WEST SACRAMENTO CA (IFS) -- In March 2014, the headlines were ". . . Uarda NJie's BHS Enterprises Signs Distribution deal with D-Town Records."
These days Ms. NJie has had her handle on the Motor City Legacy label for over three years now. With SDC OmniMedia Group trading for a stock exchange with Seventy (70%) percent control of the label back to the Michael A Hanks family.
Other details of the transfer included Twenty Five (25%) percent to Anthony Craton and JanTony Records, Detroit, Michigan. The remaining five (5%) will remain with SDC OmniMedia Group in California and Tennessee.
Smith Data Communications, also known as SDC OmniMedia Group, (www.sdcog.net) further disclosed that the remaining five (5%) was divided as follows: RG Ingersoll and Hotrax Productions, Reno, Nevada, for One (1%) percent of the stock; Debra T. Clinton-Carter and Platinum Sound Productions, Mountain View, Oklahoma for One (1%) and Three (3%) to SDC OmniMedia Group.
MEMPHIS TN (IFS) -- D-Town Records co-founder and musical genius Michael Alonzo Hanks daughter joins the family with her BHS Enterprises which will be anchored in Atlanta, Georgia. Kenneth Howard Smith, the current CEO and President of the 55 year old label welcomes a Michael Hanks namesake back into the fold of the label.
It has been over 45 years since a member of the Hanks family has been invited back to sit at the table of D-Town Records. In 1966, Rosevelt Grier, Roger Brown, Pete Hall and Martha Jean Steinburg took over the reins of D-Town Records in Detroit, leaving Hanks to go to Motown Records taking with him the groups of The Fabulous Peps and his Soul Records label.
D-Town did not suffer in the transition as it produced a string of hits with Lee Rogers, the Precision, Dee Edwards, Connie Van Dyke and Rosey Grier.
With Hanks now a member of the Motown family did not wait to long to get his international attention, as his group the Fabulous Peps changed their name to the Undisputed Truth, scoring a Billboard Number #1 record with "Smiling Faces", Gladys Knight and the Pips, Leo and the Leopards, the Elgins and several other groups before his untimely death.
Hanks with the help of Carmen C. Murphy created D-Town right along with Motown labels. Murphy had the only licensed record pressing permit in Detroit and she help to sponsor many of the young labels in their early days.
The four men in Murphy's recording life was Mickey Stevenson, Jack Surrell, Hanks and Gordy. Murphy's label was called the "House Of Beauty" Records. With a suggestion by Hanks and Gordy to just use the first initials of the company for the record label, HOB Records was born.
The first recordings by HOB included James Cleveland's Voice of Tabernacle and the young boy group of the Peppermints with Lee Rogers and later with Ty Douglass (of the Originals and the Contours).
Hanks and Berry Gordy, Jr., worked together at the Chrysler plant manufacturing cars. It those early days, Hanks and Gordy would spend their lunch breaks writing songs. It's not hard to listen to those early songs and the men generated the same sounds, using the core players headed by Jamie Jamerson.
As with most relationships in those days, the split between Hanks and Gordy comes with a woman by the name of Mary Wells. Both men had written great songs for her, but only one voice would prevail, with Wells deciding to go with Gordy.
The competition between Hanks and Gordy would prove to be one of the greatest rivalries in music history. Both men tied at the hip to Murphy's HOB Records, began to deliver an unprecedented amount of music into the marketplace.
Murphy's gave the name Motown to Gordy and D-Town to Hanks. With Anna Gordy in the mix, Berry's new record release on his new found Motown label had to be delayed and given over to Anna Records, as Anna financed the recording and record pressing for his first release. The artist was Barrett Strong and the song was entitled "Money (That's What I want)" created such a great sensation, that Gordy had enough money to move his operation into his own building.
Uarda Minyoun NJie, daughter of Mike A. Hanks and Ella Pierce, was born and raised in Detroit, MI. Although she was born with Polio, that didn’t stop her from running the streets with her cousins, often across state lines. Uarda was described as the “chosen one” by her childhood friends.
A name that has always followed her because of her love for people and people loving her. One of Uarda’s favorite hangouts was anywhere her brothers played, clubs, parks wherever, she was there. They were in a band very young and Uarda almost entertained the idea of singing back up. Uarda has always been a music lover, and maintain great love for the entertainment business. Working with her son at 11 yrs. old, in recording studio, Uarda realize her love for the music business.
Hanks continued to record and sign up and coming new artists, including the Staple Singers and the Fugatives (with Todd Rundgren).
Having a passion for hair Uarda attended beauty school at the Virginia Farrell School of beauty where she graduated with honors. Uarda had no problem dominating Detroit’s hair scene she often coiffed the locks of various well-known musical artists and actors. She even moved and did hair in California, where she was swept off of her feet by African businessman, Baboucar NJie. The two were married after 2 years and had 2 children together, Mallorie, and Baboucar Jr. Uarda also had 4 older step children that were from Baboucar’s previous marriage, who she took in and cared for as her own. Uarda and her family eventually found their way back to Detroit after living in both Wisconsin and Ohio. Uarda owned her fair share of successful beauty parlors around the Detroit metro area. The last shop in Detroit she owned was with her baby sister Angel, one of Detroit’s leading nail techs.
Then, it was on to Atlanta, GA. While in Atlanta, Uarda tried working desk jobs but her heart lead her back to hair. Uarda worked in a few shops around the Atlanta area, and after the passing of her husband in 2010, she decided to open her own. She named it Broads. Uarda enjoyed working in her own shop again for awhile but closed the shop after only 2 years. She now lives in Austell, GA where she is as active as she has ever been.
Her favorite things to do are play bingo, spend time with her grandkids, and of course, listen to music. Attending Ashford University, Uarda’s has found a new found passion in writing, majoring in journalism and is looking forward to putting out several books, one of her late great father an autobiography.
NJie's BHS Enterprises will have distribution and manufacturing rights to the entire D-Town Records catalog written and produced by her famous father. Furthermore, NJie's will have a seat on the D-Town Records' Board of Directors which will make her late father very happy.
After all it has taken over 45 years for a Hanks to be invited back to the table. This is a historical event in the annuals of music history.
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