Mike & the Modifiers had the distinction of being the first white act signed to Motown Records. Mike was Mike Valvano, a Detroit native born in 1943 who had an innate love of music and was a jack-of-all-trades contributor to Motown, including providing foot stomps on the early singles of the Supremes. The group, all neighborhood kids with the same interests, came together at the end of the '50s, and featured Mike Ondercin on lead guitar, Ronnie Greb on rhythm guitar, and Rick Greb on drums. Although Valvano was the most musically sophisticated and committed member of the quartet, they all spent time around the Motown offices, and Ronnie Greb recalls being present for the Contours' recording of "Do You Love Me," which adjoined his group's one and only single in the Gordy Records catalog -- he also remembers serving as the unofficial chauffeur to a then 11-year-old Stevie Wonder. The group's one single, "I Found Myself a Brand New Baby" b/w "It's Too Bad," both co-authored by Valvano and resident Motown songwriter-producer Clarence Paul, was issued in August of 1962. He later became a producer, and worked the U.K. version of that single on the Oriole label, which is regarded as one of the rarest R&B singles in England. The group's sound was a mix of doo wop and guitar-based rock & roll that didn't exactly fit in with what Motown was doing but, with its combination of harmony vocals and heavy rhythm guitar emphasis, came out remarkably similar to what became known as the Merseybeat sound (if they could only have passed themselves off as British, or even Australian à la the Strangeloves....). They broke up soon after the single failed to chart, though Valvano (who passed away in 2002) continued to be very active in the music business for the next 39 years, primarily as a producer -- he worked with the Detroit-based band Frijid Pink as well as on Meat Loaf's first album, Stoney & Meat Loaf (1971). Valvano later teamed with Johnny Powers to form the Hornets, who cut a pair of sides for Motown's V.I.P. label. The group's name and music has re-emerged at various times since the '90s, on the more thorough Motown discographies, and on several of the more ambitious archival releases of the label's singles output, and rhythm guitarist Ronnie Greb was still playing music in 2008. ~ Bruce Eder