The Contours Featuring Sylvester Potts

As I do every year I attend Hot August Nights, I take in the so-called free concerts either at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno or near the Nugget in Sparks. Tonight was no exception. I saw one of the two official groups of the 1960s Motown group, The Contours Featuring Sylvester Potts. The original Contours was one of the first Motown groups. Potts joined the group in 1961, so he is very close to being an original member. He was in the group when it had its megahit "Do You Love Me" in 1962 (also a big hit for the UK group The Dave Clark Five a couple of years later).

The other official group features original member Joe Billingslea. This is their webpage.

Naturally there were some legal battles. Wikipedia:

In 2004, Sylvester Potts left to form his own group with the four members (Leroy Seabrooks, Kim Green, Tony Womack and Darell Nunlee) of a local Detroit group named Upscale, which immediately began performing as 'The Contours'. Billingslea sued and Potts countersued, each claiming the rights to the name. These suits were resolved in an out-of-court settlement which provided for the existence of both groups to be identified as "Joe Billingslea and The Contours" and "The Contours featuring Sylvester Potts," respectively. Seabrooks has since left the Potts' group making it a quartet. In 2006, Joe Billingslea and The Contours filled the vacant bass singing spot created by Potts' departure with Odell Jones. Both groups are currently performing. Joe Billingslea and The Contours are among the acts featured in a DVD released by Motown in January 2007 called "Motown: The Early Years," featuring their appearances on the Public Broadcasting System specials.

And what of the original members? Naturally a few of them have passed away:

Joe Billingslea continues to perform with "Joe Billingslea and The Contours." Original member Billy Hoggs left The Contours in 1964 to become a minister. Today he is retired and lives in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. In 2005, Hoggs made his first and only appearance since 1964, singing with Joe Billingslea and The Contours for the taping of "Motown: The Early Years." Hubert Johnson committed suicide on July 11, 1981, Billy Gordon died in 1999 and Leroy Fair died in December 2004. Guitarist Huey Davis (pictured on their Do You Love Me album cover, but never officially a member of The Contours) died February 23, 2000.

In any case, the Potts version of the group was simply terrific tonight. I could have listened to them perform all night. My throat is sore from singing so many of the songs. I know most of the 1960s Motown hits by heart.

Here are some pictures. I finally brought my camera down. It takes pretty good night shots:



Sylvester Potts is on the left.









These guys are very animated and choreograph their moves.














During their version of the fifties' doo wop classic, "In the Still of the Nite," singer Tony Womack went out to the audience and got someone to come out and dance with him.