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Will The Artists Who Really Recorded “Junkman” Please Stand Up

Patti LaBelle and The Blue-Belles
Patti LaBelle and The Blue-Belles

Raise your hand if you have never heard of Patti LaBelle and the BlueBelles.  Her first hit was written in 1946 but Patti and company never actually recorded it until…well, actually, they never did record it.

The Starlets were six young women from Chicago who were flown out to Philly by Newtown Records to record I Sold My Heart to the Junkman and according to people there in the studio it had “hit” written all over it.  The Starlets producer, Harold Robinson, was making the transition from used-car-salesman to Producer and apparently did not check to see if the Starlets had already signed with another label and The Starlets sure didn’t bring it up.

Robinson, not wishing to lose any money on the deal, gave the newly recorded song to his newest group, Patti LaBelle and the BlueBelles but he didn’t bother having LaBelle re-record it.  To add insult to injury, Robinson used Patti’s Picture on the label and gave her group full credit for the vocals.  (And we give used-car salesmen a bad rap.)

Robinson booked Patti LaBelle and the BlueBelles on American Bandstand where they were caught lip-synching their first national hit and after a lengthy court battle, the Starlets were awarded a grand total of $5000 each.  Junkman launched the BlueBelles to stardom and the Starlets vanished from the music scene.   Two sources I researched can’t even find a picture of the young group.  The only hit the Starlets are linked with is Better Tell Him No.  They should have just told Robinson “No!” when he called them.

Interesting lyrics.  Boy breaks girl’s heart, she sells it to a junkman, and now, she can never fall in love again.  Ah, to be 18 again.

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