By Bob Berry

When I was researching Motown’s #1’s of September, 1970, I neglected to mention another Detroit gem that was Number One for six weeks. In the United Kingdom!

It was “Band Of Gold“, and it was about a “Detroit” as a record could be.

Sung by The D’s Freda Payne with backup vocals by Joyce Wilson and Thelma Hopkins (who soon became Dawn, with Tony Orlando). Written (under the pseudonym Edythe Wayne) by Motown legends Holland-Dozier-Holland, with members of the Funk Brothers including Dennis Coffey, Bob Babbitt, and Uriel Jones on the track. Recorded in Detroit and released on HDH’s new Invictus label.

If it was anymore Detroit, each 45 would have come with a coupon for a Lafayette or American Coney Island!

Released in the summer of 1970, here’s “Band of Gold”, the Friday Song on Keener!