BOBBY TAYLOR aka The Silver Shadow is a Roxbury-based DJ, singer, historian, inventor and enthusiastic cheerleader for the town he has called home since the 1930s.

 

In the late 1950s he was in a vocal Doo Wop group called The Valineers and by 1964 he put out his first and only recording, “You Are My Heart” with “Pretty Baby,” as a solo artist on the Barbara Records label. He gigged regionally in support of the song, and would also DJ parties for friends and small local gatherings in the mid-1960s.

 

By the ‘70s he was drawn into the 9-to-5 world, and remained there for years to come. Among the jobs he had during that time was being the lead bus driver to South Boston High School in the busing years (he worked for the Boston school system for four decades).

 

In the early 1980s, Bobby decided to get back into the music game as a DJ, and in 1983 he started and produced the event for which he is perhaps best known: the yearly Madison Park / Sugar Hill Reunion. It would take place in late May, near Mother’s Day, for almost two decades to come.

 

He DJed much more frequently during the ‘80s and ‘90s, specializing in his trademark “Oldies” mix, and was still going strong through early 2020, before Covid threw salt on his (and all of our!) activities. But he is itching to get back to what he loves most: DJing for people and making them smile.

 

We will be adding more images and information to this page in the future, but for now we hope you enjoy what Bobby has shared with us in the past couple months.

 

NOTE: The images and videos below are just a fraction of the amazing items that we have scanned from Bobby's archives!

 

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This interview was conducted in late October of 2020 by Brian Coleman outside Bobby’s home on Shawmut Ave in Roxbury, where he has lived since 1974. He loves the fact that it’s just a stone’s throw away from where he grew up in the Whittier Street Projects.

 

 

HOW DID YOU START DJING?

 

I started that when I was married in the ‘60s. 1963, 1964.

 

People always said "You oughta be a DJ," and I said "Yeah, maybe so." So, I started fooling around with it in my hallway, with the kids. I DJed at this club called The Snooty Foxes, where they had high-falutin' type females. [Laughs]. They had me do a Cocktail Sip and that was the beginning. Word got around. The Elks in Cambridge started hiring me. 

 

YOU WERE ALSO PERFORMING AS A VOCALIST THEN, TOO

 

I would go out now and then, nothing on a steady basis.

 

HOW DID YOUR SINGLE DO [“You Are My Heart” / “Pretty Baby” on Barbara Records?

 

My single came out at the wrong time. There was a big payola shakeup at Brunswick (Records). I was supposed to come out on there, and the payola situation and some other things blocked that. This was in the 60s. 

 

The single came out somewhere around '63, '64. People at the label who were connected with the scandal must have gotten fired, and the new people were overly cautious. My song just didn't do that well, nationally.

 

WHAT ABOUT LOCALLY?

 

I got some gigs out of it around here. Personal appearances on radio stations.

 

TELL ME ABOUT YOU AND THE G-CLEFS [BOSTON’S BEST-KNOWN SINGING GROUP OF THAT ERA].

 

We were actually kind of rival groups. We all sang at record hops for Symphony Sid and Wildman Steve. We didn’t make no money but we had some gigs. It was all good.

 

With the G-Clefs, we were just on different trails. They made their first recording earlier than me [Interviewer’s note: The G-Clefs had several singles out by 1963, starting in 1956]. I never made a recording with my vocal group, The Valineers.

 

YOU'D MAKE MORE MONEY PERFORMING THAN WITH RECORD ROYALTIES, I ASSUME?

 

Yeah, that was the only way. There were no big royalty checks coming down the pike.

 

Nobody made no money, even the big stars. I didn't know [that big stars] were only getting 2-cents and 3-cents per record. Sinatra was the highest paid, and Nat King Cole.

 

DID YOU HAVE A MANAGER IN YOUR SINGING DAYS?

 

My vocal group had one. Actually, two. One was Jackie Lebeaux and the other was Robert Trainor [Interviewer’s note: not sure about the spelling on these last names]. And the guy who got me going was Mike Pettengill, for my (solo) record. The guys who backed me on my record were the Bi Counts from Worcester [Interviewer’s note: I’m not sure about the spelling of this group]. I don't know if those guys are even still alive.

 

The Bi Counts were just a studio group. I never had a band on my own, I would just work with pick-up groups.

 

LET'S GET BACK TO YOUR DJING

 

I took off from DJing until the 80s. I'm not sure why I didn't DJ in the 70s. I had a death in the family that was ... overwhelming for me. A lot of things stopped. I stopped singing and everything.

 

WHAT WAS KEEPING YOU BUSY IN THE 70s?

 

I had a day job. I worked with a company... matter of fact, I just went out there recently and gave them some stuff for their archives. Siemens Engineering, they're in Braintree. They appreciated it, they gave me a t-shirt. Wish they gave me some money! [Smiles]. I worked there from 1952 until 1964.

 

Eventually, in the ‘90s, I came back with a group called the New Satellites. They were already going, I joined them. It seemed like they always needed a first tenor. It was a fun thing.

 

WHERE DID YOU GROW UP IN ROXBURY?

 

I grew up right over there, Ruggles Street Projects [points, he can see it from where we are]. Ruggles Street, Whittier Street.

 

We used to hang out at the Cooper Community Center, it was right over there [points about a block or two away from where we are standing] and there was also the Shaw House. They were well-known places.

 

YOU CAN THROW A ROCK AND HIT THOSE PLACES FROM HERE

 

Yeah! I was born in North Carolina. We came to Boston in the 1930s. There was a hurricane, we called it “The Great Hurricane of 1938.” One of the worst that Boston ever experienced, they brought out the National Guard.

 

WERE YOUR PARENTS MUSICAL?

 

No, they were everyday people. My sister was a cosmetologist. My mother worked in the furniture business.

 

My mother knew I liked to sing. Her thing was that she always wanted me to sing gospel. She said, "Anyone who ever got anywhere, sang gospel at one point in time."

 

DID YOU SING IN CHURCH?

 

No. [Smiles]. No. I went to church, but I wasn't in the choir. That was never my thing, because I hadn't had that much exposure (to singing). When we were in the South I had more exposure in church, singing and praying.

 

Up here I didn't like to go to church that much, it was so long! [Smiles]

 

HOW DID YOU START SINGING, THEN?

 

Back then in the '50s, that was the Doo Wop era. And you sang in the hallway, you sang on the street corners, you know? I started on the corner, not even in school or church. People heard about you and asked you to sing with them. We used to rehearse in the hallway over there. It was a fun time. And there was a "Battle of the Groups," all the DJs were making money off people.

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... PART 2 OF INTERVIEW CONTINUES AFTER FIRST SLIDESHOW ...

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