A complete mystery! I know nothing of this Mary B(anks), and cannot find any info ANYWHERE other than that she may have released another record, and may be from my home turf (San Francisco bay area).
As you may have guessed, I'm a massive fan of uptempo, hard driving songs with brassy and sassy female vocals. This one has plenty of sass, brass and the lyrics just absolutely slay me. Too bad we didn't hear more from Mary, but if this is her only record, it's truly one marvelous one shot.
from 1962...
7 comments:
truly a great one from mary B
droopy
But writter credits says Mary Banks? Not Mary Bates? Maybe a seach for Mary Banks will turn something up? Anyway I love the early stuff you post the earier the better & with great label shots. The Drunken Hobo
Mary Banks has a 45rpm on Enjoy
Enjoy (CA) 45 - 1014 : Mary B Ain't Nobody's Business / Cut It Out
simply a typo on my part. Meant to type Banks.
Interesting record. I thought for a moment it might be Ruby Johnson under another name. The singing style is somewhat similar, and the song itself actually quotes Johnson's 1960 release, "Callin' All Boys", musically and lyrically.
I'm not sure what the [CA] stands for in the listing for her other record, posted above. But both of Mary B's records are on labels owned or associated with Bobby Robinson out of NYC [I'm fairly certain Fling was owned by Robinson's brother, that's why it doesn't show up in list's of Robinson's labels].
This from the notes to "The Fire / Fury Records Story", quoting Bobby Robinson:
"Mary B was a very talented singer and writer who lived in Newark, New Jersey. She was also very attractive and had a boyfriend who was quite jealous and protective. He wouldn't let her go to rehearsals or to the recording studio without him. This really held her career back, as I know I would have recorded her a lot more if I could have scheduled it. Mary was on my Flame (sic) label, and I produced 'Something For You Baby' in 1962."
So now you know - but her last name is still a mystery!
Sorry, preceding post written in haste - of course, her last name was Banks.
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