The Wallace Brothers:
Promoted as a duet, the Wallace Brothers were actually a six-man band with cousins John Simon and Ervin Wallace on lead vocals. Another Wallace (no kin to the brothers) brought the six-piece band to Cleveland Warnock's attention in 1963. Other Wallaces, Cooky and Earnest, also joined; Ervin played the guitar and Earnest the organ.
Warnock wrote songs with Billy Bardon in the '40s and '50s for movie cowboy Jimmy Wakely, and never strayed far from the music business. He liked the Wallace Brothers and their potential. Their members ranged from 14 to 16 years of age and all attended Archer High School in Atlanta. Warnock transported them from Atlanta to his East Point, Georgia, home for basement rehearsals. "Faith" b/w "I'll Let Nothing Separate Me," written by Earnest, was their first single. Cleveland's newly founded Royal label launched the Wallace Brothers in 1963.
Now recording artists, the Wallace Brothers stepped up their gigging. Nashville disc jockey John Richbourg of WLAC played "Faith" on his popular radio program and generated some interest. A deal was struck with Russell Sims, and subsequent copies of "Faith" and the Wallace Brothers' future recordings bore the Sims Records logo. Warnock received a percentage of sales from Sims and co-publishing rights to the Wallace Brothers' songs. With Richbourg touting "Faith," many R&B stations east of the Mason-Dixon line added the single to their rotations.
Their second single, 1964's "Precious Words" b/w "You're Mine," opened more doors. It spent six weeks on the Cash Box Black music survey, but never climbed higher than number 31. Claudia Robinson, a blue-eyed soul singer/writer listed as Claud Robinson, wrote the song.
The Wallace Brothers' last gem was their third single, "Lover's Prayer." Released in the fall of 1964, it squeaked into Billboard's Hot 100, stopping at number 97. At the time, Billboard didn't have a Black music survey, but the record did make the Cash Box Black survey. Written by Earnest and Cooky Wallace, it followed the same format as previous singles,withh two-part harmonies sung over a simple rhythm bed accented by a rolling organ.
The group's recordings were added to R&Bplay listss in the South and the North. Sims released their only LP, Soul, Soul and More Soul, in 1965, and took them to Muscle Shoals, Alabama's celebrated Fame Studios to cut additional tracks for the album, which included both sides of the first three singles. Sims Records released one more song off the album in 1965, but "One Way Affair" b/w "Go on Girl" failed to chart, as did two 1966 singles, "I'll Stay Aside" and "No More."
The United Kingdom division of Sue Records issued three Wallace Brothers singles, with the last, "I'll Step Aside," in 1967; Sue also issued a compilation album of Wallace Brothers tracks called Soul Connection in 1968.
Back in the States, Russell Sims issued the last Wallace Brothers single, "Thanks a Lot," on Sims in 1967. When it bombed, Sims and the band parted ways. The remaining bandmembers signed with Jewel Records in 1968, releasing three singles. Simon joined the Naturals, who enjoyed one release on Calla Records, "I Can't Share You"; they faded when Calla's owner, Nate McCalla, died at his home in Florida.
Patterson Twins:
Church-bred Southern soul duo the Patterson Twins debuted in the early '70s. The Magee, Mississippi natives recorded singles for independent labels such as Nashville's King, Jewel sublabel Ronn, and Malaco, but they're known more for Let Me Be Your Lover (Commercial, 1978), an album that has become regarded as a cult classic with help from multiple reissues.
Inspired by other Southern vocal duos such as the Sims Twins, Sam & Dave, and Mel & Tim, biological twins Estus and Lester Patterson -- under the name Soul Twins -- made their recorded debut in 1972 on Big Beat, a small label based in their home state, with uncredited production from Willie Mitchell. From 1973 through 1976, Patterson Twins were behind a handful of singles for King (not the Ohio-based label), Ronn, and Malaco. Among these was the Prince Phillip Mitchell-written "I Need Your Love" (which would resurface decades later on numerous compilations of rare R&B). In 1978, signed to another small label, Commercial, Estus and Lester released Let Me Be Your Lover, on which they worked with a team of producers who included Sanchez Harvey of short-lived Gordy/Motown act Bottom & Co. The LP featured an update of that group's "Gonna Find a True Love."
The Pattersons subsequently founded Kon-Kord Records in their adoptive home base of California. During the mid-'80s, they released a couple singles of their own, using Kon-Kord mostly as a channel for producing and developing R&B and gospel artists. Estus and Lester reconvened to release If I Could Live My Life Again in 2006 and the gospel follow-up Take Us Higher in 2007. The former LP featured assistance from Hense Powell and Richard "Dimples" Fields. Meanwhile, the Pattersons' first album had become prized by deep-digging R&B aficionados, with original copies exchanging hands for sums that possibly rivaled the cost of the recording. Japan's Think! Records reissued the album on multiple formats in 2013. Six years later, Acid Jazz and Miles Away partnered to recirculate it once more.
