by Richard Skelly » Tue Apr 10, 2018 11:32 pm
By and large, Rare Earth Records was a Motown subsidiary for musical artist of a paler (Caucasian) pigmentation. There were exceptions such as African-Canadian Wes Henderson (formerly of Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers).
R. Dean Taylor was another Canadian, a white fella who caught on with Motown’s publishing unit in 1964. He worked with other staff writers and eventually hit paydirt co-writing hits (Love Child and I’m Living In Shame) for Diana Ross And The Supremes. Brits had a thing for R.D. the solo artist. Gotta See Jane was a big UK hit almost two years before Indiana took off Stateside in 1970. (Jane was one of several middling followups to Indiana Wants Me in the US.) Weirdly, another 1968 Taylor tune—There’s A Ghost In My House—was a 1974 hit in Great Britain.
Taylor is now 79. If he has grandkids he can rightfully claim to having sung and written a #1 hit, albeit that Indiana Wants Me reached the top spot on Cashbox. It peaked at a still-impressive #5 on Billboard.