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| Hues Corporation |
| Wally Holmes, the man who founded the Hues Corporation, originally had a different name in mind for the black trio. "I wanted to call the group the Children Of Howard Hughes, because I knew Hughes was single and he represented a conservative element. I was kind of wild in those days and I thought a fantastic thing would be to take a black group and call them the Children Of Howard Hughes." But Holmes ran into a legal wall and was unable to incorporate Hughes' name into the group. That's when he came up with Hues Corporation.
Wally started the group with his body-surfing pal, Bernard St. Clair Lee Calhoun Henderson (that really is his name!). They found Hubert Ann Kelly (and yes her first name is Hubert!) at a talent show in Los Angeles, and Karl Russell responded to notices placed in Southern California record stores. Russell was soon replaced by singer Fleming Williams, and the Hues Corporation played local SoCal clubs but with dismal results. Manager/founder Holmes booked the group into the lounge of Circus Circus in Las Vegas. "All these acts from all over the strip were coming over to this little funky lounge to see the group," recalled Holmes. Word of mouth spread and the group eventually landed a contract with RCA Records. Their first album, "Freedom For The Stallion" yielded two hit singles. The title track peaked at number 63 on September 1973. "Rock The Boat" was one of the tracks on the album. It was not originally considered for release as a single. It was added to the album as an after thought. The intention was for Ann Kelly to sing the lead vocal, but Holmes was encouraged by others not to use her because male singers were dominating the charts at that point. Fleming Williams was assigned the lead vocal, he has never fully received credit for it because he left the group immediately after recording it and was replaced by Tommy Brown. RCA hired John Florez, the man who helped the Friends Of Distinction crossover to pop radio, to produce "Freedom For The Stallion." But Holmes gives the actual credit for "Rock The Boat" to a young New Yorker, Tom Sellers. Sellers came up with the little bit of reggae beat and the galloping drum beat that was the hook of the song. The album was headed for the glue factory when RCA's David Kershenbaum went to see the group perform in L.A. He noted the audience reaction to "Rock The Boat" and persuaded the label to release it as a single. The record was released in February and it's fair to say that by mid-March it was totally dead. It was gone and then suddenly when the record wasn't being played on any radio station it sold 50,000 copies in New York! "Rock The Boat" had been discovered by the the emerging disco scene and had become an underground hit. Their was a mad rush to find copies of it and disc jockeys (both radio & club) were sending it to other jocks they knew across the country. Once radio jumped on it and started playing it, "Rock The Boat" sailed up the charts reaching number one just six weeks after it's re-release on May 25, 1974. It's inclusion on their second album 1974's "Rockin' Soul" was due to the fact that they were in the process of recording the new album when it hit and that the original album from which it was pulled was nearly a year old by then. So as a marketing ploy it helped sell the new album. The second single, the title track "Rockin' Soul," reached a respectable 18 on the Top 40 in October of 1974. In 1975 "Love Corporation" followed. The title track produced minor ripples among radio airwaves despite it's being released on vinyl and on quadrophonic 8-track tape! The group was not able to achieve the success of their earlier hit with any subsequent releases on RCA. A move to Warner Bros. in 1977 brought fresh life into their recording career. Their first 12" was the title track from "I Caught Your Act." A breezy catchy tune that took the clubs by surprise. Oddly enough it barely made it into the Hot 100 by peaking at 92. The second 12" single "Telegram Of Love," another fun song, didn't even hit the charts. The group disbanded after "I Caught Your Act" was released. The group had one final release on Warner Bros. an album full of leftovers and previously recorded material. "Your Place Or Mine" may have been an invitation from the trio but America was just not R.S.V.P.-ing. The album sank quicker than the Titanic. Recently I saw them on television, seems Holmes has reassembled the group, although I'm not sure if any were the 'original' members. They were on a cruise ship singing "Rock The Boat." Seems alot of former disco stars and performers, whose careers are on the decline, often pop up on these cruise ships where the money is good, and the audience is virtually captive. To Wally and the trio thanks for one of the most enduring and recognizable songs of the disco-era! |
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