We were pleasantly surprised to see that many people have been enjoying one of her earliest recordings titled "Oh Yeah Yeah Yeah," written by Joe Matt, produced by Marv Epstein and pressed on Merben records. After reading numerous postings on the web, we figured it would be fun to give Vivian Carol a little history, since no one really seems to know much except that her music came out of Philadelphia. We became aware of the mystery by casually wondering one day if we could find an mp3 of the song online because we only had ONE remaining copy of the vinyl. The only reason we thought we might find one on the web is because a friend of ours had mentioned that somewhere in the U.K. people were playing the record in dance clubs.
It seems that over the years, people have been mistakenly spelling her name as "Carroll" like the common spelling for the surname, but as she took "Carol" from her middle name, there is actually only one "r" and one "l." Since collectors and fans of Northern Soul have come to know her by "Carroll," we've used the incorrect spelling as an alternate address for the blog so people can find her more easily.
Vivian Carol was 18 when she recorded "Oh Yeah Yeah Yeah." She had just met Joe Matt – a trumpet player, arranger and composer – with aspirations to become a singer. The story goes that Joe casually told a friend of his that he was looking for a girl singer. The friend called him up one day and said he'd found a talented singer and he wanted to make an appointment for him to meet her. Joe said yes – although he really wasn't looking for a singer - and made an appointment, planning on cancelling beforehand. Fortunately he forgot to cancel and he met Vivian one fated night in his home in South Philly. He mainly remembers "how beautiful her teeth were," and fell in love with her not long after. He would quickly find out that she had a fantastic voice and a great stage presence.
About a year later, Vivian Carol and Joe Matt (Matt was short for Matarazzo) married, and two years later a boy was born. After a time they moved from South Philadelphia to the suburbs, had another child - a girl - and Vivian Carol Matarazzo spent many years enjoying motherhood.
Joe and Vivian still recorded music of all kinds over the years, but Vivian didn't really get back into music professionally for a number of years. She now makes her living as a music teacher, a.k.a Vivian Matarazzo. She is still happily married and lives in New Jersey with Joe and her two dogs, Toby and Nicole.
And in case you were wondering, her voice is better than ever.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post away. Vivian will comment when she can.
7 comments:
Hi Vivian. Today I was going through some old boxes and I came across two 45 records. One contained the songs Oh Yeah, Yeah, Yeah and Your The Boy the other 45 was by Eddie Marcel. My name is Len Epstein, the oldest son of Marv Epstein. I also listened to your songs today and you sound great. Marv passed away in 2001. I'd love to speak with you one day if you get the chance. I remember going with my dad to some gigs to watch you and Eddie. Please respond. Take care, Len
Hi Len,
I'm sorry. I JUST noticed this comment today. My mom would love to speak with you. Send an email to my address and I'll send you her phone number.
gina(at)ginamatarazzo.com
Thanks!
Gina
I'm late to the party here, but great to find this post. This song has been in my head since I heard it on a "Best of Kayden and Merben" CD. I assumed the singer would be lost to history (like many others I look up), so it's great to get some history from a post like this. Also, being Italian-American, it was good to know fellow Paisanos were behind this song!
Three versions of "Oh Yeah Yeah Yeah" are circulating. One has an intro (the slow soft part), the other has no intro, and another is the backing track. If you don't have all of these, I can pass along MP3s.
Finally, as far as I know, the b-side has never been on YouTube or on any CD collection. If you have it, I'd love to hear it -- and I bet so would many others.
Hi there! Welcome! :) Thank you so much! We actually don't have an MP3 of the backing track. That would be really great if you could pass that along. My email address is gina(at)ginamatarazzo.com.
The b-side is actually a really great song too, though much different. I'm surprised it's not out there anywhere. I guess because it's a ballad it never became popular for the dance scene. I do have the record and could post it on YouTube sometime. I just need to get around to it. I'll let you know when I do. There is also a male vocal track of the song too. I think that is floating out around there in MP3 format. (We have it on cassette). It is a rough track (I guess a demo that was never mixed or anything), that they originally did and one day they asked my mom to lay down a track, and boom...they went with her vocal for the release.
Thanks for commenting!
:) Gina
hi,I just wanted to share a memory with you regarding vivians record.i first heard it played at an all dayer in St Ives back in 1983.it was new to the crowd I was with but from the grand trumpet intro, you knew this was gonna be a great track.And the 9 mile walk home after was full of talk about how great this record was. The downside was being told by the record dealers at the gig that it was insanely rare as 'hens teeth'.7 years later I was at an allniter in Bradford ,selling a few of my records to raise some cash for a Holliday in the canarie Islands.i did rather well and purchased a few more to go back in my beloved collection.It was about 4am in the morning when a guy walks into the record bar with a small box of 45s and I was the first to dig in.Each one was a collectors dream and my mates were looking over my shoulder drooling over what this guy had for sale.mid way through,I pulled out a mint white demo copy of oh yeah yeah yeah.nervously I asked 'how much' £350 was the reply.Sadly for me,I could not get close to paying that much even though it was worth every penny,and the long drive home was muted and miserable and wished I had not booked the holiday because with records that are rare as vivians,you know you are not likely to get another chance.To this day I regret not buying it,but I have a great memory of that warm summer night,dancing with my girlfriend and our crowd to this wonderful record for the first time.thank you VIvian...that was top record you guys made.
What a great memory! Thank you so much for sharing it with us, Barry. It's really amazing how much the record has delighted people over the years, and we are proud of that. It's like a musical family heirloom for us. :)
Great record - the voice and arrangement. Sounds like a blend of Philly soul and British invasion.
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