The Hearbeats/Shep and The Limelites, The Paragons and The Jesters

In the last blog about The Miracles and Smokey Robinson, I got a request from a Victoria, who asked to read about The Heartbeats/Shep and The Limelites, The Paragons, and The Jesters. Request granted, here you go Victoria!

THE HEARTBEATS/SHEP AND THE LIMELITES
The Heartbeats were formed in the mid fifties and were best known for the song "A Thousand Miles Away". The group first called The Hearts, but changed their naame after a girl group started using the same name. The group got signed to deal shortly after James 'Shep' Sheppard, joined the group. They recorded "A Thousand Miles Away" in 1957, the song went to #53. The group recorded ten more songs, including "I won't Be A Fool Any More", "Down On My Knees", and "People Are Talking".
The group broke up in 1959, and Shep went on to start a new group called Shane Sheppard and The Limelites, but quickly changed the name to Shep and The Limelites.
Their first record was an answer song to The Hearbeats' "A Thousand Miles Away" called "Daddy's Home".
The Members of the group at this time were Shep, Clarence Bassett, Charles Baskerville. The group started recording for Hull Records in 1960. "Daddy's Home" went to #2. It was later covered by Jermaine Jackson in 1972. Later songs didn't do as well, but were popular. There was a story going around that Shep was in love with a woman who left him and moved to Houston, and that most of the songs he wrote were for her.
Kahl Music sued Shep because "Daddy's Home" sounded so much like "A Thousand Miles Away", Shep wrote both songs. Kahl Music lost the case, but the effects of the case caused the group to split. Bassett joined The Flamingos and Baskerville joined one of the Drifters groups. Shep tried to re-form the group with no success. Shep soon died. There are a number of stories of how Shep died but none have been confirmed. One story was that he was beaten and robbed, and left to die in his car, another story was that he was shot while sitting in his car, and the last was that he had a heart attack . It is for sure that Shep did die January 24, 1970. There was no further information.


THE PARAGONS
The Paragons were a rocksteady group from Kingston, Jamaica. The members of the groups were Garth "Tyrone" Evans, Bob Andy, Junior Menz and Leroy Stamp. Thier most famous song was "The Tide Is High".
The group was influenced by the doo-wop music of the time, and used their tight harmony to create a soulful sound. In 1964 the group caught the attention of Duke Reid and cut a number of singles on his Treasure Isle record label.
After some success Bob Andy quit the group and The Paragons quit their soulful sound and became the most popular rocksteady act in Jamaica. Fights over money caused the group to break-up in 1970. There is not alot of information on the group after that.
The biggest recording however came from a compilation album called "The Paragons Meet The Jesters". This album featured street corner harmony batttles and vocal duels. This album is considered the first rock & roll compilation album ever released.


THE JESTERS
Like so many of the doo-wop groups of the 50's and 60's The Jesters were a doo-wop group based in New York City. They were students at Cooper Junior High School in Harlem who graduated from singing under an elevated train station near 120th Street to the amateur night at the Apollo Theater. They were discovered by Paul Winley who signed them to his Winley Records label. Their first three singles were arranged by Winley's friend and collaborator Davey Clowney, better known as Dave "Baby" Cortez. The three singles barely made the charts, but made the group became popular in and around New York. With a different line-up The Jesters reached #110 on the charts with a cover of The Diablos' "The Wind", backed by a song called "Sally Green". They had two lesser singles "That How It Goes" /"Tutti Frutti" in 1960, and "Uncle Henry's Basement"/"Come Let Me Show You", in 1961.
It was Winley who concived the idea of the compilation album with their brother group The Paragons. "The Paragons Meet The Jesters", 1959. The album was a success with the two groups having vocal battles, they carried this idea into a live show which made the show and the album the most successful doo-wop compilation of all times.
The Jesters slowly drifted apart, but there have been different versions of the group appearing in doo-wop shows over the years.



I would like to thank Victoria for her request. I would like to see more request from some more of you. This is a labor of love! As you can see I don't talk about the sadder side of the arist. I talk about the music and the connectios that help create todays music and artist.
In the near future I'll talk about some of the great producers and arrangers like Buck Ram and Leiber and Stoller, etc. This will bring us back to Smokey one more time.