A founding member of Earth, Wind and Fire, in Chicago Wade Flemons was first discovered by Vee Jay Records and would become well known for his work in the jingle studios when Chicago was the center of commercial advertising production work.
Wade Flemons (9/25/40-10/13/93) was introduced to gospel music by his father, who was a minister. Growing up in Battle Creek, Michigan he had already started writing and recording. Signed by Vee Jay Records when he was only 17 years old when he had his first chart hit “Here I Stand” credited as Wade Flemons and the New Comers. The success of the single provided the impetus to produce an album, the self-titled Wade Flemons issued in 1959. That led to a lengthy relationship with Vee Jay releasing 15 singles over the period 1958-65. “Here I Stand” would reach #19 on the Billboard R&B chart. In his Vee Jay catalog, “Easy Lovin” would climb to #10 in 1960, with “Please Send Me Someone to Love” peaking at #20.
Flemons would not be out doing the club market like so many others. Instead he entrenched himself in the lucrative jingle market, writing commercial advertising jingles. One of his writing partners was Maurice White. White had been a session drummer for Chess Records, and was also a member of the Ramsey Lewis Trio. So when Flemons’ time with Vee Jay came to a close, White helped him make a move over to Ramsey Lewis’ fledgling Ramsel label.
With White and Flemons writing jingles, they added another songwriter to the team with Don Whitehead. The trio was able to land a contract with Capitol Records, where they released the single “La, La, La” calling themselves the Salty Peppers. A second single didn’t fare as well and White decided to pull up stakes and head to California.
There, he began to shop tapes of demo material he had produced with Donny Hathaway, inking a deal with Warner Bros. Records. He would put the band together as Earth, Wind and Fire with Wade Flemons and Sherry Scott as lead vocalists. Flemons would be involved in the group’s first two albums for Warner Bros. Even though the albums did well, all was not well internally with the group. Flemons, along with most of the rest of the band left, leaving Maurice and his brother Verdine to regroup.
Flemons would return to the Midwest and continued his songwriting, his repertoire listing over 200 compositions. He settled down back in Battle Creek, getting married in 1980 and raising a daughter and three sons. He never returned to recording himself. Sadly, he passed away in 1993, having lost a battle to cancer.
Discography
1958 Here I Stand b/w My Baby Likes to Rock (Vee Jay 295)
1959 Hold Me Close b/w You’ll Remain Forever (Vee Jay 309)
1959 Slow Motion b/w Walking By the River (Vee Jay 321)
1959 What’s Happening b/w Good Nite, It’s Time to Go (Vee Jay 335)
1959 Wade Flemons (Vee Jay LP 1011) LP
1960 Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby b/w I’ll Comin Runnin’ (Vee Jay 368)
1960 Easy Lovin’ b/w Woops Now (Vee Jay 344)
1961 Please Send Someone to Love b/w Keep on Loving Me (Vee Jay 389)
1961 At the Party b/w Devil in Your Soul (Vee Jay 377)
1962 Half a Love b/w Welcome Stranger (Vee Jay 427)
1962 I Hope, I Think, I Wish b/w Ain’t These Tears (Vee Jay 471)
1963 I Came Running (Back from the Party) b/w That Time of Year (Vee Jay 533)
1964 Watch Over Her b/w When It Rains It Pours (Vee Jay 578)
1964 I Knew You When b/w That Other Place (Vee Jay 614)
1965 Empty Bottle b/w Where Did You Go Last Night (Vee Jay 668)
1968 Jeanette b/w What a Price to Pay (Ramsel 1001)
1968 Two of a Kind b/w I Knew You’d Be Mine (Ramsel 1002)
THE SALTY PEPPERS
1969 Your Love is Life b/w Uh Huh Year (Capitol 2568)
1969 La, La, La (Part 1) b/w La, La, La (Part 2) (TEC 1014)
EARTH, WIND & FIRE
1971 Earth, Wind & Fire (Warner Bros. WS 1905) LP
1971 The Need of Love (Warner Bros. WS 1958) LP