Vikki Styles – Tears Won’t Stop Falling
Posted on October 23, 2009 by Kris Holmes
Here's a cool 45 that is a product of the headache inducing labyrinth of entangled record labels out of Greenville Mississippi in the mid-late 1960s. The fact that this is such a direct bite of Darrell Banks' massive "Open The Door To Your Heart" seems audacious & probably is. Vikki Styles released just two 45s, this one & another on Leno (also a related label) before seemingly vanishing into obscurity. Both of her 45s are well worth tracking down, with the Leno title being by far the easier to find of the two.
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The whole story behind the operations of records coming out of Greenville at that time seems to be a long & messy tale. Far too difficult to ever totally decipher without help from the people who were actually there at the time. I tried to make some sense of it earlier this year, but it really is more intense than I'd ever expected. Throughout my years collecting soul & funk 45s I have come across a few different titles that originated from the Greenville hub but there appears to be so many labels & names which are psuedonyms, distributors etc. It really just gets bigger & messier the deeper you dig. None of this is helped by the fact that pretty much all the key players are MIA & the whole outfit had a very close relationship with Chicago distributors & artists resulting in cross releases by several Chicago artists & labels. The whole thing seems to be traceable back to two companies: Lynn's Record Distribution & Reginald's Records in Greenville. The two main figures in these appear to have been Lynn Williams & Henry Reginald Hines (Reggie). At some point in the late 60s/early 70s it looks as though the operation splintered with Williams having moved some of the mess to new operations in Chicago (they had already had something of a Chicago presence for at least a few years prior to the move). Word has it that Reggie Hines did a duck from the tax department at around this time & later surfaced as a preacher in the South under an assumed name, releases with the Georgia address may be from this period. Fanciful stories, but pretty par for the course as you dig through the rubble. It would be extremely interesting to track some of these people down, Reggie, Lynn, Vicki Williams, Vikki Styles or Virgil Griffin to have them try to decipher as much of this for us as possible, but who really knows what became of them. Included is a partial discography that I tried to piece together when the research bug bit me earlier this year. It will go someway to demonstrating the scope of things which grew out of this small Mississippi town some 40+ years ago.
Greenville, Mississippi – Soul Records
Lynn’s Record Dist./Reginald’s Records
617 Nelson St, Greenville
476 Muscadine St, Greenville
551 N.Muscadine St, Greenville
Delta Production Association, 604 E Clay, Greenville
VH&L Circle Dist., Chicago
Together Records, PO Box 7155, Atlanta, Georgia.
REW Record Distribution, 2335 So. Cottage Grove, Chicago
MT&H Record Distribution, 2335 So. Cottage Grove, Chicago
1522 Baronne St., New Orleans
Reginald
335 – Slim Willis Band – I Sayed That/Wine Me Up Baby
555/556 – Little Eddie – The Skrooch/Teddy Bear Blues
1401 – Johnny Larand – Come On Home / The Eel (dist. by Atlas, NY)
1402 – Virgil Griffin – I’m On My Way/Love Will Never Die
1403 – Virgil Griffin – If You Can’t Go Don’t/A Forgotten Lover
1411 – Trademarques – I Can Set You Free / Free Your Fears
1487 – Chick Willis – Mr Moon Man I’ve Come To Bring You Some/You Win Again
1488 – Soul Lee – I Need You/I Lost Someone I Wish I Had
1489 – The Dungill Sisters – I'm Your Puppet On A String /People Are getting Worried Tina
8670 – Eva-Larse – Won’t Someone Help This Poor Lost Soul/The Man Does Something To Me
8671 – Carolyn Faye – Oh Baby I’m Yours/That’s All I Need Baby
9747 – Chick Willis – The Way You’re Stoopin’ Down/My Bowlegged Woman
38701 – Heavenly Kings Singers – Going Back With Jesus/If You Wake Up In The Morning
Odex
1041 – Barbara Jean & The Lyrics – While You're Out Shopping / You Don't Love Me (No More)
1042 – Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2 – Mr. Sweet Stuff / Pick Up Your Head (garage)
1043 – Vikki Styles – Tears Won’t Stop Falling/If I Didn’t Love You
1044 – Alice Thomas – A Girl's Tears / I'm Coming Home
1067 – Years People / Frank Tenella – Funky Drop (Part 1) / You Came Along And Changed My Whole Life And Made It Worth Living
1711 – The Premiers – Speaking Of You / Funky Monkey (also issued on JOB)
Leno
1532 – Vikki Styles – Mark My Words Love Will Never Die/Without Your Love I Can’t Make It
Big Beat
1017 – The Kidds – Straighten Up & Fly Right/See What My Love Means (garage)
1018 – Vic Lee – I'm Coming Home Soon/Minit Skirt
1267 – Little Eddie – There'll Be A Day When You'll Be Glad To Have Me Around/Wonder What Makes My Way So Hard
1268 – Chick Willis – So Hurt
1269 – The Cherries – Don’t Know Much About Love/Why Don’t You Love Me & Treat Me Right Because I Been Loving You For A Long Long Time
1273 – Vicki Williams/Henvick & His Gang – Your Love Makes Me Stay When I Know I Should Go/Do The Breakdown
1276 – Little Eddie – Listen Baby Please Be Good To Me/I Don’t Want Nobody Digging In My Potato Field (Atlanta, Georgia address)
1278 – The Soul Twins – If It's Something You Got And It's Worth It Having / Come On Everybody Get With The Beat
1287 – Vicki Williams – The Best Of Luck To You/You’re In The Army But I Wish You Were Here
1297 – Larry Foster – Funky Belly
1299 – Vicki Williams – Do I Make Myself Clear/Best Of Luck To You
1376 – L Johnson Jr – You Gotta Have Soul/I Been Down So Long
9747 – Chick Willis – I Can Deal With That/My Bowlegged Woman (Chicago Dist. Address)
? – ? – Muhammad Ali Soul Dance/?
Little Lynn’s
133-560 – Soul Lee – I Need You/I Lost Someone I Wish I Had
569 – W. Williams & Sonny Wash – Don't Lie To Me Lover/W. Williams – Mississippi Round House
7711 – Spencer Jackson Family – Bring Back Peace To The World (also issued on Scarab)
Milestone
100 – Aries – Girl You’re So Fine/Love You Like A Lover Should (70s boogie/modern)
Terrell
6178 – Johnny Little John – Cant Be Still/What In The World (You Gonna Do)
6179 – Johnny Nix – I got my brand on you/Match box
6277 – Pops Porter – Get Away From My Door Woman/Please If I Can't Come In Let Me Sit On Your Porch
? – Pops Porter – Hey Baby Put Your Big Legs Upside The Wall Let Me See If You Have Bad Blood
Markeda
3747 – Triplett Twins – Roote Tooter/Tell It To My Face
9747 – Chick Willis – I Can Deal With That/My Bowlegged Woman (Chicago Dist. Address)
9748 – Gene Marshall and the Ghetto Sons – It happens to everyone/One shirt
Della
1214 – Sparks – Don’t Forget The Girl Back Home/?
1215 – The Cherries & The Rhythm Kings – Make My Life Worth Living/You Know You Gonna Need Me
Morgan Park
7711 – Vicki Williams – Help Me Make Up My Mind (Best Of Luck To You)/Do I Make Myself Clear
Bar-Bare
1147 – Willie Buck – It’s Alright/Sweet Sixteen
1264 – Leroy King – My Darling/Tennessee Waltz
1265 – The Sheltons – Find It/I Who Have Nothing
1266 – OD Williams – Funky Belly/I’m Moving Out Of Your Life
1299 – Pops Porter – Hey Baby Put Your Big Legs Upside The Wall Let Me See If You Have Bad Blood
10304 – Willie Buck – It’s Alright (LP)
Barclay & The III
6405 – Tyrone Harris – Nothing Seems To Go Right/Ain’t That Fun
9747 – Chick Willis – The Way You’re Stoopin’ Down/My Bowlegged Woman
MTVH/MVTH
007 – Lady Margo – I’ve Got Just The Thing Pt.1 & 2
3737 – Bobby Williams – Funky Superfly
3832 – Chocolate Syrup – Everybody Party/Who You Trying To Fool Girl
33947 – Lady Margo – This Is My Prayer/I’ve Got Just The Thing
MTH
83947 – Lady Margo – This Is My Prayer/I’ve Got Just The Thing
REW
Un-numbered – Newton Greer – Hi Way 82/Born In Mississippi
? – Harmonica Williams – ?/?
3737 – Bobby Williams – Funky Superfly
3738 – Bobby Williams – Soul Party
33079 – Chuck Armstrong – Poor Make Believer/I’m A Lonely Man
Hines
1711 – Ervin Little – She’s Heaven To Me/I’m Running A Losing Race
1712 – Ervin Little – Love Came To Me/Teach Me How To Boogaloo
Margaret
994 – Menard Rogers – Just A Little Smile/ Coming Home Baby
995 – Menard Rogers – Ain’t Nothing But A Titty/ O’ My Love
996 – Johnny Little John – Kitty O/Johnny’s Jive
997 – Johnny Little John & Menard Rogers – Can’t Be Still/ Coming Home Baby
998 – Menard Rogers – Good Food I Am For You/ I Still Love You
Gibbs
101 – Willie Batchler – Baby If You Do Right/Kids Stay In School
Lynn’s
711 – Vicki Styles – I Need Your Love/Cut Me Loose
1728 – The Vandels – Try Me/Boo Ga-Louie
Federal/Hot Hit
Federal 12572/Hot Hit 1919 – James K-Nine – Counting Tear Drops (composed by Hines & Anderson, published by Reginald Music)/Live It Up (Eddie Bo composition)
Atlas (NY label which distributed & released certain Reginald recordings)
1258 – Soul Lee – I Still Have A Feeling For You/I Love You
Todd (Nashville label which released Lynn’s recordings from the New Orleans branch)
1094 – The Perails – Boss Walk (Allen Orange composition, appears on Folkways LP 2865)
Satin
2-101 – Al White & the Hi-Liters – Johnny B Goode/Let That Guitar Roll
White Cliffs
225 – Al White & the Hi-Liters – Them Drums/Jamaica (Henry Hines & Leon Bonds)
Tune-Kel
604 – Al White & the Hi-Liters – Thread The Needle/Noise With The Boys (Henry Hines & Leon Bonds)
Henvick
133-867 – W.Williams & Sonny Wash – Funky Broadway/Down Home Blues
Folkways
FW02865 – Roots: The Rock and Roll Sound of Louisiana & Mississippi LP
FWRBF20 – Roots: Rhythm and Blues LP
Filed under: 45's and 7's, Soul / Funk
7 Comments to “Vikki Styles – Tears Won’t Stop Falling”
man, that whole thing is messy.
I’m doing research for the Philadelphia, MS museum on Foots Baxstrum who played trumpet with Virgil Griffin. Baxstrum had his own bands from the 40’s -60’s – Rhythm X and Rhythm Kings. His daughter said there was a recording by him. She remembers the songs “Lions Walk” and “Run To Me Baby”. Have you ever run across his name or these recordings?
no sorry, i’ve never heard of those songs, bands or that musician. good luck with your research.
How can i get song number 6179- i got my brand on you/match box.
how can i get the lyrics to johnny nix song i got my brand ion you/ match box. thanks
hi brenda, I have the record/songs you are after, let me know your email & I can send you mp3s or lyrics.
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KILLER!!!