry Gordy's good friend Jackie Wilson who in 1960 introduced the Contours to him, perhaps because Jackie’s cousin Hubert Johnson had recently become a member of the Group. In late 1960 the Contours signed with Motown and released "Whole Lotta’ Woman" b/w "Come On and Be Mine", the record flopped and is reputed to have not sold a single copy. Shortly afterwards in early 1961 it was decided that Leroy Fair should depart, because although he had a fine voice, he was not seen as a great dancer and was not comfortable with the choreography required to give the group a “slick” appearance. Sylvester Potts was selected as he was a great dancer and was thought to be just what the Contours needed to provide some vitality, so it would be in early 1961 that Sylvester was appointed as a permanent member of the group signing a contract with Motown as an addendum to the Contours original recording contract. The Contours soon became known around Detroit for their acrobatics on stage and the primary focus in 1961 was to perfect their stage act using Sylvester's dancing skills. Up to this point the Contours had still not sold a single record and the months ticked by with the Contours working hard out on the road around Detroit with their new polished act, but still without any record sales. Giving up on the likelihood of "Whole Lotta Woman" ever selling a single copy, the Contours decided to change the tempo of the song and re record it and so the song was  re released in the new format in late 1961. Unfortunately the re release did only marginally better, but at least the Contours had finally sold some records and so on might say the Contours had been born, although it would still be more than two-years after the group signed with Motown before they secured a record able to sell enough copies to actually make the charts.

The Contours were in fact the very first group to be signed to the newly created “Gordy” label in 1962 releasing “Do You Love Me” which eventually found popularity across several generations and which made number three on the US pop charts, number two on the US Billboard charts and number one on the R&B charts. The track also topped the UK charts in the early 1960s’, but it was the Tremeloes version and not that of the Contours that originally found success in the UK. It was the Contours then with “Do you love me” that gave Berry his first ever million seller on the “Gordy” label. In the UK the wheel has turned full circle and in 2005 I doubt if many of the younger generation would ever know who the Tremeloes are, let alone that they had a hit with "Do You Love me". The Contours by contrast have however endured and "Do you love me" is well and truly their own. 

Ironically it might be said that Berry Gordy founded Motown because of Jackie Wilson, because before Berry founded Motown he was a song writer and wrote for Jackie Wilson his early hit "Reet Petite". Indeed Berry may have been happy to stay a song writer if Jackie Wilson's manager had let him write both the A & B sides of Jackie's records. In those days tradition demanded royalties were split equally between the A & B sides, perhaps understandably Berry wondered why he should receive only half the royalties for writing the A sides when in many cases the B sides were rarely played.  Berry therefore decided to start up his own label. Jackie Wilson persuaded Berry to give the Contours an audition, which he personally attended to provide the necessary encouragement to both the artists and potential hit-maker Berry Gordy Jr. With the encouragement of Jackie Wilson and a show-stopping audition the Contours were signed to Motown. Could then the success of Motown, as well as the Contours be ultimately attributed to Jackie Wilson? In the beginning it was Berry Gordy and not Smokey Robinson, Holland/ Dozier/ Holland or Frank Wilson that was the main songwriter at Motown and in this tradition Berry not only penned the first hit for the Contours, but signed them to his namesake label "Gordy".

After the 1962 first release of "Do you love me" the success continued for the Contours but not at quite the same level, but in 1963 they charted again with "Shake Sherry" which reached number twenty-one on the R&B charts and number forty-three on the US pop charts. In 1964 the Contours charted once again with "Can You Do It" and in 1964 recorded a ballad entitled "The Day When She Needed Me". Trouble was ahead though and the Contours would undergo major restructuring after having irreconcilable differences with Motown. This was brought about because in the early days at Motown each group or artist had a songwiter(s) assigned to them and this was generally the person(s) who gave them their first hit. For the Contours this had been Berry Gordy as he both wrote and produced "Do you love me". This meant most of the other writers at Motown thought it best to leave the Contours to Berry, who was of course extremely busy building the Motown Corporation and so was too busy to be writing and producing. Therefore the Contours didn't get any new material to record and it was left to Sylvester Potts and some of the Funk Brothers to do what they could and the Contours would not benefit from great Motown writers like Holland Dozier Holland as did other Motown acts like the Four Tops or the Temptations.  

In late1964 the Group had a meeting with Berry Gordy attempting to persuade him to give them a new producer / song writing team by saying they would quit Motown if he didn't.  Apparently though Billy Gordon (who sang lead on "Do you love me") had previously advised Berry he would be willing to stay with Motown. On listening to the ultimatum Berry asked if he could continue to use the Contours name provided there was at least one original member in the Group, since the group were confident they were a united front and would all be leaving together they agreed to this. Berry got this in writing and then told them they would not be assigned a new writer or producer. Receiving this bad news the Contours showed they had not been bluffing with group members Billy Hoggs, Joe Billingslea and Sylvester Potts all announcing they were quitting Motown and shortly afterwards Jackie Wilson’s cousin Hubert Johnson followed suit and also resigned. Billy Gordon was left as the only surviving member of the group, which Motown reconstructed as a quartet recruiting Council Gay, Jerry Green and Alvin English to join the Contours line-up. With the already established "Contours" popularity and with the mighty Motown publicity machine behind what was essentially a new group in all but name, success followed quickly with "Can You Jerk Like Me" b/w "The Day When She Needed Me" a track recorded by the original Contours. Both songs charted in well in 1965 at number fifteen on the R&B and number thirty-seven on the pop charts.

 As for the three other "original" Contours, they were now out in the cold and with a group already named the Contours firmly established on the charts it was impossible for them to get any type of record deal, even though as the Contours they had previously had a million seller and other hits to their credit. One might say the rug had been pulled firmly from beneath them and they had no way to capitalise or trade on their previous fame. After such a devastating blow they were understandably disappointed and disillusioned, they disbanded and went back to their day jobs.

The new Contours line up then charted once gain in 1965 with their famous "First I Look at the Purse" which reached number twelve on the R&B and number fifty-seven on the US pop charts. In early 1965 Sylvester Potts returned to the group replacing Alvin English after Billy Gordon had invited him to fill in for an absent member of the Group on a show in Ann Arbour, Michigan. However; almost immediately afterwards Billy Gordon himself quit and was replaced by Joe Stubbs the former lead singer of the Falcons and brother of the "Four Tops" Levi Stubbs. All Northern Soul fans will know the Contours charted in this year with "Just a Little Misunderstanding" and in 1966 exciting times were to follow when Joe Stubbs quit and a friend of Sylvester's told him to go and check out a singer named Dennis Edwards who was performing at a local club. Dennis had just the voice Sylvester was looking for, although there were some reservations about his dancing prowess. Dennis was hired and worked on his dancing skills and the Contours concentrated on their recording rather than live performance career. Dennis and Sylvester worked together almost nightly in Sylvester's basement where he learned to dance as good as the best of them. 

The Contours then recorded “Baby Hit and Run”, which amazingly was destined to do nothing in the US mainstream charts. Although a flop, this track went on to define the traditional UK “Northern Soul” sound when played in the relatively unknown UK soul clubs of the late 1960s’ such as Manchester’s “Twisted Wheel” Club. Remarkably “Baby Hit and Run” was only released by Motown for the first time on a single (TMG 886) almost a decade later in 1974, the release was solely on the back of it’s early and continuing UK Northern Soul success. “Baby Hit and Run” was to be the Contours last recording with Dennis Edwards, who snapped up the opportunity to replace David Ruffin in the Temptations. In spite of many changes to the line-up the Contours again charted in 1967 with "It's So Hard Being a Loser", which effectively proved to be the last “original” hit for the group and which scraped into the top 100 charting at number 79. "Loser" became a Northern Soul favourite in UK clubs such as the Twisted Wheel and even today is as popular as ever on the Northern scene and is sure to fill the dance floor whenever played.

It’s hard to believe little success followed, perhaps because Motown chose not to release many tracks recorded by the Contours that featured Dennis Edwards as lead, perhaps fearing these might take away from or be confused with the Temptations. Ironically it was the from 1967 through to 1968 that was one of the most prolific in the Contours career and although Motown released very few of these recordings, it represented both the greatest quantity and some would say quality recordings of anything they had previously achieved. The records would however mainly never see the light of day and on the expiry of their contract with Motown the Contours again disillusioned decided there was no future left for the group and disbanded.

In the early 1970s' Joe Billingslea revived the group, they played mainly on the road, performing renditions of tracks recorded and charted by all the previous “Contours” line-ups. It was not until 1974 that Motown re-released the afore mentioned Contours, Northern Soul all-time classic “Baby Hit and Run" on a seven-inch 45. This Denis Edwards driven stormer is still a winner and a sure fire dance floor packer at any Northern Soul venue anywhere in the World. It seems a great pity the Contours will always be remembered in the mainstream for “Do you love me” and not "Baby Hit and Run", which few Northern Soul devotees will dispute helped shape the traditional Northern Soul sound, not only as “Baby Hit and Run” but also as Leon Heywood’s similarly sounding “Baby Reconsider.  It was 1980 when the Contours released what was to be their first and only release on the Rocket label, "I'm a winner" bw "makes me wanna' come back" on Rocket 41192. Then in 1987 "Do You Love Me" turned up again becoming became one of the tracks on the sound track of the highly successful movie, "Dirty Dancing". This returned the re-release track to the pop charts around July 1988 on Motown Yesteryear 448 where it stayed for eight weeks reaching number eleven.  After the success of the movie came the predictable "Dirty Dancing Concert Tour", featuring the Contours and other artists including Bill Medley, Eric Carmen and Ronnie Spector. The tour gave birth to the "Dirty Dancing Live in Concert" CD, to which the Contours contributed "Get Ready", "Higher and Higher", "Cry to Me" and of course "Do You Love Me". The Contours then released the CD, "Great Dirty Dancing Hits", sprinkled with several of their own hits and those of other artists.

During the 1980s' the group had Beanie Upshire singinging the Billy Gordon parts and in 1988 just as they were planning the big "Dirty Dancing" concert tour the group had a falling out with Beanie and he was replaced with Darrel Nunlee. Darrel sang with the Contours during the tour and in 1989 the Contours were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Walk of Fame at the Royal Oak's Metropolitan Musicafe in Royal Oak, Michigan and in the same year signed with Ian Levine’s “Motor City” label. With Ian Levine the Contours recorded the album “Flashback” and several other tracks on albums such as “The very best Detroit Dance Hits”. Two tracks by the Contours recorded in the Levine Motor City period which are well worth mentioning are the rarely heard but brilliant “Under love’s control” and “Storm Warning” and perhaps in the true Northern Soul tradition more of these two tracks will be heard in future years. In 1990 Arthur Hinson was to leave the group and The Contours continued as a quartet until 1993 when Darrel Nunlee also left and Gary Grier and Al Chisholm were added taking the group back to a five-man line-up. In July 1999 there was yet another Dirty Dancing CD, titled "Dirty Dancing: More Dirty Dancing [Original Recording Remastered]" which again included "Do You Love Me". It’s worth noting that re-released versions have contributed to more than ten-million new copies of this track.  In 2000 the Contours received the Smokey Robinson Heroes And Legends Award and received nomination for entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In more recent times there has been a changing Contours line-up and a licensing agreement allowing two groups to use the "Contours" name, one as "The Contours featuring Sylvester Potts" and the other as "Joe Billingslea and the Contours".  Whatever; the Contours still have a lot to offer and who knows what great tracks we can still look forward to from them. They were, still are and always will be one of the legendary all-time great soul groups. We should also never forget their amazing contribution to the Northern Soul scene.

        The Contours (featuring Sylvester Potts), still looking good.
                            Picture Courtesy of David Rushlow & Glen Raby

Click the link below to see the Contours performing in 2006

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyGjG0i6HyY