Lee Rogers - Second Thoughts - D-Town Records

By Kenneth Howard Smith, IFS
From his 1996 publication entitled
"Vinyl Knights:  Kenny Baby's Garage Noise"
Used by Permission of Coleman Kestin & Smith

One of the first recordings that Lee Rogers did when returning to Motown after his one year hospital stay was “Second Thoughts,” a new type of acid blues, with an open production and simple projection that pulled the listener into a dynamite groove.

When Lee finished recording it, all of the staff from publishing and A&R stood in the hallways, listening to the playback. Lee had sit out his three year contract with Motown and left with a new company that he and Smith had created.

 **(Behind the scenes was another story going on. Berry Gordy was during movies, Gwen had lost power to the new president of Motown, Barney Ales, and they were getting very personal when it came to productions and artists to promote. However, Gwendolyn helped us out with the re-launch of D-Town under the table. She was a real friend and publisher to us.)**

 As Lee was leaving Motown Studios, they gave him a standing farewell, as Lee was now using his walker to propel himself from the building. It was his last recording session for Motown. One month later, Lee’s contract with Motown expired, three years after it had been signed. Kenny Smith had decided to release the single from Gwendolyn Gordy and “Second Thoughts” was a killer, and the European record companies went crazy.

 Everybody wanted the single and the follow up album. We managed to manufacture and distribute over 50,000 copies of the single before, we released Lee’s second single, entitled “Love And Life,” recorded for our Platinum Sound Records company. In the winter of November 1979, we reversed the names of the company, making D-Town Records the parent company and placing Platinum Sound Productions as the R & D division.