LITTLE ANTHONY AND THE IMPERIALS

One of the longest lasting groups from the doo-wop era is Little Anthony & The Imperials.
The group started out in 1957 as The Chesters. The group included Clarence Collins, Tracy Lord, Nathaniel Rogers, and Ronald Ross. Anthony Gourdine joined the group and became the lead. Ross left the group and was replaced by Ernest Wright, and the group recorded for Apollo Records for a short time. Changing their name to The Imperials the group signed with End Records in 1958. Their first single was "Tears On My Pillow" which went straight to the top. One night while playing "Tears On My Pillow", D.J Alan Freed dubbed Anthony Gourdine, Little Anthony! The B-side "Two Kinds Of People" also became a hit. The next single, for the group was "Shimmy Shimmy , Ko Ko Bop" in 1960.
Little Anthony left the group for a solo career 1961, after their success dropped a little. Some other members left and the line-up became Collins, Wright, Sammy Strain and George Kerr. Kerr was then replaced by Kenny Seymour, this group had very little success.
Little Anthony returned in 1963, replacing Seymour. Little Anthony, Ernest Wright, Clarence Collins, and Sammy Strain, became the classic line-up for the group. With the help of record producer/songwriter Teddy Randazzo, (a long time friend of the group), The Imperials found success at a new label, DCP (Don Costa Productions) with a new release "I'm On The Outside Looking In" in 1964. Then came a string of hits, "Going Out Of My Head" (1964), "Hurt So Bad" (1965), "I Miss You So" (1965),"Take Me Back" (1965), "Hurt"(1966), and "Out Of Sight Out Of Mind"(1969). In 1965 The Imperials appeared on the CBS-TV special Murray The K, It's What's Happening, Baby. On the show they delivered an explosive perfromance of a 50's hit "I'm Alright" before a live audience in New York.
The Imperials then joined United Artist and were assigned to it's Veep subsidary and then back to the parent label. During this time they recorded "Better Use Your Head", "World Of Darkness", " If I Remember To Foreget", "Yesterday Has Gone", and the Thom Bell produced "Help Me Find A Way (To Say I Love You)".
After this the group moved to Janus Records where they recorded the single "Father Father", which they performed on The Merv Griffin Show. The group then moved to Avco Records in the early 70's and recorded an album "On A New Street, and charted with "La La La" and "I'm Falling In Love With You". The album was produced by both Bell and Randazzo. Most of these songs did well on the R&B charts, but not so well on the Pop charts. A second album for Avco "Hold On" was pulled from the market.
Ernest Wright left the group in 1971, to join Tony William's Platters. He was replaced by Kenny Seymour, who was replacd by Bobby Wade. Strain left in 1972, and joined The O'Jays. Harold Jenkins replaced Strain, he had been the groups choreographer. Jenkins and Seymour were together in The Impacts. Little Anthony left again for a some what successful solo career. Collins, Wade and Jenkins continued on as The Imperials. Clarence Collins left 1988 and was replaced by Sherman James. The group became Bobby Wade's Imperials. James left in 1992 and was replaced by Ron Stevenson. That same year Collins, Wright, Strain and Little Anthony reunited for a concert at Madison Square Garden. The reunion was so successful that the group decided to stay together. When the decision was made for the group to tour again, Wade gave up the use of the name Imperials, and his group became The Emperors. The Emperors became the house band at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Strain left The O'Jays and permanently returned to The Imperials. 1992 the year of the groups reformation, just happened to be the 40th anniversary of Dick Clark's American Bandstand, and he invited The Imperials to appear as part of the television special celebration.
The line-up of Anthony, Strain, Wright, and group founder Collins, is considered the classic and best Imperials line-up, this is the group that had the hits. It's this same group that has been seen by millions of fans on television shows like, The Ed Sullivan Show, American Bandstand, Shindig, Hullabaloo, Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall, The Mike Douglas Show, and other natioal shows. In 1977 they were featured on NBC's Today Show's Summer Concert Series. The group also appeared on two PBS Rock, Rhythm and Doo-wop shows.
Anthony, Strain, Collins, and Wright continued touring as Little Anthony and The Imperials, until Strain retired in 2004. Harold Jenkins returned to replaced him. As of now The Imperials are the second oldest group keeping original members over the years, they are second behind The Dells. The are also one a few groups that have reinvented themselves and went on to have consistent recording success well passed the 60's.

The Imperials songs have been covered by some of the biggest names in the buisness, Frank Sinatra, Linda Ronstadt, Sergio Mendez, The Delfonics, Wes Montgomery, Ray Conniff, Ella Fitzgerald, Luther Vandross, Reba McEntire, The Miracles, Chris Montez, and The Lettermen.
The Imperials were inducted into the Long Island Music Hall Of Fame, in 2006, and The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999 In Oct. 2008 the group recorded a new album called "You'll Never Know" ad they performed on The David Letterman Show that same year. The Imperials song "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop" was featured in the 1988 Tom Hanks movie Big.On January 14, 2009 Little Anthony and The Imperials were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. Sammy Strain is one of a few artist to be inducted in two different groups. The Imperials and The O'Jays.
The Imperials' last Doo-wop show was in June 2009, they did a half hour set, which displeased Little Anthony. He felt that 30 minutes was not enough time to showcase their talents. Anthony commented that The Imperials were not a Doo-wop group, but an R&B group.
On Oct. 29, 2009, The Imperials returned to Madison Square Gardens for the 25th anniversary of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert. They were featured in a segment devoted to The Originals of New York. The show was aired Thanksgiving, weekend.

The next group will be The Dells, another long lasting group.
Please leave comments and request for future blogs. Coming soon we'll talk about the writers, arrangers and producers. These people gave us some of the greastes