When Marshall Chess decided to combine a rock group with some of the best voices he could get his hands on he invented a stream of psychedelic rock that was quite different from the one that emerged in Detroit with the help of George Clinton and Norman Whitfield.

Partly this was Marshall’s hippy sensibility, but it was one that fused perfectly with vocalist Minnie Riperton’s own word-view and the musical genius – “no other word for it”: Marshall Chess − of Charles Stepney.

Working across a cleverly arranged mix of originals and cover versions, the recordings featured some of the finest musicians that you could find in Chicago including drummer Morris Jennings, bass players Louis Satterfield and Phil Upchurch, and revolutionary guitarist Pete Cosey, who would later join Miles Davis’ group. Cosey’s guitar playing on their fourth album “Songs”, released in 1969, is incendiary and unparalleled. The vocals were arranged as a perfect choir with a series of leads most notably Minnie, Sidney Barnes and Mitch Aliota.

True success − rather than doing well enough − eluded them, with some bad decisions being made and bad luck also dogging them. When Chess left the company and Barnes the group it looked as if the writing was on the wall for Rotary Connection, but Charles Stepney wanted one more go. The New Rotary Connection came together with a refreshed vocal line up featuring Minnie, Kitty Haywood and Shirley Wahls and songs by Stepney,  Minnie’s husband Richard Rudolph and Terry Callier.

“Hey Love” was the album that appeared and it is a gem, that features the astounding ‘I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun’ - later a UK hit in 1997  for Nuyorican Soul, ‘Love Has Fallen On Me’ - later recorded as a tribute to Stepney by Chaka Khan, the beautiful title track and Callier’s stunning ’Song For Everyman’. However the album failed to sell and there was no more records.

As time passed the late 60s and early 70ws productions of Charles Stepney became some of the best loved and most influential of the ear, influencing UK groups such as 4 Hero, Radiohead and more recently Jessie Ware, and “Hey, Love” has been considered one of the peaks of his work.