There has long been controversy over this brilliant and highly-collectable single, with the identity of the Anglos' vocalist often incorrectly alleged to have been Steve Winwood. It's understandable, as the soulful voice could easily be mistaken for Steve's, but he has for years been denying any connection with the single.

Some of the confusion undoubtedly arose because Winwood is known to have performed under the pseudonyms 'Steve Anglo' and 'Steve D'Angelo'. However, he has stated via his official website that he had no involvement with the Incense session. Despite this insistence on Steve's part, even the compilation compilers at Fontana were confused and the single appears as a bonus track on the CD The Spencer Davis Group Singles!

Brian Long reports in his book The London Sound, that Tony Windsor received letters of complaint from listeners. Having heard Incense on Big L, they were not finding the record 'available at their local store' (to paraphrase a TW catchphrase). The Anglos' single was initially issued on an early Chris Blackwell label Brit – BRIT WI 004. After struggles with distribution, Brit sold the rights to Fontana (see the Daily Mail feature below) although the Record Collector Price Guide lists the single as having two matrix numbers, Fontana TF 561 (unreleased) and Fontana TF 589.

By the time Incense was voted a Hit on BBC TV's Juke Box Jury on 26 June, by a panel consisting of DJ Sam Costa, actress Miriam Karlin and singers Sylvie Vartan and Bobby Vinton, it had been in the Fab Forty for six weeks, receiving regular airplay.

Whether or not being with Fontana resulted in improved distribution, is debatable. The Spencer Davis Group''s single Strong Love was released on the same label around this time and a month later, prompted TW to air further listener complaints about the unavailability of both singles! However, the transfer to the Spencer Davis Group's label, Fontana, presumably explains how Incense ended up erroneously on the Anglos' stablemate's singles compilation.

Charles Greville wrote a feature about the single and its distribution failure that appeared in the Daily Mail of June 28th 1965. (Thanks to Hans Knot for the scan. Click on the picture to read it.)

As to the mystery vocalist, after he aired the single during his Soul Cellar show, the late DJ Peter Young received a phone call from Jimmy Miller. Jimmy (who died in 1994) told PY that he had sung the lead on Incense.

Chris Blackwell maintains that he heard the single while in the States and was so impressed that he brought the young Jimmy Miller (b 1942 in New York) to work in the UK on the strength of it. All UK releases of the Anglos' Incense credit Miller as the song's co-writer and vocalist. Miller worked with the Spencer Davis Group and went on to produce many top bands, including the Stones. His productions include Beggars' Banquet and Let it Bleed.

Jimmy Miller was married to Gayle Shepherd, lead singer on the 1957 Top Twenty US single by the Shepherd Sisters, Alone. Their daughter, Deena, is also a singer and has her own website, where she shares family photos and biographies of her late mother and father. In 2023, Mike Barraclough of the Radio London Facebook Page came across an interesting cutting from July 9 1965, where the 'Teen Beat' column in the Pontypridd and Llantrisant Observer names the Anglos as a collection of New York session men and the singer of Incense as American 'Jimmy' Webster.

After further research, Mike found comments on the 45cat page devoted to Since You've Been Gone, a 1967 release by The Anglos, a group from Virginia. Since You've Been Gone credits vocalist Joe Webster as co-writer. The YouTube video linked to the track reveals (not surprisingly, considering the sound) that the track was a Northern Soul success and features on the CD compilation Best of Northern Soul, Vol 1.

'Incense' is to be found amongst the 25 gems on The Soul of Sue, Vol 2, although there is no obvious connection to the Sue label.

In a blog posted in 2009, DJ Lord Thomas, confirms the Anglos' line-up as lead singer Joe Webster aka Little Daddy and names the other members as Big Rob, Eugene and Baby. Shiptown Records founded in Norfolk, Virginia, was regarded as Norfolk's Motown. Lord Thomas says that the label was "one of very few black record companies in the Sixties and Seventies to be booked in white clubs and on all-white concerts."

A linked YouTube video of Since You've Been Gone attracted comments (posted circa 2020) by one of Webster's (unnamed) offspring, naming their father as Joe Louis Webster Sr. The post does not state if he was known as Jimmy.

"I don't know much about the Anglos as my father, Joe Louis Webster Sr., rarely talked about it. The group started in Norfolk, Virginia and other band members were George Wilson, Eugene Cary and Robert Taylor. My father has always lived in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia which is a district of 7 cities: Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Newport News and Suffolk. I do know the Anglos recorded another song called 'Incense'. My father says he doesn't remember much about Jimmy Miller."

"He also sang with Ida Sands (Little Ida) as the Soul Duo. Their best record was Just A Sad Christmas (1968), with Can't Nobody Love Me (Like My Baby Do) on the B-side."

During his research, Mike Barraclough found a 2022 Discogs compilation of records released on the Shiptown label. It provides more information, but is incomplete, although it does list records by Ira Sands and the Soul Duo record mentioned above.

(Photo: Joe and Ida as Soul Duo, credit Discogs)

One of the Shiptown label's best-known singers was 'General' Norman Johnson, who achieved hits in the Seventies as the vocalist with Chairmen of the Board.

Mike also found a post from 2012 that reveals more about Shiptown. It seems that original recordings on the label would be very hard to come by, as pressings were made only in limited runs.

Incense was recorded by Owen Gray (see Fab 7th March 65) as an Island B-side in 1967, and the Anglos' version of the song was reissued on the label.

An undated press release from Vivien Holgate on behalf of Island Records is posted on the 45cat page devoted to the Anglos as a UK group. It claims that the mystery of the recording artist 'has been solved after four years'. This indicates that Island reissued the single in May 1969. Vivien Holgate credits Jimmy Miller as both co-writer of Incense and as its mystery vocalist.

Two tracks by the Anglos, Broke Down Piece of Man/ Four Walls of Gloom, were unearthed and released on limited edition vinyl in 2018 by the Spanish label Soul 4 Real. (Now posted on YouTube). Discogs lists these Anglos tracks and cross references the group with the names The Rockmasters, Linda Martell and Francois and the Anglos. Joe Webster is not mentioned.

Mike concluded: "The involvement of Jimmy Miller would seem to me to be that he heard the record and promoted it in the UK, but failed to arrange adequate distribution when it was released here."

Why Miller always maintained that he was the Anglos' vocalist and co-wrote Incense, with those claims backed up by Island Records, we may never know. It does seem clear now that the real vocalist was most likely to have been Joe Webster. However, it appears from the Discogs listing that there were several incarnations of the Anglos, so it is impossible to reach a definitive conclusion regarding the singer's identity..

Incidentally, the group's name is pronounced 'Ang-lows' and not 'Ang-gloss', as I heard a DJ (who shall remain nameless) refer to them during an RSL broadcast!

Mary Payne

(Extensive research by Mike Barraclough, Mary Payne and Chris Payne)