Emanuel Laskey - A Different Kind Of Different (45)

Hello my friends, I want to share with you a story about the song "Different Kinda Different". I loved this song when I found the album of Johnny Mathis which was released in 1980. I bought it in the late 90s. The song was written by Pamela Sawyer and Marilyn McLeod who wrote the smash hit "Love Hangover".

At that time in the late 90s, you can't find any information in the web about the album. Maybe one of the reasons was that the album was released in UK with a different title as "All For You".  There weren't also any information about the female singer along with Johnny Mathis. Simply, the name Paulette is mentioned on the vinyl. As far as I know I was trying to find information concerning who the female singer with the name Paulette was. Finally I found it many years later and she was Paulette McWilliams. 

In 2016 as I was searching for music, I found digital music on a website. While I was listening to some samples from a CD, I suddenly listened to a sample of the song "Different Kinda Different". It was a surprise for me because the name of the song mentioned on the website was different. The sound of the sample reminded me a song from the 70s.

This is the reason why I started searching on the web in order to find and track down this song. So, in 2019, I found the album of Pure Magic featuring Pam Sawyer and Marilyn McLeod. It was released in 1978. This album includes only samples and unfinished songs. One of these songs was "Different Kinda Different". All the songs were performed by Marilyn McLeod and Pamela Sawyer. Both of them were composers on these songs. 

A year later, in 2020, I asked Pam Sawyer about it and she told me: "We actually completed each of the songs but they (the company) lost interest in our project". 

I had forgotten about the version of "Different Kinda Different" that I had listened to from the unknown sample. I started searching for the CD that I was listening to that day. I found this CD and I saw that it was released on Hayley Records from UK. I went to the website on Hayley Records in order to take a look. Therefore, in this way I found the 45 by Emanuel Laskey. This 45 was released in 2006. It includes the song "A Different Kind Of Different".

Of course, it's the same song with Johnny Mathis. However, it was a big surprise to me when I noticed that the composers of that song were Emanuel Laskey, Marvin Gaye and Melvin Bolton. Melvin is a guitarist and composer of the fabulous soul/funk group, Mighty Fire. Mel Bolton had collaborated along with Marilyn McLeod in the early 70s as a songwriting team and members of the group The Nu.Page. They wrote a few songs for Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross on Motown Records. After mid 70s, Pamela and Marilyn became a songwriting team. Both continued to collaborate with Mel Bolton on some groups and of course later with the group Mighty Fire. I want to underline that there is a relationship between Mel Bolton and Marilyn McLeod. Darryl K.Roberts the bassist and lead singer of Mighty Fire is a nephew of Marilyn McLeod and husband of Pamela Sawyer. This is the relationship between Mel Bolton and Marilyn McLeod.

So, I tried to come in contact with the label from UK, Hayley Records. I described the situation and I asked them who were the composers. At the start they answered me. It was a surprise for me that they didn't know the song of Johnny Mathis. Consequently, I gave them links and songs in order to confirm that we were talking about the same song. The other day they answered to me that it is definitely the same song. "Weird - I don't know why Emanuel told me this. Someone stole from someone" !!

In conclusion, I think that the song was written by Pamela Sawyer and Marilyn McLeod. For some reasons Mel Bolton and Darryl K.Roberts were involved. The people of the label Hayley Records should be more careful. This is my opinion.