Rodger Collins Foxy Girls In Oakland

Rodger Collins Foxy Girls In Oakland America

Here is another side in the occasional series featuring my love for European picture sleeves with Rodger Collins's late 60's French release on the America label.

Rodger Collins cut some good msic in the late 60's and early 70's for Galaxy and later their parent company Fantasy before leaving the business. Rodger became a Muslim after touring with Joe Tex who had also converted to Islam. Rodger is now known as Hajj Sabrie and still lives up in Oakland.

Discography

Galaxy

711 Foxy Girls In Oakland / All To-E Down

715 Working Girl / This World Can’t Do Me No Harm

728 The Biggest Fool / Give The Kids A Chance

750 She’s Looking Good / I’m Serving Time

757 Hands Off My Girl / What Am I Living For

771 Foxy Girls In Oakland / All To’e Down

775 Your Love It’s Burning / I’m Leavin’ This Place

783 Get Away From Me / Direct Me

788 Caught In Your Love / Back In The Country

Fantasy

698 I'll Be Here When The Morning Comes/You Sexy Sugar Plum But I Like It

In 1972, Ed Bogas and Ray Shanklin put together a soundtrack for the blaxploitation movie Black Girl (Fantasy 9420) that included songs by Rodger Collins and Betty Everett with some heavyweight jazz players such as Sonny Stitt, Merl Saunders and Bill Summers playing on the album.

Rodger sang the following on the album:

Get Me To The Bridge

I Am Your Mailman

I also have read that he recorded a 12" in 1986:

Garden Tree ? Welfare/I'm Leaving You

A Google search also turned up a side entitled Sweet Love which Vinyl Revolution are selling as a CD-R - I don't know where this track is from and it is not the first time that I have seen this company selling CD-Rs with unkown tracks to me! Intriguing!!!

Rodger Collins is best known on the UK soul scene for his side You Sexy Sugar Plum which was a big sound in the mid-70's and was released in the UK. I can even recall dancing to the record in a local disco in Shoreham in 1976. When it was released in the UK it may have reached the lower charts hence being played in the local disco to 2 dancers - me and the girl I was with - my only other recollection of that night was getting soaked as we walked back home arm in arm to Brighton!

The release of Sexy Sugar Plum did mean that Rodger was contacted and interviewed in the UK newspaper Black Echoes. I have delved into my archives and posted the article below written by Neil Rushton.

You can read the article here:

Rodger Collins Black Echoes 1st May 1976 Pt 1

Rodger Collins Black Echoes 1st May 1976 Pt 2