Song: (Just Like) Romeo & Juliet
Album:The Ultimate Rock & Roll Collection: The 60s
The 1964 top ten hit (Just Like) Romeo & Juliet was the biggest success and most memorable song by the Detroit group The Reflections and probably the biggest hit for Motown's main competition Golden World Records. These Reflections are not to be confused with a doo wop group from New York called The Reflections or the 70s R & B group also called The Reflections. Lead singer Tony Micale was a veteran of the Detroit doo wop scene. He formed The Reflections with Phil Castrodale, Ray Steinberg, Dan Bennie and John Dean. In 1962, Motown owner Berry Gordy was having cash flow problems and asked Golden World Records owner Ed Wingate to become his partner. Instead, Wingate took Joanne Bratton as a partner and continued as Golden World. In many cases, Golden World was recording artists rejected by Motown. But they did hire a couple of former Motown employees to produce the music and they used the same musicians too. (Just Like) Romeo & Juliet was written by Bob Hamilton & Freddie Gorman and Hamilton produced under his Rob Reeco alias. They wrote The Marvelettes hit Please Mister Postman when they were at Motown and then switched to Golden World. Gorman would later return to Motown as a member of The Originals. (Just Like) Romeo & Juliet reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. Other singles didn't do as well and neither did their album. The Reflections left Golden World in 1966 for ABC-Paramount. They changed their name to High and the Mighty. That didn't help either. In 1968, Berry Gordy bought Golden World mainly to get Edwin Starr. There is a very expensive Reflections CD released by a German label. But most will only want (Just Like) Romeo & Juliet and you can get it on this Collectables various artists comp. In 1978, Tony Micale & John Dean joined The Larados and perform Reflections songs on the oldies circuit today. Here's The Reflections performing (Just Like) Romeo & Juliet 1964.
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