THE VOWS - by Al Kelly (5 October 2005)

"Dottie" by the Vows has a special meaning to me since I was a partner
in the Tamara label, which was named after one of my partners' new 
daughter. The Vows (and some listings have the Vowels) was organized 
by James Moore in '60 He had just moved from Belaire, OH and did some 
singing in high school with several groups. James became friends with 
Charles Wright (formerly of the Shields) and female singer Brenda 
Holloway, they were both interested in getting a group together. Next 
Helen Simpson joined on.  They were joined by  three others but they 
left the group before long.  They were joined  by Ralph Chestnut  
(formerly of the Cheerios on Infinity) and two other singers.  In 
'62 they met George Motola, who set up a deal to produce and record 
the group on George's Markay label.  The story goes, they cut four 
sides for Motola and the other two were released as the Individuals 
on the Motola's Sparrow label in '62  (Motola  was owner or part 
owner in at least  50 - 60 different labels). Next, Ralph Chestnut's
cousin joined the group but Motola  asked the group to back Ralph's
cousin Morris Chestnut using a pseudonym, James Washington Lee on the
L&M label. George Motola  produced the record but the label was not
his!!! (owned  by Lalo Guerro & Manuel Acunda). The Vows never were
mentioned on the label.  Motola left town for San Diego and the group
was on it's own and Morris left to join the O'Jays. The group met up
with producer Anthony Renfro, who recorded the group as the Vowels and
was released on the Le Bam label in '63, they did have another in '64 on
LeBam. The group was doing backup work but not recording until Motola
returned to LA and recorded James Moore with the Vows doing backup but
that was it. The group was doing backup work for Motown in LA and
backing Stevie Wonder and others who recorded on the Coast. The two
producers were Marc Gordon and Hal Davis (yes, the great singer), they
ran the Mowest operation of Motown. Marc Gordon was in Philly one day
setting up distribution for his Doc label which was a partnership with a
Rydel, Pa dentist, they also released a Doctor Shiny Teeth record (a
collectors item too). While he was in our office of our Quaker City
Dist. on Broad St in Philly, he said he had a few dubs, if we were
interested in listening. He played this song and within 15 minutes, we
bought the master.  The record did sell in several cities but never
caught on and we did have the best distributors around the country. The
group did have a several other releases one on the Sta-Set label and
their final release on the V.I.P. label which was a Motown sub. The
group sort of stayed together and recorded under other names like the
Attractions, The Young Hearts, Fascinators and Helen Moore had a few
releases.