CATALOG: SR-012
Cincinnati teens Bill Smith & Randy Vandivier would play together during the late 60s in a group called ‘Billy & The Hitch Hikers’ fronted by James Bowens, who through his fascination with James Bond would adopt the nickname ‘Double O’
Hailing from Lincoln Heights, the group would be surrounded by and play with the likes of Bootsy Collins, Charles Spurling who became staples at local King Records
Bill & Randy would find themselves working together at the local Holiday Inn during the 70s whilst writing & performing with their own projects. This gave Bill the opportunity to pursue recording & releasing local artists under his own record label, 'Split Records', which would happen at the all in one recording & production facility, Rite Studios in their local neighbourhood
Bill had asked Randy to gather the musicians together for three separate recordings to be released under Split Records, whilst employing ‘Double O’ and his backing vocal group ‘The Demingos’
‘Color One Tear Black’, a poignant, melancholic expression of lost love, created & sang by James Bowens was their third recording in the studio. The guys on that session were Pete Irving on saxophone, Robert Chamberlain playing bass guitar, John Keys on guitar, Randall Vandivier playing trumpet & Harry Darke on drums