Many of you are already familiar with the Jackson Sisters "I Believe In Miracles" which contains a killer break and has been sampled countless times. Well I was shocked to discover that this song is a cover... and one with some interesting info behind it. First in case you haven't heard it, The Jackson Sisters version.
2 Quick things about the Jackson Sisters: 1) To the best of my knowledge there is no relation to the more famous Jackson family (Jackson 5). I mention this because the man credited with hooking them up with this tune is also one of the people credited with discovering the Jackson 5. 2) The quoted text below mentions the Jackson Sisters being signed to a label names Prophecy. I've never heard of Prophecy but they were released on Tiger Lily records, which has a very interesting story of it's own... you ever watch the Soprano's? Hesh's character was modeled after owner of Roulette records who also ran Tiger Lily as a tax scam. Some Tiger Lily records are insanely rare because they were pressed in such limited quantities, however they were reported as being pressed in larger quantities with no sales to show a loss for a tax deduction. anyway enough of that tangent.
Here is some very interesting information about Mark Capanni and his original version of the song.
"Mark is an italian dude that owns a restaurant in Hollywood at the moment. He recorded this song with Bobby Taylor in the early seventies. Bobby took this song further with Gene Page and recorded it with The Jackson Sisters."
The link between Capanni and Jackson Sisters is Bobby Taylor, who co-authored "I Believe In Miracles". Obviously Taylor was not died to a label, since Capanni's version came out on Capitol, and the Jackson Sisters were signed to Prophecy via Columbia (Prophecy had briefly been associated with Atlantic in the early 70's).
Unfortunately, I can't find a stock copy of "I Believe In Miracles", which leads me to believe (for now) the song on Capitol was promo only, maybe the other two songs were too. Nonetheless, the cover by Jackson Sisters has been his moneymaker in music, I'm sure the many samples and comp appearances have helped him a bit. Judging from the restaurant links, he seems to be much more successful in that field.
EDIT: Apparently this Bobby Taylor in question was the leader of Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers, a name I did recognize. At one point, The Vancouvers featured a singer/guitarist named Thomas Chong, and they were on Motown. Mr. Chong would become more well known as one-half of Cheech & Chong. Taylor is credited as being one of the people who discovered the Jackson 5, and Taylor is known for his songwriting and production. Obviously staying in Vancouver, British Columbia wasn't going to get him any more deals, so after the failure of his own group, he worked the industry and became a success that way.
