Uploaded August 2017 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
In 1960 in an old airplane hanger converted into a recording studio, 15 year old Rosie Hamlin wrote the lyrics in a notebook for "Angel Baby" and crafted a melody based on chord changes to a 1938 song titled "Heart and Soul." Using a group of local musicians that became The Originals, they recorded a demo record that had a very simplistic sound. Because the demo became slightly damaged from excessive playing, the group was unable to find a record label willing to distribute it. They took the master to a department store and convinced a manager to play it in the listening booth of the store's music department where the song received positive reactions from teenage listeners. A recording studio scout took notice which led to the group being offered a recording contract. However, the studio gave writing credits to a member of The Originals who was the oldest member of the group to Hamlin's dismay. Three weeks later the song was on its way to #5 on the Top Ten pop chart, and went on to become a minor classic. Hamlin was unable to collect record royalties because she was not listed as the songwriter. This led to the group`s break-up, and although she secured the copyright to her music in 1961, decades of battles over royalties followed. A bizarre footnote to the recording session is that Hamlin and her band did not have a second song for the "B" side of the single. A known vocalist Bluford D. Wade, who was in the studio, jumped in and wrote and ad-libbed a song called "Give Me Love", on the spot, to fill the other side.
In 1960 in an old airplane hanger converted into a recording studio, 15 year old Rosie Hamlin wrote the lyrics in a notebook for "Angel Baby" and crafted a melody based on chord changes to a 1938 song titled "Heart and Soul." Using a group of local musicians that became The Originals, they recorded a demo record that had a very simplistic sound. Because the demo became slightly damaged from excessive playing, the group was unable to find a record label willing to distribute it. They took the master to a department store and convinced a manager to play it in the listening booth of the store's music department where the song received positive reactions from teenage listeners. A recording studio scout took notice which led to the group being offered a recording contract. However, the studio gave writing credits to a member of The Originals who was the oldest member of the group to Hamlin's dismay. Three weeks later the song was on its way to #5 on the Top Ten pop chart, and went on to become a minor classic. Hamlin was unable to collect record royalties because she was not listed as the songwriter. This led to the group`s break-up, and although she secured the copyright to her music in 1961, decades of battles over royalties followed. A bizarre footnote to the recording session is that Hamlin and her band did not have a second song for the "B" side of the single. A known vocalist Bluford D. Wade, who was in the studio, jumped in and wrote and ad-libbed a song called "Give Me Love", on the spot, to fill the other side.
