line up 1 (1963-69)

- Lee W. Jones -- lead vocals 

- Charles Moore -- second tenor  

- David Sanders -- bass, baritone  

- Harold Thomas -- first tenor  

- Robert Wrightsil -- second tenor, baritone  

  line up 2 (1969-76)

NEW - Sam Hutchinson -- tenor 

- Lee W. Jones -- lead vocals 

- Charles Moore -- second tenor  

- David Sanders -- bass, baritone  

- Harold Thomas -- first tenor  

- Robert Wrightsil -- second tenor, baritone  

  line up 3 (1976-)

NEW - Oberdean Deloney -- first tenor (replaced 

  Harold Thomas)

- Lee Evans -- second tenor (replaced Charles Moore)

- Sam Hutchinson -- tenor 

- Lee W. Jones -- lead vocals  

- David Sanders -- bass, baritone  

- Robert Wrightsil -- second tenor, baritone 

- The Stairs (Lee W. Jones, Charles Moore,  David

  Sanders, Harold Thomas and Robert Wrightsil)

Genre: soul

Rating: 4 stars ****

Title:  Everybody Wanna Live On

Company: ABC

Catalog: ABCD-921

Year: 1975

Country/State: Texas

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: still in shrink; cut left corner

Available: 2

Catalog ID: 5006

Price: $20.00

Having toured and recorded singles for 12 years before they got a chance to record an album, The Masqueraders epitomize the concepts of dedication and perseverance ...  12 years for goodness sakes !!!   I've taken a halfhearted stab at a discography below.  These guys were somewhat atypical in that they recorded steadily throughout the decade before releasing an album.  That took them all over the business with releases on scores of small and large labels.

The group's first major break came in 1975 when the attracted the attention of Issac Hayes.  Flying high on the heels of his "Shaft" successes, Hayes had recently convinced ABC Records to finance his HBS (Hot Buttered Soul) label.  The Masqueraders stood as one of the first signings to HBS.

Produced and arranged by Hayes, "Everybody Wanna Live On" was a surprisingly impressive debut - made even more enjoyable by the fact most of eight songs reflected original material (rare for a soul vocal group).  With his long-standing Stax roots, Hayes proved a great match for the group, wisely avoiding then-popular disco influences in favor of a distinctive old-school attack.  Propelled by Lee W. Jones' gritty vocals, material like the grooving title track (love the unexpected horn breaks), the Gospel-tinged 'Please Don't Try (To Take Me Away To the Sky)' (love the jazzy scat segment) and '' showcased the group's decade and a half of experience with a series of performances that were near flawless.  The set certainly wasn't perfect.  Given the group was in peak form on upbeat numbers, the four ballads were simply overkill.  Not the group's fault, but some of the lyrics were cheesy (even back in the day) - check out the seventh grade political and social manifesto on 'Listen'.  Still, the overall results were quite impressive, made even better by the fact you can still find this album relatively cheap.  Elsewhere the album was tapped for a series of three singles:

- 1975's 'Baby It's You' b/w 'Listen' (ABC catalog number ABC-12141)

- 1976's '(Call Me) The Traveling Man' b/w 'Sweet Sweetening' (ABC catalog number ABC-12157)

- 1976's 'Your Sweet Love Is a Blessing' b/w 'Please Don't Try' (ABC catalog number ABC-12190)

Unfortunately, HBS proved to be chronically undercapitalized and shortly after the album was released the label declared bankruptcy, leaving The Masqueraders without a recording label for the next five years.  

"Everybody Wanna Live On" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Everybody Wanna Live On   (Eual Jean Rivers - Orbedean Deloney - Lee Wesley - David Sanders - Robert Wrightsil - Sammy Hutchinson) - 8:35

2.) Please Don't Try (To Take Me Away To the Sky)   (Orbedean Deloney - Lee Wesley - David Sanders - Robert Wrightsil - Sammy Hutchinson) - 4:32

3.) (Call Me) The Traveling Man   (Orbedean Deloney - Lee Wesley - David Sanders - Robert Wrightsil - Sammy Hutchinson) - 6:53

4.) Listen   (Orbedean Deloney - Lee Wesley - David Sanders - Robert Wrightsil - Sammy Hutchinson) - 5:56

(side 2)
1.) Baby It's You   (Burt Bacharach - David Williams) - 6:38

2.) Sweet Sweetning   (Orbedean Deloney - Lee Wesley - David Sanders - Robert Wrightsil - Sammy Hutchinson) - 4:12

3.) (My Love for You Is) Honest and True   (Orbedean Deloney - Lee Wesley - David Sanders - Robert Wrightsil - Sammy Hutchinson) - 6:29

4.) Your Sweet Love Is a Blessing   (Orbedean Deloney - Lee Wesley - David Sanders - Robert Wrightsil - Sammy Hutchinson) - 6:07

Genre: soul

Rating: 3 stars ***

Title:  Love Anonymous

Company: ABC

Catalog: AB-962

Year: 1977

Country/State: Texas

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: small promo stamp top left corner

Available: 1

Catalog ID: 5808

Price: $12.00

1977's "Love Anonymous" continued The Masqueraders' partnership with producer/writer Issac Hayes.  If you enjoyed their debut album, the chances were good the sophomore set would strike your fancy since stylistically it wasn't a major departure from the first one.

- 'Modern Day Woman' started the album off with the group pursuing a surprisingly sophisticated sound.  Lee W. Jones' classic soul voice seldom sounded as good (and the harmony work was amazing) but the combination of the subject matter and an arrangement that was more Philadelphia International than Stax, proved a big surprise.   rating: **** stars

- With a Gospel-ish edge, technically there wasn't anything wrong with the ballad 'Love Between a Woman and a Man'.  Nice vocals and a pretty melody made it a decent slow dance number, but there simply wasn't much to make it standout from a slew of similar sounding numbers.   rating: ** stars

- Putting two slow ballads back to back probably wasn't particularly smart.  Like the previous track 'Can't Nobody Love Me Like You Do' was pretty enough (better hood than the previous number), but the two tracks just kind of blended together into a blob.   rating: ** stars

Unfortunately for the group shortly after the album was released Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul imprint went bankrupt and ABC decided to get out of music.  That left the group without any touring support and without a recording contract.

"Love Anonymous" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Modern Day Woman - 4:20

2.) Love Between a Woman and a Man - 5:19

3.) Can't Nobody Love Me Like You Do - 4:06

4.) Love Anonymous - 4:41

(side 2)
1.) The Bicentennial - 2:41

2/) Be for Real - 3:45

3.) It's a Terrible Thing To Waste Your Love - 4:59

4.) Runaway Slave - 9:56

The second Masqueraders album was also produced by Issac Hayes, and released through his Hot Buttered Soul imprint. Hayes and the Masqueraders' first effort together, Everybody Wanna Live On, was one of the stronger group albums of the time. Love Anonymous catches Hayes while his arrangements began to lack surprises. That's not to say it's a bad effort; in fact, Love Anonymous picks up where its predecessor left off, although it's a little more labored. The melodic and hooky first track, "Modern Day Woman," has Jones offering a pithy hook, "She wanna be loved," and he manages to make it sound like a novel thought. "Love Between a Woman and a Man" has a soaring melody and "It's a Terrible Thing to Waste Your Love" has Jones playing Mr. Right by default, as he begs and croons himself into her good graces. The best ballad, "Can't Nobody Love Me Like You Do," has Hayes bringing out the texture of the group's voices with an understated and concise production. This being closer to the disco era, Love Anonymous has its share of dance material. While no one probably wants to hear the pabulum of "Bicentennial," "Be for Real" is a glossy, highly danceable song. The last track, "Runaway Slave," has Jones likening his relationship to servitude with the ringing chorus, "Got to be free from you free/Free from you free." Although Hayes' production hand could have been more deft, Love Anonymous is recommended for fans of intelligent and stylish R&B.

The Masqueraders were one of the longest-liv

ed yet little-known groups in soul music history. According to an interview with soul collector and historian Greg Tormo, their origins date back to Dallas, Texas in 1958 — middle-schoolers Charlie Moore (lead vocals) and Robert Tex Wrightsil (first tenor) formed the earliest incarnation of the group, then dubbed "the Stairs," with brothers Johnny and Lawrence Davis in the second and third tenor slots and "Little" Charlie Gibson singing bass. Circa 1959, the Stairs recorded at least three singles for the local South Town label — "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man," "Caveman Love," and "Flossie Mae" — before the Davis brothers left the group and Gibson enlisted in the U.S. Army. Moore and Wrightsil scrambled to find replacements, with Moore eventually moving to baritone to accommodate new lead vocalist Lee Wesley Jones; tenor Harold Thomas, and bass David Sanders filled out the new lineup, which toured relentlessly throughout Texas. They often appeared in small towns under the guise of national chart groups, easily emulating the style of any act they so chose — as a result, they officially renamed themselves the Masqueraders, making their recorded debut under that name with 1963's "A Man's Temptation." After cutting 1965's "Talk About a Woman" for the Houston label Soultown, the Masqueraders traveled to Detroit to audition for Motown — informed that their style and approach were too similar to that of the Temptations, the group found themselves stuck in the Motor City with no money to return home, hatching a plan to perform at the local Twenty Grand Club to earn enough cash for return fare. En route they stumbled on a recording studio owned by La Beat label owner Lou Beatty, who would go on to release five Masqueraders singles ("The Family," "I'm Gonna Make It," "Together That's the Only Way," "Be Happy for Me" and "I Got the Power") spread across 1966 and 1967. None of their La Beat singles made a commercial impact, however, and the Masqueraders next traveled to Memphis to audition for producer Chips Moman. The group would proceed to record a total of eight singles at Moman's American Studios beginning with 1967's "I Don't Want Nobody to Lead Me On" — licensed to the New York label Wand, the song was a minor regional hit, and was later recorded by both former NFL star Rosey Grier and the Gentlemen Four. To avoid contractual snafus, Moman credited the Masqueraders as Lee Jones & the Sounds of Soul for the 1968 follow-up "This Heart Is Haunted," which he licensed to the Amy label. After "Do You Love Me Baby" failed to generate much interest, Wand dropped the Masqueraders, and Moman negotiated a new deal with Amy's parent label, Bell — the three singles that resulted (the minor hit "I Ain't Got Nobody Else," "How Big Is Big," and "Steamroller") represent the creative zenith of the group's career, boasting a gospel-influenced deep soul sound gilded by American Studios' crack session crew. During this time, the Masqueraders also contributed backing vocals to sessions by blue-eyed soul combo the Box Tops. Their next single as headliners, 1968's "I'm Just an Average Guy," was their first true national hit — released via Moman's AGP label, the record reached the number 24 spot on the national R&B charts. "The Grass Is Green" closed out the year, and in 1969 the Masqueraders swelled to a six-piece with the addition of vocalist Sammie Hutchins; when Lee Evans failed to show up for performances, Hutchins assumed his lead vocal spot, a position he assumed full-time when Evans ultimately left the group altogether. After one final AGP single, "Love, Peace and Understanding," the Masqueraders finally left Memphis and returned home to Dallas, establishing their own Stairway label to release 1971's "Let Me Show the World I Love You"; with little promotion and no national distribution deals to speak of, neither the single nor its 1972 follow-up "The Truth Is Free" attracted any notice outside of Texas, and in 1973 the group returned to Memphis, this time landing with Willie Mitchell's famed Hi label. After two Darryl Carter-produced singles — "Let the Love Bells Ring" and "Wake Up, Fool" — Hi terminated the Masqueraders contract; after a quarter century with the group, he co-founded, Charlie Moore decided he'd had enough and resigned in 1974, paving the way for Lee Evans to return. In 1975 they signed with Isaac Hayes' HBS label, soon releasing their first-ever full-length album, Everybody Wanna Live On. Love Anonymous appeared later that same year, but HBS then declared bankruptcy and the Masqueraders spent the remainder of the decade without a recording contract, although they cut a series of still-unreleased demo sessions in addition to maintaining a relentless touring schedule. After signing with the Atlanta-based Bang label, in 1980 the Masqueraders released a self-titled LP that remains their final recorded work to date; Moore eventually returned to the lineup, however, and as of this writing, the group remains a going concern some four decades beyond its inception.