MARION BLACK

One of the turning points in the career of William Roger "Bill" Moss came in 1964, when he left everything and  moved to Columbus, Ohio which was to be his home for the next 41 years.

Having been divorced, Moss married Ruth, who was to be his wife for the rest of his life.

Bill and Ruth Moss were to own and operate a restaurant, Nassau Daddy's Pit Barbecue, which specialized in barbecue items. Moss recorded a few songs musically, including the 1969 song 'Sock it to 'em, soul brother'. In 1970, Moss founded his own record label, Capsoul, which was designed to be the Columbus alternative to Detroit's Motown. Unlike Motown, Capsoul had just a few minor hits over several years before going out of business.

During his audience with local talents he discovered Marion Black with his self-penned song "Who Knows".

"Most of my time was down South, on the East Coast," Black remembered during an interview at his Near East Side home. In fact, Black said he could only remember publicly performing his music once in Columbus.

The road was another story. Black toured for months on the back of "Go On Fool," a gospel-infused slow-drift that peaked at No. 39 on the Billboard R&B chart. After a dispute over royalties with Capsoul founder Bill Moss, Black left Capsoul for Prix Records and never scored another hit.

Even when he sold his song "Off the Critical List" to Chess Records in 1974, the label folded shortly after. Eventually Black gave up on music and stuck with waiting tables at the Holiday Inn on Lane Avenue, where he worked for 25 years before retiring in 1995.

Then, suddenly and surprisingly, this decade has brought Black more attention than ever. First, Columbus native RJD2 sampled Black's "Who Knows" on his acclaimed 2002 album Deadringer.

 Then Numero's Capsoul reissue rocketed the song into the pop-culture consciousness. "Who Knows," the neglected B-side to "Go On Fool," has appeared on TV shows "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

"I thought it was dead in the water a long time ago," Black said. "I never had an idea that it would do what it's doing."

 

The royalties keep rolling in. Black said he's made more money from his music this year than all his other years combined. That's small consolation in the face of his faltering health and the death of his wife last year, but even a little bit of good news can go a long way towards curing the blues.

In 2012 I recorded my own version of "Who Knows".
 


 WHO KNOWS by Luca