Trussel
Trussel was in line to blow up like the Commodores and the Black Byrds. A College based group of Music Majors from Virginia State College, the group had all the makings of a super group. Tight horns, moves, and a fantastic lead vocalist Larry Tynes. Later when the group signed with Elektra they added a second outstanding lead vocalist Michael Spratley. In 1973 the group formed in the Snack Shop of Virginia State for the first month or two they were known as the Snack Shop Band. Then they went looking for a name. Near VSC there was a train trestle, the drummer and co-founder Ron Buky Smith (Englewood, NJ) spoke with a lisp and said let's name the group TRUSSEL.. hence the spelling and pronounciation. The group members graduated in the early and mid-seventies from college and formed a record label in 1975. Bridge The Gap Records, they released what would now be two very rare 7"inch singles. The Bi-Centennial Boogie which was renamed to try and get in on the 1976 Bicentennial.. the original name was "CHICKEN SH%T", the b side was another period song "How Many Tricks In 1976". That song which Buddah Records wanted to release was a Graham Central Station sounding track that was written to blast Tricky Dick Nixon and the mess that he caused. The next release were two pretty songs "Beautiful People" b/w "Spread Love Everywhere". Both were well recorded and poorly promoted. The groups break came when a college friend Marvin Daniels (Chops - Southern Energy Ensemble) asked Bill would the group be willing to backup a young 15 year old girl out of Philadelphia who had signed with RCA. Reluctantly they did and became Evelyne Champagne Kings first touring band. They started with her when SHAME was a blip on the Disco Chart and were exiting when SHAME was on it's way to the top of the charts. The group tells the story about a gig at Broady's in NY where the whole RCA staff including the President came to see this new young talent. The band was so tight after years of playing the Mid-Atlantic College Circuit that RCA Producers Warren Schatz and Al Garrison came into the dressing room at the break and offered the group TRUSSEL a record deal with RCA. It never happened, the parents of Evelyn King became despondent with the management that had hooked her up with Trussel and fired the young black manager for a older white established management firm that worked with lots of RCA artist? (Sounds familiar) Trussel being a loyal bunch of guys gave the original young manager 1 year to get them a record deal. So they left the road and went in to writing and preparing for the record deal that was sure to come. About a week before the year was to expire the group signed with Elektra for a three single studio budget. From that recording date in Philadelphia came "LOVE INJECTION", "GONE FOR THE WEEKEND", and a third single. "LOVE INJECTION" was released in the fall of 1979 and quickly became a New York Disco Hit. Most of the DJ's knew the group because of their many appearances in NYC and it helped that the term LOVE INJECTION caught on in the GAY community. So the song took off. In the mean time the young black manager turned the group over to a Philadelphia slickster who basically ripped the group off and mismanaged the release of the album. Elektra changed company presidents in the fall of 1979, the new guy in charge froze all of the Album budgets, including the Trussel budget even though the groups record was high on the Disco Charts and up on the R&B Charts. The big error came when the finally completed album March 1980 was named LOVE INJECTION.. stupid move. The single was a hit in the fall of 1979 and they named a spring 1980 album release LOVE INJECTION... they also refused to put the groups picture on the cover... the looked too black (ethnic).. So stupid and corrupt management eventually caused the group to refuse the offer of the second album, which they now acknowledge in hind sight was a mistake. So there you have it another one hit wonder.. TRUSSEL - Love Injection is listed as one of the Top 200 Disco records of all time.. The lead singer Larry Tynes passed away in the late 80's the young lady who didn't make the album date Veronica Jones passed away in 1988. The other members are still working or playing, producing and writing. The groups leader Bill McGee is a smooth jazz trumpeter with several CD's on the market. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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