The Groove - You Are The One I Love (1968)

Adam’s Apples - You Are The One I Love (1968)

(Shelley Pinz - Paul Leka)
 USA
Original version

Single on Brunswick, Chicago, March 1968.

Adam’s Apples were a quintet, probably from New Brunswick NJ, but details are elusive, as this discussion thread at Soul Source confirms.

The single was produced by Mike Jacobs with Paul Leka who co-wrote You Are The One I Love as well as arranging and conducting the recording. Later in the year Leka rearranged the song and produced it for The Leaders on Blue Rock (see below). Discogs.com suggests that The Leaders were Adam’s Apples under an alias but I’m not convinced.

More recently, You Are The One I Love and another Adam’s Apples single, Don’t Take It Out On This World, have been anthologised under the Northern Soul umbrella.

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The writers
The Lemon Pipers’ hit Green Tambourine and its follow-up Rice Is Nice were also Paul Leka–Shelley Pinz compositions, and Shelley Pinz co-wrote Happy Without You, known in Australia through The Strangers’ version. Sydney band The Affair recorded Shoeshine Boy (1968), another Lemon Pipers song written by Leka and Pinz.

• Lyricist Shelley Pinz (b. Rochelle, aka Shelly, 1944-2004) was already writing poetry when she met a young songwriter in an English Literature class at Queens College in New York. Through him she met the notable composer-arranger Leroy Glover, a contact that led to her frequent songwriting partner Paul Leka at 1650 Broadway. She collaborated with a number of other composers including Leroy (as Roy) Glover and Lee Pockriss: see this list at 45cat.com. As Rochelle Pinz she held a masters degree in social work and practised as a psychotherapist specialising in the use of poetry, music and art. In the late 90s she published Courage To Think, an audio collection of poetry and lyrics.

• Paul Leka (1943-2011) was a multi-instrumentalist who recorded on Chess (1963) as a member of The Chateaus, a band from his hometown of Bridgeport Connecticut. Leka and two former bandmates from The Chateaus later wrote and released Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye as Steam (1969, #1 USA, #9 UK, #22 Australia). In the meantime, Leka had been building a career behind the scenes as a versatile producer, composer, arranger and, ultimately, owner of the highly regarded Connecticut Recording Studios.

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Further reading: 1. My post Shelley Pinz at PopArchives: The Blog. 2. Shelley Pinz’s professional biography to accompany her book of poetry at HVTC Music [archived page]. 3. Paul Leka biography by Bruce Eder at All Music. 4. “Paul Leka, a Songwriter of ‘Na Na Hey Hey,’ Dies at 68”, The New York Times 23 October 2011.

References: 1. Brunswick history and album discography at Both Sides Now. 2. This 2016-18 discussion at soul-source.co.uk reflects on Adam’s Apples’ obscurity and suggests some answers.

Thanks to Davie Gordon, Rod Stone and mp3z2cd, also to Ellen for further background on Shelley Pinz.

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Brunswick Records
Until 1970 Brunswick was a subsidiary of New York label Decca which in the late 50s had revived the old Brunswick label name. A number of soul artists were recording on Brunswick in the late 60s with Carl Davis as A&R man and producer. Jackie Wilson, Brunswick’s star since the late 50s, had a late career hit with (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher (1967, #6 USA), produced by Davis.

In 1966… the label hired Davis as A&R director. Brunswick [was] one of the most successful independent r&b companies of the 1970s. With such artists as the Chi-lites, Tyrone Davis, Gene Chandler, and Barbara Acklin, the company sustained Chicago as a center of black popular music. The key to Brunswick’s success… was Carl Davis.

 Robert Pruter, Chicago Soul (1991), p.264 [Google Books]