Eddie Billups on Peachtree

Eddie Billups

20745 - Soldier's Prayer

20746 - Ask My Heart

Both wr. Eddie Billups, Henry Wynn Music, BMI

Peachtree 104

The rarest 45 on the Peachtree label. The last copy offered at e-bay was sold for... 3.940 $US according to  popsike.


Peachtree Records

In the late 60s William Bell had earned Stax Records national hits with some ballads such as Everybody Loves a Winner, A Tribute to a King and I Forgot to be Your Lover . However, since William wasn’t signed to Stax as a writer or a producer those days, he was free to look for other outlets for his creativity as well, and as a result he became the co-owner of a new label in Atlanta, Georgia :

 “I got a new management with a young man named Henry Wynn out of Atlanta.  Peachtree was formed by me and Mr. Wynn in 1969  (ed.  first releases are from 1967].  When he signed on as a manager for me, I was doing a lot of his tours and he saw that I was different from a lot of acts.  I was always trying to cram knowledge of the inner workings of the music industry, because Sam Cooke was one of my heroes and when he expressed that there’s money to be made in publishing – ping!  I’m thinking ‘okay, I’ve given all my publishing away.  Now let me renegotiate, and get half of the publishing at least’.”

 “Henry suggested that he had some opening acts that he was putting on his tour that didn’t have record deals, but they were good acts like Johnny Jones, Jimmy Church and all of those guys.  So he said ‘why don’t we form a record label, and you handle the production end and I’ll handle the promotional end’.  So I was doing the writing and producing for Peachtree and he was handling the marketing end of it, and we put these acts on tours with us.”

Shorty Billups and the Original Foxx Band

Shorty Billups

 The following information is from Shorty Billups's own website : 

Born in New London, Connecticut, February 1,1932, Shor'ty Billups (pronounced Shor-tay), started at an early age singing and playing the piano . He started traveling and performing for our "Troops" at the age of  15 yrs  old with the U.S.O. At the age of 18 years old he set aside his "dancing shoes" for the purpose of serving our Country for the next four years, never losing site of his vision.

There is a lot of confusion regarding Shorty Billups and Eddie Billups various records   


The most pertinent information I've found is from Matt Starr who posted the following message in 2001at a Southern Soul forum :

Shorty vs Eddie Billups :

According to Shorty Billups, from an interview I did with him in 1991, he and Eddie are brothers. Shorty sings and plays drums, and Eddie plays keyboards. At some point due to "personal reasons" which he wanted to remain off-the-record, Shorty wanted the records issued under Eddie's name, even though Shorty says he is the vocalist on ALL of their records together.  There is one possible exception, noted below.   I hope some day to speak to Eddie to hear his side and confirm this, but to date I haven't. But this seems reasonable, given that their earliest records (United Artists, Blast, Tri-boro), which seem to be just the
vocalist in front of a studio band, were all issued as by Shorty. The later (mid-60s) 45s, when they were a self-contained unit, go either way. Sometimes the same sides were issued as by Eddie on one label, and by Shorty on another.

According to Shorty, the only possible exception is the B-side "Rap on Alone" which may be Eddie in duet with Mickey Jackson....

Clifford E. Bibbins

Even more confusing is the meager information found online regarding Clifford E. Bibbins who wrote and produced a lot of songs recorded by Shorty, from the start of Shorty's recording career (Fine Records in 1960).   Edward Alfred Bibbins as he was also known was born in/1938 and died in 2008. He is buried in Chattanooga, TN.  But the story of Bibbins is yet another story...

Shorty/Shortie/Eddie  Billups/Billips/Billup various labels