From 1962 to 1987, producer Bobby Robinson headed the independent record publisher Enjoy Music. Robinson nurtured and and supported heavy-hitting early R&B, blues, and soul artists of the latter half of the 20th century, including Gladys Knight and the Pips, Elmore James, and Grandmaster Flash. Supposedly Robinson ran Enjoy Music out of his record shop, Bobby’s Happy House, which stood on 125th Street in Harlem from the 1940s all the way up to 2008. One of the records to come out of the shop was a single by Ronnie and the Manhattans called “Come On Back.” Though the date of recording and the background on Ronnie and his band may be lost, along with the now-defunct Enjoy Music, this song’s in-the-pocket groove makes us wish they would come on back to play for us today.
