Here’s an obscure single on Tampa, Florida’s Boss label, the Souldiers with a great harmony song “Would You Kiss Me” b/w an underrated ballad, “Lemon Sun”. Release date was approximately January 1967 on Boss BOS 007 (BSKM-1119/20)
Randy Lewis and Swilley wrote “Would You Kiss Me” for Fulprod Music Pub ASCAP, while Ed Hillert wrote “Lemon Sun” published by Fuller Music Pub. BMI.
Despite the obscurity of the band, the other two names on the labels are famiilar, John Brummage and Charles Fuller.
John Brummage had a hand in the production of the Royal Guardsmen’s “Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron”. He produced the Split Ends “Rich with Nothin'”, the Noah’s Ark “Love In”, several for the Rovin’ Flames including “I Can’t” (which he wrote) on Boss, “Gloria” on Fuller and “How Many Times” on Decca, and many for the Boss label including the Berkley Five’s “You’re Gonna Cry” and the Ravens who I’ll feature soon.
Charles Fuller headed the CFP, Fuller, Tigertown and Boss labels, among others, with Brummage most often listed as producer.
There’s a possibility this Souldiers band is connected to another local group called the Soljers aka Blues Syndicate, with Bob Conn as either member or manager, but otherwise I can’t find any definite info on who was in the band or any photos of the group.
The “Hillert” who wrote “Lemon Sun” was Ed Hillert who was from the Detroit area. He wrote songs in his spare time and had several of them recorded by different people. His “biggest” claims to fame were “I’m Not Built That Way” by The Hesitations, a Detroit soul act who recorded for Kapp records, and “Lonely Too Long” by The Sandpipers released on local Detroit label “Giant”, home to legendary soul records by Tony Hestor and Lorraine Chandler. I know this because I tracked down his widow many years ago and she had several copies of this in the family archives. How it all came together back in the day she really didn’t know as her husband handled all of that.
Lewis was Randy Lewis, who later went on to the band Mose Jones.
Thanks Jeff, I’ll update his name in the post above.
In the 1990’s I happened to meet The Doors’ road manager Vince Treanor in the Hard Rock Café in Singapore one evening. He was very cordial and we talked for a little while.
He said he was enroute to his recording studio, in Sumatra I believe. I asked him if he was a musician himself. He said yes. I asked him if he had ever been in a band. He said yes, but that I wouldn’t know them. I told him to try me.
He said the band was called The Souldiers, although he didn’t spell it for me.
“S-o-u-l-d-i-e-r-s?” I asked.
He was shocked. “How could you possibly know that?”
“You were from northern Florida/southern Georgia and had one single?”
I had run into this tidbit in a book on American music and it stuck with me because I thought the band name was clever.
So could he have been part of this Tampa band?
Randy Lewis’ sister, Debbie Lewis, was a member of Mercy. I went to EBHS (East Bay High School) with them and have fond memories. I have the single autographed by Wally Watson, the drummer. Oh, the good old days…..sigh… I also have the Mercy album.
The lyrics to “Would you kiss me” had a different version around school!
The original members of the Souldiers were Randy Lewis, bass guitar and vocals, Mike Swilley, lead guitar and vocals, Houston Lennard, rhythm guitar and vocals, and Wally Watson, drums. Wally was later replaced by Bryan Cole. Houston left the group to go to college in September 1967. Mike went to Viet Nam. Randy and Bryan went to Atlanta with new lead guitar Jimmy O’Neill and Hammond B-3 player Gary Rees. They changed the name of the band to Stonehenge. Later, say 1969 to 1970, Gary left and Steve McRay joined to form Mose Jones.