Sonar Kollektiv are very proud to present a sweet slice of obscure Philly soul with deep connections to our very own Berlin family. Shirley Turner’s 1965 recording of I Wish You A World Of Happiness has long been a crate digger’s delight and now receives a very special reissue, alongside a rather stunning cover version from Hamburg based quartet, The KBCS, featuring the vocal talents of Nora Becker. 

Philadelphia in the early 1960s, and Virtue Records (headed up by musician and music producer Frank Virtue) had become prolific in releasing soulful underground hits like The Horse by Cliff Nobles & Co. and Boogaloo Down Broadway by Fantastic Johnny C. as well as producing a number of somewhat less popular, more low-fi soul and garage records that were slept on at the time but have remained highly sought after records to this day. 

One of those records was I Wish You A World Of Happiness, which started life as a popular 60s instrumental cut Bird Walkin’ by Emanon’s Orchestra. The song was written by Weldon A. McDougal III and Johnny Stiles, with lyrics by Eddie Holman, of Hey There Lonely Girl fame. Virtue had been looking for someone to record a vocal version of the tune for some time, and having had a rough demo recorded by an uncredited singer, somehow said demo found itself in the hands of seventeen year old gospel vocalist Shirley Turner. The young, aspiring soul singer learned the lyrics from the dubplate by heart, and on the night she turned eighteen, went into Virtue Studios to record her version of the song. Several takes were laid down and three dub plates produced all on the same night, one of which was taken home by the eighteen year old hopeful, where it remained for years to come. 
The recording was largely forgotten about as Shirley grew up and had a family, that is until her son started playing with the dubplate as a child. Shirley's son is Sonar Kollektiv’s very own Hollis P. Monroe - now a producer, composer and DJ as well as being responsible for the late 90s hit, I’m Lonely. Hollis took an interest in the record from an early age with the dubplate being one of the first records he learned to scratch with! 

Some years later, and with the help of the internet, Hollis’ continued interest in his mother’s recording led him to a number of specialist soul blogs and in particular to UK based DJ Andy Rix who posted about a dubplate he had found which sounded very familiar! The 45 was widely credited as featuring vocalist Ann Robinson, but Hollis was soon able to set the record straight which enabled him to tell the true story behind this fascinating recording. 

Some fifteen years later, and taken directly from Shirley’s personal dubplate, Sonar Kollektiv were finally able to restore and remaster this rare take from that session. Not only that, we commissioned Hamburg four-piece The KBCS to deliver their own interpretation of this timeless piece of music. The result is a sophisticated, balladic reworking that respects the original but gives it a very different twist that should please lovers of modern and two-step soul alike.

B - Shirley Turner - I Wish You A World Of Happiness

A Fun Collaboration with Maggie Soul Bird (MSB) from our work on Kompoz

Another Point of You

Doormat

Doormat (Featuring Maggie Soul Bird)

Valerie

It's a melody that celebrates beauty in its purest form. The lyrics are a heartfelt tribute, telling the listener just how incredibly beautiful they are, inside and out.

Beautiful UR

Lulch - W8stin My Tym

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MOST HIGH
Phelps/Swann

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BEST FRIENDS

Not my song! You can follow Jason Lapierre on his youtube and his instagram.I uploaded this song just bc I liked it hope you guys understand.

Catching Feelings 4 U - Jason LaPierre

You.mp3

09 Real World

Dependência

Dependência (Remastered 2024)

Here is a song I recorded from My Home Recording Studio a song entitled ( More Love ) special thanks to Jake Moreno and Piano and Keyboards and Ruben Gaitan on Drums and Congas.

More Love - Master Wave

Sonar Kollektiv was founded in 1997 by Jazzanova. Designed as a platform for own releases it soon attracted numerous new discoveries and like-minded musicians to lead their trumps right here. Still it was never the intention of Sonar Kollektiv to pursue one specific sound or provide an already existing scene. Each and every release on the label (450 and counting) was at all times meant to illustrate the musical taste of the collective, its flavourful development and recollection of past sounds. The various compilations and label showcases played a big part of it. From the renowed „Secret Love“ compilation (No. 6 will be released these days), the „Computer Incarnations For World Peace“ edition, the  „...Boadcasting“ and „....Mixing“-series to the „Romanian Jazz“ label showcase Sonar Kollektiv continuously cares about broadening its own and the horizon of any type of music lovers. How broad this horizon can be expanded showed the release of Âme’s „Rej“ in 2005. Shorthandly minimal techno was redifined and at the same time the sublabel Innervisions (runned by Dixon) was leveraged to worldwide fame. Other milestones in the eventful history of Sonar Kolletiv were the discovery of the New Zealand reggae soul combo Fat Freddy’s Drop (2005), the debuts by Micatone (2003), Benny Sings (2005), Clara Hill (2003) and Eva Be (2004), the first releases by Dimlite (2003), Tricksi (2006), Christian Prommer’s Drumlesson (2007), as well as Georg Levin (2005) and his collaborative project with Dixon, Wahoo (2004). Also for some of today’s legends of more sophisticated electronic music, like Ulrich Schnauss, Ben Klock and Marcin Kozlowski (now a member of Whitest Boy Alive) Sonar Kollektiv offered a stepping stone to their international careers. And in 2003 a certain Eric Wahlforss released his first record here, just before founding Soundcloud.

When at the end of 2009 the rate of fire ceased some thought the label is running on empty or lost touch to contemporary sounds. But the releases of this year so far should prove doubters wrong. The remix album „Jazzanova Upside Down“ (released in January) gathers the who’s who of the currenty most happening and game-changing DJs and producers (Henrik Schwarz, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Filippo Moscatello, Manuel Tur, Mark E, and more) to catapult Jazzanova classics into the future. By signing Phil Gerus from Moscow, the new project Hot Coins out of the UK, EnaWadan from South Africa and the pan-Geman duo Paskal & Urban Absolutes four of the most promising new acts slantingly offside the dancefloor have been added to the already impressive roster. And once again all true pop aficionados with an addiction for soul and a genuine craft in songwriting are pierced to the heart with the brand new albums by FETSUM („The Colors Of Hope“) and Micatone („Wish I Was Here“).

But what is the formula of success of the Berlin based label? A dance music imprint that – with a few exceptions – actually doesn’t release club music? Is it even after all exactly this? Delievering music for prior to, succeeding and one day after a club night?

There’s no other German record label that can boast such an adventurous range of styles: reggae, folk, electronica, jazz, funk, calypso, house, techno and now also chillwave, dubstep, dream pop, and so on. At Sonar Kollektiv there’s somehow room for everything. Still, all of the 250 and counting releases have one common denominator: It’s music made out of passion - without any financial aim or attemps of ingratiation. From and for music lovers.

B - Shirley Turner - I Wish You A World Of Happiness

Sonar Kollektiv

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