Re-visit The Paragons

As often happened in the doo-wop era, there were many groups with the same name. While doing my research for The Paragons I found what I thought was a reliable source of information. I checked two other sources and they pointed me in the same direction. However after posting the blog I got a call from Dr. Nick, a friend and doo-wop lover. Nick informed me that I had the wrong group of Paragons. The doo-wop group were not Jamaicans, but were from Bedford-Stuyvesant, NY.
So Victoria let me apologize for the mis-information, but thanks to DR. Nick I looked in a different place on found the New York PARAGONS. So Victoria here are The Paragons.

The Paragons were formed by three friends in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of New York city in 1955. The friends were Al Brown, Ricky Jackson, and Donald Travis. They found two more members, Gable "Ben" Frazier and Julius "Mack" McMichael, who became the lead.
Brown suggested the name Paragons because of all the Paragon oil trucks that moved through New York. The group used The Drifters and The Flamingos as inspiration. The group would practice near the Ralph Avenue subway station, because of the echos. In 1956 Hiram Johnson heard them and started working with them. The problem was that Johnson was working with another group called The Marvels who had a release on ABC-Paramount in November 1956. The record didn't chart, but Johnson believed they could make it so he put most of his time in on The Marvels. He even started Johnson Records to promote them. At this time they changed their name to The Dubs.
The Paragons heard about Paul Winley, whose Winley Records was right down the street from Johnson's office. The group jumped at the chance to work with Winley. Winley's brother was the bass singer for The Clovers.
The Paragon's first release was "Florence"/"Hey Little School Girl". Both songs were lead by McMichael. The keyboard work was done by Dave "Baby" Cortez (real name Davey Clowney). The group released two more songs "Two Are Better Than One" and "Twilight". In 1959 The group released an album called "The Paragons Meet The Jesters". This was the first rock and roll compilation album, and the best selling. At this time McMichael left the group to join The Olympics and was replaced by Bill Witt. Al Brown also left and was replaced by David Outlaw. Witt didn't stay long and was gone by the time the group released their last record for Winley. The song was "So You Will Know". From this point on there were too many changes to keep track of. The group disbanded in 1967. Some time later Bill Witt revived the group and they toured for afew years.


Later this week I'll be talking about some of the girl groups that came out of this period. I'll be talking about The Chantels, The Shirells, and The Clickettes.

Please leave your comments and request, I will address all request.
Thank you again Victoria for your request and thanks again Dr. Nick for your help!!