| Ray, Goodman & Brown | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | The Moments |
| Origin | Hackensack, New Jersey, United States |
| Genres | R&B/Soul |
| Years active | 1965–1978 (The Moments) 1978–present (Ray, Goodman & Brown) |
| Labels | Stang, Polydor, EMI |
| Members | |
| Kevin 'Ray' Owens Billy Brown |
|
| Past members | |
| Harry Ray (deceased) Mark Greene Eric Olfus, Sr. (deceased) Richard Gross Harold "Eban" Brown John Morgan (deceased) Johnny Moore (deceased) Al Goodman (deceased) |
|
Ray, Goodman & Brown is an American R&B vocal group. The group originated as The Moments, who formed in the mid-1960s and whose greatest successes came in the 1970s with hits including "Love on a Two-Way Street", "Sexy Mama" and "Look at Me (I'm in Love)". In 1979, for contractual reasons, they changed their name to Ray, Goodman & Brown, and had further hits including "Special Lady". A lineup of The Moments, featuring original member Mark Greene, also tours.
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Much of the confusion concerning the group's history came about due to information being tailored by their record label to promote the group in what became its definitive lineup. The original members of The Moments were Mark Greene, Eric Olfus, Sr., Richard Gross, and John Morgan. The group formed in Washington, D.C. in the mid 1960s. In 1965, at Washington D.C.'s Howard University, the Mizell Brothers and Freddie Perren, along with schoolmate Toby Jackson, founded Hog Records and signed the harmony group the Moments. The Moments recorded "Baby I Want You" and "Pray For Me",[1] under the Hog Records label. The lineup consisted of Eric Olfus, Sr., Richard Gross, and John Morgan. Mark Greene would later join the group after the Hog Records' 45 release. The group later signed to the newly established Stang Records label set up by Sylvia Robinson at All Platinum Studios in Englewood, New Jersey, run by Sylvia and her husband, Joe. The group had their first hit almost immediately late in 1968 with "Not On The Outside", which reached #13 on the R&B chart and #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 with Greene handling lead vocal duties on the first chart hit. Robinson then hired the management firm headed by radio super stars, Frankie Crocker, Herb Hamlett and Eddie O'Jay. The trio started promoting the Moments on radio and booking them at live events in major cities. When Hamlett moved to WCMF in Rochester, New York, he booked the Moments exclusively.
The first Stang album release by The Moments pictured Brown, Goodman and Morgan on the cover, though various members' voices existed on the different tracks recorded between 1968 and 1969. On certain tracks from the first album release there also appear to be some female voices augmenting the male voices. Though never positively confirmed, it is believed that Sylvia Robinson, herself a professional singer, supplied some of those parts, along with Stang artist Lezli Valentine and studio vocalist Rhetta Young. When members left or were replaced, it was less costly to recut only lead vocals on tracks already recorded, which in the case of The Moments earliest studio productions, makes it difficult to determine who is singing on the various tracks behind the lead voice. Before three of the original members of The Moments left All Platinum, they recorded their breakthrough song "Love On A Two Way Street," which reached 1 on the R&B chart and 3 on the pop chart in the spring of 1970. All Platinum also released a single recorded by Mark Greene, titled "My Confession of Love," with the flip side, "I'm So Lost" on the Stang label. The B-side track appeared as a filler song on the first Moments album (with Billy Brown's replacement lead vocal) in 1969, and was released as a single later that year but only saw moderate chart success. The group also released "My Confession of Love" under the name "Black Satin," with Crocker speaking the lyrics.
The group quickly scaled down to a trio after one live appearance at the Apollo Theater as a quartet(some sources credited Greene, Richard Gross (aka Richie Horsley) and John Morgan as comprising the trio lineup) but Greene, Olfus and Gross together left All Platinum in 1969, being replaced by baritone Al Goodman and new lead tenor/baritone singer William "Billy" Brown while Morgan stayed on. Richard Gross was incorrectly credited as Richie Horsley on legal documents, liner notes, and now on websites, articles and in books about the Moments' history. Brown had previously been a member of The Broadways, who had recorded on the MGM label. Goodman (after a couple of performing stints with The Corvettes and The Vipers) had been hired by Joe Robinson as a studio production creative assistant, singer and songwriter, and on records played the substitute role of 'Mickey' (as in Mickey & Sylvia - of whom Sylvia Robinson was formerly one half).
After three of the four original members of The Moments had left All Platinum, Billy Brown rerecorded a new lead vocal track of "Love On A Two Way Street." The song had originally been recorded by Stang artist Lezli Valentine, but failed to chart and The Moments' version, produced by Sylvia Robinson, was originally included as a filler cut on the first LP (released in 1969) which was titled Not On The Outside...But On The Inside, Strong! Then, early in 1970, it was remixed and issued as a single and shot up on both the R&B and Pop charts - holding the #1 R&B spot for five weeks. The first album also contained a Moments version of another Lezli Valentine song titled "I Won't Do Anything" with Brown on lead vocals and it became the flip side of the hit single.
In 1971, Bert Keyes encouraged Mark Greene, Richard Gross, and Eric Olfus, Sr. to sign with Volt Records, a subsidiary of Stax. Keyes had worked with the group at All Platinum Records as a producer, arranger and session keyboardist in the studio house band but left the label because of disputes with the Robinson's. The group signed with the Volt/Stax label as The Leaders and recorded in New York City. The Leaders had four members, Greene, Gross, Olfus, and Donald Spriggs. The group was managed by songwriter Myrna March, and Keyes produced several of the songs they recorded while at Volt/Stax label.
Prior to The Moments' #1 hit, but after the first album's release, John Morgan was also replaced, for a brief period, by Sylvia Robinson's brother-in-law, Johnny Moore (who appeared with Goodman and Brown on the cover of the group's 1970 second album). But when Moore was a no-show for a live appearance, since they were now considered as a new headlining musical attraction, he was fired and Goodman and Brown worked as a duo until new arrival Harry Ray rounded out the trio. This lineup became Sylvia Robinson's favorite and the one most heavily promoted by All Platinum. Ray took over lead vocalist duties for a while when Brown suffered a sore throat from vocal overexertion, and Ray was the lead voice on many of The Moments' subsequent hits, including the follow-up "If I Didn’t Care" (#7 R&B, #44 pop, 1970), "Sexy Mama" (#3 R&B, #17 pop, 1973), and "Look At Me (I'm In Love)" (#1 R&B, #39 pop, 1975). After Brown recovered, they shared lead vocal duties and occasionally even Goodman took his turn in the lead, as well as serving as spokesman for the group. The album titled "The Moments On Top" was rush released as soon as Brown's voice recovered and was the first album where Harry Ray was pictured on the cover with Goodman and Brown. The album titled "A Moment With The Moments" that showed Goodman, Brown and Johnny Moore on the cover was hastily pasted together and released while Brown was still recovering, with the label release numbers running out of sequence, to support the single "If I Didn't Care" in 1970, which was the first Moments lead vocal for Ray, and the only track on the album where Ray's voice appeared. Another remix of "Love On A Two Way Street" was included but the rest of the album consisted of tracks recorded before Brown's illness that were mainly "B" sides from earlier Moments singles releases and Moore was actually gone by the time the album hit the charts. After Brown's voice had returned, Stang began releasing singles from the 'On Top' album with Ray and Brown splitting lead vocals between most of the tracks. Ray also recorded a duet with Sylvia Robinson, "Sho Nuff Boogie" (billed as Sylvia and the Moments) in 1973.
The Moments were also co-credited with labelmates The Whatnauts on their hit "Girls (Part 1)," which only made #25 on the U.S. R&B charts, but became one of their biggest international successes, reaching #3 on the UK Singles Chart in 1975. Harry Ray and Al Goodman were also strongly involved in writing and producing much of The Moments material from the mid 1970s as well as performing production and writing duties for The Whatnauts and All-Platinum's other artists.
By 1979, the group had had a total of 27 R&B chart hits, but decided to leave Stang to advance their creative efforts even further and signed with the larger Polydor Records label. However, a legal dispute arose barring them from using the name The Moments on their new label, so they renamed the group combining their last names: Ray, Goodman & Brown.
The first single under their new name, "Special Lady", became one of their biggest hits, reaching #1 on the R&B chart and #5 on the pop chart in early 1980. The B-side featured “Déjà Vu” with title and lyrics by Bob Natiello and music by Lou Toby. They followed it up with a succession of further hits, including "Inside Of You" (#14 R&B, 1980). In 1982, following the release of their fourth and final album for Polydor, Ray left the group for a solo career. He rejoined Sylvia and Joe Robinson at their new venture, Sugar Hill Records, but after one album and a minor hit, "Sweet Baby," he returned to the group for its comeback on EMI with the ballad "Take It To the Limit" which put them back on the charts (#8 R&B, 1987).
In 1991, Harold "Eban" Brown, a former vocalist for The Delfonics, became the lead vocalist for Ray, Goodman & Brown. He performed with the group for two and a half years before becoming a member of The Manhattans. He is currently the lead vocalist for The Stylistics.
Ray suffered a fatal stroke in 1992 and was replaced in the group by Kevin "Ray" Owens, who was a backing vocalist for Luther Vandross and had taken Ray's place when he had split from the group in the 1980s. Occasionally, solo artist Greg Willis joined with Ray, Goodman and Brown in performances and later, on records, but never became a full-time member. Vocalist Wade 'Smokey' Elliot also did a stint with the group, before signing a solo contract with CBS Records in the 1990s. With the return of Kevin "Ray" Owens, the trio continued to perform and tour as Ray, Goodman & Brown and released two albums in 2002 and 2003, one with new material and the other featuring re-workings of soul songs by other male vocal groups. These albums reunited them with former All-Platinum producer George Kerr and in one of their public appearances they teamed with Gerald Alston to perform The Manhattans' hit "Kiss And Say Goodbye". They sang backup vocals on the Alicia Keys' song "You Don't Know My Name," which was a number 1 soul/R&B song in 2003. As of 2008, Kevin "Ray" Owens, Al Goodman and Billy Brown were continuing to record together, and tour (sometimes combined with added vocalist Larry 'Ice' Winfree), performing hits from both periods of their careers as The Moments and as Ray, Goodman and Brown. On July 27, 2010, Goodman died at the age of 67.[2]
Mark Greene was called back to join the renamed group of Ray, Goodman & Brown; however, he declined, claiming that no royalties were ever paid to him. His personal website contains most of the information about the original group; the founding members, and a photograph of the quartet lineup before Sylvia began reorganizing the act on the heels of their first chart hit. He released a self-produced CD project titled Love Is More Than Spoken on the FAJR label. There was also a CD release on FAJR titled "Unspoken Moments" by The Moments featuring Mark Greene that pictured Greene, Johnny Moore and Richard Gross aka Horsley on the cover. Greene later acquired the official legal trademark of The Moments name. Now known as The Moments featuring Mark Greene, they continue to record, perform and tour. New members of the group are Solomon Cunningham and Loren Brown.[3]
| Year | Album | Chart positions[4] | Record label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
||||
| 1969 | Not on the Outside, But on the Inside, Strong! | — | 8 | Stang | |
| 1970 | On Top | — | — | ||
| A Moment with the Moments | — | 36 | |||
| 1972 | The Other Side of the Moments | — | — | ||
| 1974 | My Thing | — | — | ||
| Those Sexy Moments | — | — | |||
| 1975 | Look at Me | 132 | 13 | ||
| 1977 | Moments with You | — | 40 | ||
| 1978 | Sharp | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | |||||
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Record label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
||||
| 1974 | O'Jays Meet the Moments | — | — | Stang | |
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | |||||
| Year | Album | Chart positions[4] | Record label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
||||
| 1972 | Live at the New York State Women's Prison | 147 | 25 | Stang | |
| 1974 | Live at the Miss Black America Contest | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | |||||
| Year | Album | Chart positions[4] | Record label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
||||
| 1971 | The Moments Greatest Hits | 184 | 24 | Stang | |
| 1974 | The Best of the Moments | — | 23 | ||
| 1984 | Greatest Hits of the Moments | — | — | Chess | |
| 1996 | The Best of the Moments: Love on a Two-Way Street | — | — | Rhino | |
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | |||||
| Year | Single | Chart Positions[5] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
UK[6] | ||
| 1968 | "Not on the Outside" | 57 | 13 | — |
| 1969 | "Sunday" | 90 | 13 | — |
| "I Do" | 62 | 10 | — | |
| "I'm So Lost" | — | 43 | — | |
| "Lovely Way She Loves" | 120 | 14 | — | |
| 1970 | "Love on a Two-Way Street" | 3 | 1 | — |
| "If I Didn't Care" | 44 | 7 | — | |
| "All I Have" | 56 | 9 | — | |
| 1971 | "I Can't Help It" | 108 | 27 | — |
| "That's How It Feels" | 115 | 34 | — | |
| "Lucky Me" | 98 | 31 | — | |
| "To You with Love" | 107 | 36 | — | |
| 1972 | "Thanks a Lot" | — | 41 | — |
| "Just Because He Wants to Make Love (Doesn't Mean He Loves You)" | — | 25 | — | |
| "My Thing" | — | 19 | — | |
| 1973 | "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" | — | — | — |
| "Gotta Find a Way" | 68 | 16 | — | |
| "Sexy Mama" | 17 | 3 | — | |
| 1974 | "Sho Nuff Boogie (Part 1)" (with Sylvia) | 80 | 45 | — |
| "Sweet Sweet Lady" | — | 29 | — | |
| "What's Your Name" | — | 28 | — | |
| "Girls (Part 1)" (with the Whatnauts) | — | 25 | 3 | |
| 1975 | "Look at Me (I'm in Love)" | 39 | 1 | 42 |
| "Got to Get to Know You" | — | — | — | |
| "Dolly My Love" | — | — | 10 | |
| 1976 | "Nine Times" | — | 44 | — |
| "With You" | — | 14 | — | |
| 1977 | "Jack in the Box | — | — | 7 |
| "We Don't Cry Out Loud" | — | 79 | — | |
| "I Don't Wanna Go" | — | 18 | — | |
| 1978 | "I Could Have Loved You" | — | 20 | — |
| "Rain in My Backyard" | — | — | — | |
| 1980 | "Baby Let's Rap Now (Part 1)" | — | 39 | — |
| 1981 | "Record Breakin' Love Affair" | — | — | — |
| "—" denotes the single failed to chart | ||||
| Year | Album | Chart positions[7] | US certifications [8] |
Record label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
||||
| 1979 | Ray, Goodman & Brown | 17 | 2 | Gold | Polydor |
| 1980 | Ray, Goodman & Brown II | 84 | 16 | — | |
| 1981 | Stay | 151 | 33 | — | |
| 1982 | Open Up | — | — | — | |
| 1984 | All About Love, Who's Gonna Make the First Move? | — | — | — | Panoramic |
| 1986 | Take It to the Limit | — | 24 | — | EMI America |
| 1988 | Mood for Lovin' | — | 66 | — | Manhattan |
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified | |||||
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Record label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
||||
| 1996 | The Best of Ray, Goodman & Brown | — | — | PolyGram | |
| 2002 | The Millennium Collection: The Best of Ray, Goodman & Brown | — | — | Polydor | |
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | |||||
| Year | Single | Chart Positions[9] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
|||
| 1979 | "Special Lady" | 5 | 1 | |
| 1980 | "Inside of You" | 76 | 14 | |
| "My Prayer" | 47 | 31 | ||
| "Happy Anniversary" | — | 16 | ||
| 1981 | "Shoestrings" | — | 67 | |
| "How Can Love So Right (Be So Wrong)" | — | 30 | ||
| 1982 | "Stay" | — | — | |
| "Till the Right One Comes Along" | — | — | ||
| "Gambled on Your Love" | — | — | ||
| "After All" | — | — | ||
| 1984 | "Who's Gonna Make the First Move" | — | 61 | |
| 1986 | "Take It to the Limit" | — | 8 | |
| 1987 | "Celebrate Our Love" | — | 34 | |
| "(Baby) Let's Make Love Tonight" | — | — | ||
| 1988 | "Where Did You Get That Body, (Baby)?" | — | 61 | |
| "—" denotes the single failed to chart | ||||