Tony Walthers and the Galaxy

Cleveland, 1969

This nightclub band recorded one 45 of greaser soul-pop. The one off custom label name is from a street in South Euclid, a greaser stronghold. The pic is from August, 1969. A couple months earlier, a PD newspaper article mentions Tony as a member of the Illusions - no connection to the band on Pama - a seven member band with Billy Davis, Rick Slomovitz, and Joel Jaffe.

However, the singer, Tony Walthers, had a much more interesting history than usual. Based on biographical info, he was 17 when this record was recorded, in 1970 he moved west and ended up recording some disco records, singing backup for Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Pet Shop Boys, and eventually moved to London where he did work for Prince Charles and his Prince's Trust. He passed away in 2006.

Meanhwhile, we don't know much else about the  group other than they recorded the 45 at Audio Recording which was pressed at Pama. The A side is an original uptempo soulish pop sound, while the B side was "Once In A Lifetime", originally recorded by Anthony Newley from the musical "Stop The World, I Want to Get Off". It's possible the group took it from the Jackie Wilson recording. 

Discography:
The Love I Gave / Once In A Lifetime - Belvoir ARS-103, 690704
The 690704 number is a date, based on the August 1969 pic above, the record is from July.