Friday, March 26, 2010

THE JIVE FIVE, THE PASTELS, EARL LEWIS AND THE CHANNELS, AND THE HARPTONES

This installment will look at four groups who's harmony was tight and their songs were great for blue lights in the basement parties. The Jive Five, The Pastels, Earl Lewis and The Channels, and The Harptones.


THE JIVE FIVE
The Jive Five were formed in the late 50's in Brooklyn, New York. The group included Eugene Pitt, Jerome Hanna, Richard Harris, Thurmon Prophet, and Norman Johnson.
The group's first success came in 1961 with "My True Story", on Beltone Records. The song reached #3 on the US Pop Singles Chart.
In 1962 Hanna passed, so the group reorganized. The new group included Hanna's replacement, Andre Coles, Casey Spencer, Beatrice Best, Norman Johnson, and of course Eugene Pitt. The group recorded "What Time Is It", and "Three Golden Rings" for Beltone Records before moving to United Artist Records, where they had a hit with "I'm A Happy Man". In 1970 the group moved again, this time to Decca Records, where they recorded as The JYVE FYVE, with Pitt, Spencer, Richard Fisher, and Webster Harris. THe group had a minor hit with "I Want You To Be My Baby" under this name. The group also recorded briefly for Avco Records. The group changed their name afew times along the way, they were Shadow, and Ebony, Ivory and The Jades.
The group went back to The Jive Five in 1978, this group included Pitt, Spenser, Best, and Harris. The group reorganized again in 1982 with Pitt, Best, Charles Mitchell, and Pitt's brothers Herbert and Frank. The group changed it's members afew more times over the years.
In 1985 the renmaed group, Eugene and The Jive Five were introduced to Fred Seibert and Alan Goodman and their company Fred/Alan, Inc. Together with Fred/Alan producer Tom Pomposello they formed what would be a ten year relationship. The began creating and singing the acapella signature sound for American kids' television network Nickelodeon, one of the first specialized cable television channels. The group wrote and recorded some memorable advertising jingles, performed in doo-wop style. They were also part of The Kid's Choic Awards.
The group was part of the PBS Doo-Wop 50 special, The lineup for the show was Pitt, Spenser, Harris, Best, and a not named fifth member.
Norman Johnson passed in 1970, Harris passed in 2003.
I always wanted to be a lead singer, and I thought Eugene Pitt was a great lead, so I studied his style, but to tell the truth I never got it.


THE PASTELS
The Pastels were formed in 1954, the group included DiFosco "Dee" Erwin, Richard Travis, Tony Thomas, and Jimmy Willingham. All four were stationed at U.S. Air Force base in Narsarssuak, Greenland, where their first live appearances were in conjunction with military talent showcases.
According to Marv Goldberg, all four members of the group were transfered to Washington, D.C. The group performed at the "Tops In Blue' talent shows and did very well. The group decided to try for a recording contract. They signed with the small Hull Label. Their first single "Been So Long", was released in 1957, and when it looked liked it would be a hit, Chess Records licensed the disc for national distrution, reissuing the single on it's Argo subsidiary a month later. In early 1958 "Been So Long" went to #5 on the R&B charts and crossed over to #24 on the Billboard Charts. The group toured with Alan Freed's Big Beat Show for awhile and then reurned to the studio to record some new songs. The next song "You Don't Love Me Anymore". The record failed to chart, and after their next try, "So Far Away" also failed, the group disbanded in early 1959. Dee Erwin returned to New York and started a solo career, having a hit with a cover of a World War II song "Swinging On A Star".
I was unable to find much on this group after this point, but if anyone out there has any information on this group please send it to me.


EARL LEWIS AND THE CHANNELS
In the late 50's there were two groups out of New York that were very popular in their shows, but were unable to secure a national hit. The two groups were The Harptones, and The Channels.
Late in 1955 Larry Hamden, Billy Morris, Edward Doulphin, and two un-named singers for The Channels. The un-names didn't last long, but at a talent show in early 1956 the group made a sound defining change. At the show was a group called The Lotharios. The Channels were so impressed with two members of The Lotharios, Earl Lewis, and Clifton Wright, that by the next talent show in the area, the two singers had joined The Channels. With Lewis on lead The Channels won the next show singing The Flamingos', "I'll Be Home". Within afew weeks the group was at The Apollo, where they won second place at amateur night, singing The Platters' "Magic Touch".
In early 1956 the group somehow got together with Bobby Robinson owner of Red Robin Records. The group signed a two year contract with Robinson's Whirling Disc label.
In their first recording session they were able to record "The Closer You Are" written by Earl Lewis who was only 15 at the time. The Channels broke the mold on how doo-wop groups sounded. Most doo-wop groups let the lead solo at the beginning of a verse and the rest of the group would come in with some oohs and aaahs to fill in the background. The Channels decided to open a verse with full five part harmony with the first tenor, second tenor and baritone, singing just a little louder than the bass and falsetto lead. This arrangement made The Channels instantly recognized as soon as the recorded started. "The Closer You Are" was an instant hit on the national airways, but because of poor distribution it never made the national charts. The song did become very popular on the East Coast and a New York street corner doo-wop favorite.
The group's next release came in late 1956, the song was "The Gleam In Your Eye", also written bt Lewis. The song showcased Lewis' full range of talent. The song boosted the group's popularity, and pushed them into a coreer of live shows that would take the group all over the country, for the next 35 years.
In 1957 the group re-released "Flames In MY Heart", a song that would have been a lot better if there had more than twenty minutes to record it. The song didn't get much play and not long after Robinson closed down the label.
Four months later the group auditioned for George Goldner's Gone Records. Goldner liked the group, but didn't like the songs the group with them. They auditioned again for Goldner with some new songs, including "The Girl Next Door" and "All Alone". Goldner was still not ready to sign them. He had them try an old Sammy Kaye's hit "That's My Desire". Eighteen months later Dion and The Belmonts would cover the song as a B side to their "Where Or When". "That's My Desire" was the first song since "Gloria", that Lewis didn't write.
The Group's first release for Gone Records was arranged by Richard Barrett and was released in 1957 and put the group back in the spotlight. The next song "Altar Of Love", didn't chart, and the group soon left Gone Records.
By early 1959 there were only two original Channels left, and the group was back working with Robinson on his new label Fury Records. Members of the group had an argument over the crooked way Robinson ran his label. Lewis and Wright found three replacments for the ones that didn't like Robinson. This new group then recorded two great songs, "My Love Will Never Die" and "Bye Bye Baby", written by Lewis. Lewis didn't have to worry about credit for writing the songs because Robinson didn't give anybody credit. "My LOve Will Never Die" turned out to be one of their more successful songs. The group's release of "The Girl Next Door" was the group's first release that listed Earl Lewis and The Channels on the label.
The group disbanded in late 1959, but in 1961 Jubilee Records started releasing Whirling Disc early releases as if they were new and The Channels became hot again. In 1963 released a new Channels record, but there was only one original member on the record, Lead Larry Hampden, and the group's name was misspelled on the label. (Channells). Larry Hampden changed the name of the group back to original spelling. The group faded away after that.


THE HARPTONES
The Harptones was the other group that didn't have many national hits, but are considered one of the best doo-wop groups ever.
Before there were The Harptones, there were two other groups, The Harps, which included Willie Winfield, his brothers, Jimmy and Dicey Galloway, and Johnny Bronson.
Winfield was from Norfolk, VA, and somtimes sang with his cousin Dickie Smith and The Five Keys. The Harps practiced under the Monroe Street undrepass of the Manhattan Bridge, Considered by a lot of New York doo-wop groups as the worlds biggest and best echo chamber. The Skylarks included Bill Dempsey, Curtis Cherebin, Fred Taylor, Eugene Cooke, Raoul Cita and someone only known as Skillum, practiced on 115th street.
In early 1953 Dicey Galloway was looking for a piano player to work with The Harps. During the process he met The Skylarks, who had a piano player/writer/arranger, named Raoul Cita. This was the man The Harps needed. As time passed the two group melted together. They kept the name The Harps and the group included Winfield and Galloway from the Harps and Cherebin, Dempsey, and Cita from the Skylarks. Not long after, Billy Brown replaced Cherebin, and Nicky Clark, from The Five Crowns joined the group. The group was influenced by the Five Keys, The Swallows, and The Larks. The Harps was thought to be the first doo-wop group to have a full time arranger in the group.
The group's first paying job was in New Jersey at the Piccadilly Club they made $100.00 for two nights work. After that the group started working all over New York and New Jersey, and even performed on a local TV show called Spotlight On Harlem.
The groups big test came in 1953, they felt ready for the Apollo's amateur night. As the Skylarks the group had tried the Apollo in 1951 and were booed off the stage. This time would be different, The Harps sang a rendition of a 1947 hit by Jo Stafford, "Sunday Kind Of Love", the audience loved them.
Now here's the twist of fate that made The Harps one of the most popular groups without a national hit. The group met a representative from MGM Records and were set to meet with him after the show. They also met Leo Rogers of Bruce Records, who introduced the group to his partners, who loved the group's sound and talked the group into signing with Bruce Records. They signed with the wrong label!
The group found out that there was another group called The Harps, so Cita changed the group's name to The Harptones.
"Sunday Kind Of Love" was the group's first single, and the group's rendition of the song with Winfield's velvety voice became a classic. The song became a hit in the tri-state area and got a lot of airplay. The group soon found that a group out of Baltimore had covered their song. The cover did ok, but the superior quality of The Hartones' version won out and the record sold well, but didn't make the national charts. Their B side "I'll Never Tell" even got airplay.
In early 1954 the first of Cita's many songs came out, "My Memories Of You" had tight five part harmony, and Winfield was so smooth on this cut. As great as the groups songs were it soon became clear that Bruce Records did not have any national clout.
"I Depend On You" was the group's next release, Nicky Clark lead on this song, Winfield miss the session that night. The next single was "Why Sould I Love" and it took 22 takes to get it right, and unknown to the group The Four Lads were right down the hall covered the song and made it a B side on one of their records. The group's version still went to #25 on the pop charts.
The group found themselves being loaned to other labels to do backup work for other groups, because the label owners owed favors.
Buddy and Ella Johnson suggested that the group record "Since I Fell For You", the song started out in unison and then the group started weaving their voices in and out behind Winfield's beautiful lead. Bruce Records was unable to take advantage of the song and couldn't move the song past the tri-state area.
The Hartones appeared at Alan Fredd's historic Rock & Roll Ball, with an all-star line up. The show included The Drifters, The Clovers, The Moonglows, Joe Turner, and Fats Domino.
The group's last release with Bruce Records in 1955 was a cover of Ivory Joe Hunter's "I Almost Lost My Mind".
In June of 1955 the group signed with the Old Town label and released a song that Cita had written two years earlier, "Life Is But A Dream". The song has become a street corner classic and everyone tries to do the opening line "Will you take part in" to show off their voices.
In September of 1955, the group played another big show a week long Alan Freed show, featuring, The Moonglows, Chuck Berry, The Nutmegs, The Cardinals, and Tony Bennett.
The group recorded one record for Leo Rogers' Andrea label.in 1956. The group changed again and included Winfield, Jimmy, Dempsey, and Bobby Spenser. This version of The Harptones re-record "My Memories Of You".
Feeling that their songs weren't being promoted properly, the group went back to George Goldner's labels in the summer of 1956. The first single from this effort was "That's The Way It Goes", the tight harmonies of the song made the song the group's favorite song.
In 1956 The Harptones appeared in the first R&B motion picture, Rockin' the Blues, along with The Wanderers, The Hurricanes, Linda Hopkins, The Miller Sisters, and DJ Hal Jackson. The group toured and appeared in all the big shows with the popular groups of the time.
The Harptones were very innovative with their on stage dancing, they moved so much that the audience was amazed that they could sing at all.
The group's last single for Goldner's Rama Records was a cover of The Royals' "The Shrine Of St. Cecilla", this was Bill Brown last recording with the group.
The group didn't release another record until late 1957, the song was "Cry Like I Cried", and was recorded on Goldner's Gee label. The was the group's first use of horns.
1959 found the group on the Warwick label, where they released "Laughing On The Outside", a remake of a 1953 song by Jimmy Beckum.
The Harptones moved around from label to label and had different members over the next few yew years. The last new recording with Winfield was "Sunset", written by his lawyer's son. The group was always popular on the road so their records kept getting re-released by their old labels. The Harptones continued without Winfield. in 1965 a group called The Soothers, the group was The Harptones without Winfield and Dempsey.
In 1970 Winfield, Dempsey, Curtis Fred and Raoul regrouped for a rock and roll revival at the Academy of Music and stayed together until 1972, when Winfield and Raoul added Linda Champion and Lowe Murray to form the current Harptones.
In 1981 the group recorded an LP called "Love Needs The Harptones".
After 39 years Winfield, Raoul, and company are still playing clubs and singing their trademark songs, "Life Is But A Dream", and "Sunday Kind Of Love".
The Harptones have thousands of fans and are considered one of the great groups of all times. I AGREE!!


SIDE BAR
In the Washington Post obituaries dated March 30, 2010, there was a notice of the passing of Johnny Maestro. Maestro was a doo-wop pioneer, as a member of the Crest, Maestro was part of one of the first interracial siging groups of the 50's. The group's best song was "16 Candles". After The Crest Maestro joined a New York group called Brooklyn Bridge, in 1968,and was lead on their big hit, "The Worst That Could Happen". Maestro's last show was January 17, 2010, when The Brooklyn Bridge, appeared at The Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut, in a show billed as The Ultimate Doo-Wop Party.
Johnny Maestro will be missed by all of his fans and everyone that loves DOO-Wop!
Please say a prayer for Johnny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I need some suggestons for my next blog, come on guys, who do you want to read about. Please send comments and suggestions, I love doing this, but I need help.