Fire and Fury – An Independent Tale

Luck and business acumen combined and the emerging R&B scene ensured early success. Independent record producers started to visit the store and dalliances with Ahmet Ertegun (The Atlantic Label) coupled with the showcasing of demos of local talent convinced Robinson there was a future in independent record production. He cut his first record in November 1951 – Robin was the first label he set up, although the name was swiftly changed to Red Robin after legal threats from the owners of another independent label with the same name.

Robinson has justifiably been cited as one of the first black record label owners and certainly the only one in Harlem at the time. He also had the additional ability to write and produce his own records. He originally specialised in black vocal groups and the Mello-Moods, the Rainbows and the Vocaleers were all part of Robinson’s early roster and all had either national or local r&b hits. Ironically however, his first real hit was a solo effort (Champion Jack Dupree with ‘Shake Baby Shake’). Like most labels, Robinson could also point to the ones that got away, losing the Chords ‘Sh-Boom’ to Atlantic despite auditioning the early versions of the song.

After a brief sojourn with the Whirlin’ Disc label (which itself produced the hit ‘The Closer You Are’ by the Channels) Robinson set up the Fury label and the Fire publishing company. Initially still group based, the label took a change of direction in 1959 with the release of Wilbert Harrison’s ‘Kansas City’, a Little Willie Littlefield song he had been playing live for a number of years. Even then the label had trouble, a legal battle with Savoy ensued (they claimed Harrison was still under contract to them) and Robinson set up Fire Records to avoid any future Fury monies getting tied up in the legal proceedings.

Fire had hits with both Tarheel Slim and Buster Brown (‘Fannie Mae’) and was also home for bluesmen such as Elmore James, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Arthur Crudup, who scored with the original ‘That’s All Right Mama’. Another pop hit also came its way with the release of Bobby Marchan’s version of ‘There Is Something On Your Mind’. In 1961 Robinson resurrected Fury as a label, recording Gladys Knight and The Pips and achieving further pop and r&b success with Lee Dorsey’s ‘Ya Ya’ (which he co-wrote). He then started yet another label (Enjoy) which saw the release of King Curtis’ ‘Soul Twist’, a number one hit in 1962. The Enjoy label continued to release records throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s. Bobby Robinson still has a record store in New York and continues to record the music he loves in Harlem. The golden days are behind him; although he was an astute businessman who tended to record artists on a song by song basis to avoid most of the legal tangles which befell others, he still suffered as the move to corporation based record production killed the market for independent labels.

Robinson operated at a time when labels were set up at will, where financial irregularities were almost a prerequisite in the business and when label owners were constantly suing each other over the rights to artists recordings and the artists themselves – it was probably the most exciting if indisciplined era in popular music production. The recorded output is surely best heard on the thee CD box set “Fire And Fury Story” from Charly – if you can find it, buy it! It covers all of Robinson’s labels and takes you from the 1951 release ‘Bobby’s Boogie’ by the Morris Lane Band through to, amongst others, ‘Something For You Baby’ by Mary ‘B, released in 1964. In between there’s a really entertaining mix of the familiar and less well known material and as such it makes an interesting purchase for both the newcomer and enthusiast alike. Along the way it picks up all the R&B hits and is a fascinating insight into the development of an independent label – and the music’s generally pretty good as well. The set also includes an excellent historical booklet, from which much of this material has been sourced.