BIOGRAPHY AND DISCOGRAPHY

 

Most famous for his work as co-lead singer of a number of popular duets, all of which bore his name in how they were credited, Marvin Phillips was more than just a earthy baritone voice to be offset by someone else. He was a saxophonist, songwriter and the first of the youth brigade of rock ‘n’ rollers who’d take over the Los Angeles music scene in the Nineteen Fifties.

Ironically Phillips wasn’t even born in California, but rather in Oklahoma in 1931, but grew up in L.A. where he befriended other likeminded teen boys enraptured by the growing rock scene in the late 1940’s.

Already a sax player, he and another of these kids, pianist Richard Lewis, were members of The Rhythm Riffers, who got their own releases in 1949 and simultaneously joined the band of The Great Gates with whom they appeared on records, including a national hit, that same year, though strictly in instrumental rather than vocal roles. The two then cut a record under Lewis’s name in 1951 with Phillips writing and singing lead.

Like most kids into playing and singing this brand of music around Los Angeles at the time, Phillips came into contact with Jesse Belvin, two years younger but the shining talent of the generation and he and drummer, singer and songwriter Jimmy Huff, joined Belvin and female singer Eudine Harris as Three Dots And A Dash who recorded vocal tracks with slightly older L.A. rock legend Big Jay McNeely for Imperial Records in 1951, scoring a solid hit in the process.

When Belvin left in mid-tour to go back home, Phillips took over as the de facto lead of the group and sang out front on a few more sides for McNeely before he too came back home and got signed on his own to Specialty Records where he cut a solo session in 1952 wherein he and Lewis on piano, and Huff on drums, were also joined by Belvin on two duets including the #2 national hit Dream Girl which Phillips and Belvin wrote together.

When Jesse cut that song simultaneously for another label and then got drafted, Phillips cut another session as a soloist for Specialty before forming another duo with Carl Green. Trying to vaguely suggest the connection to his Jesse & Marvin hit, they called themselves Marvin & Johnny and wound up with another Top Ten national hit with “Baby Doll”.

Green didn’t last long and his place as Johnny was taken by Emory Perry, another saxophonist with deep ties to Phillips dating back from their days with The Great Gates as well as his first Specialty session.

This version of Marvin & Johnny lasted longest and released a two-sided masterpiece for Modern Records in 1954 which became their most known record. But even in the midst of this success, Emory Perry, who was never the most comfortable vocalist, saw his role taken by Belvin for a few releases after Jesse got out of the service (though still credited to Marvin & Johnny), or sometimes with both Belvin and Perry singing along with Phillips, though Perry always continued to play sax and go on the road with Phillips as “his main Johnny”.

Meanwhile Phillips was recorded solo sides as well under the name Long Tall Marvin but he was always more at home responding to another voice on record, often the result of overdubbing his own voice.

The fluid nature of the Los Angeles vocal group scene also resulted with various members of The Robins joining Phillips on releases from the late 1950’s for a variety of labels, but by now the national interest in him had waned – save for a brief flurry of attention when their notorious turntable hit “Cherry Pie” from 1954, scored big with a version in 1960 done by a white vocal duo, Skip & Flip, which prompted a sequel by Marvin & Bobby Sheen as “Johnny”.

By this time though, Marvin was growing weary of the trials and tribulations of the record industry and in the mid-1960’s gave ownership of the name Marvin & Johnny to his nephew Rip Spencer who continued touring with another singer performing his uncle’s material.

Phillips is one of the last surviving rock acts of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.
 

MARVIN & JOHNNY DISCOGRAPHY (Recorded Reviewed To Date On Spontaneous Lunacy):

ROCKING TIME
(Rex 28025; April, 1949)
Phillips and Perry backing…The Great Gates. (8)

LATE AFTER HOURS
(Selective 103; June, 1949)
Phillips and Perry backing…The Great Gates. A national hit with Gates adding lyrics to the jazz standard as the kids add some occasionally raucous playing behind him. (6)

RACE TRACK BLUES
(Selective 108; October, 1949)
Phillips and Perry backing…The Great Gates. (4)

FANDANGO
(Selective 111; November, 1949)
As member of… The Rhythm-Riffers. Lewis provides a rock solid foundation for the horns with his solid boogie piano on this energetic instrumental that finds all of them riding a tough groove throughout. (6)

HOLIDAY HOP
(Selective 111; November, 1949)
As member of… The Rhythm-Riffers.

EVENING BLUES
(4 Star 1475; May, 1950)
Phillips and Perry backing…The Great Gates. (3)

ROCK ME BABY
(4 Star 1504; July, 1950)
Phillips and Perry backing…The Great Gates. (6)

ALL THAT WINE IS GONE
(Imperial 5115; March, 1951)
With Phillips as member of Three Dots And A Dash behind Big Jay McNeely. Featuring a compelling lead by Jesse Belvin with engaging singing by the others on a song that describes a teenage rite of passage to great effect. (9)

DON’T CRY BABY
(Imperial 5115; March, 1951)
With Phillips as member of Three Dots And A Dash behind Big Jay McNeely. (4)

FOREVER
(Modern 20-818; May, 1951)
Phillips and Perry backing… Richard Lewis. Co-written and sung by Marvin Phillips who shows genuine talent in both areas, the song is a prototype of a lot of what will follow with these cohorts but it’s not quite as tight as it needs to be to fully connect. (6)

BELIEVE IN ME
(Modern 20-818; May, 1951)
Phillips and Perry backing… Richard Lewis. (3)

SAD STORY
(Imperial 5130; June, 1951)
With Phillips as member of Three Dots And A Dash behind Big Jay McNeely. (3)

LET’S DO IT
(Imperial 5164; November, 1951)
With Phillips as member of Three Dots And A Dash behind Big Jay McNeely. (3)

I’LL NEVER LOVE AGAIN
(Imperial 5164; November, 1951)
With Phillips as member of Three Dots And A Dash behind Big Jay McNeely. It’s Phillips who comes off looking best here with a soulful lead in an otherwise stilted pop-styled arrangement. (3)

CENTRAL ROCKS
(Recorded In Hollywood 199; March, 1952)
Phillips and Perry backing…The Great Gates. A wild free-for-all of an instrumental in which Marvin Phillips blows up a storm. (6)

AIN’T GOT NO MONEY
(Recorded In Hollywood 199; March, 1952)
Phillips and Perry backing…The Great Gates. The band again is the high point with some robust sax work and a steady rhythm that makes for a reasonably rousing time. (5)

WINE WOOGIE
(Specialty 445; November, 1952)
As by Marvin Phillips And His Men From Mars. Boisterous sing-along record with somewhat nonsensical lyrics but in a manner that the intended teenage audience can relate to, as the usual crew including Perry on sax, Lewis on piano and Huff on drums add to the festivities. (7)

OLD MAN’S BLUES
(Specialty 445; November, 1952)
As by Marvin Phillips And His Men From Mars A lyrical send up of the blues misses with its humor and keeps too much of the blues instrumental approach intact. (3)

DREAM GIRL
(Specialty 447; November, 1952)
With Jesse Belvin as by Jesse & Marvin. Though he takes a secondary role to Belvin’s tenor, Marvin’s dejected baritone adds to the hurt of this song about disillusionment as the intimate back and forth exchanges helped make it such a huge hit. ★ 10 ★

DADDY LOVES BABY
(Specialty 447; November, 1952)
With Marvin Phillips as by Jesse & Marvin. Though an equal performance on record where Phillips’ halting baritone passages contrast nicely with Belvin’s more melodic tenor, this was written by Marvin and shows just how compatible their styles were from the start. (7)