This installment is about the solo artist and groups that weren't considered Doo-Wop, but either their style or their early careers make them seem like Doo-Wop to me.
We're going to look at Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells, Etta James, Jackie Wilson, Carla Thomas, Gene Chandler, and The O'Jays.
Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells
Patti LaBelle was born Patricia Louise Holt in Philadelphia, PA. Known as Patsy to her friends and family, Holt formed her first group, called The Ordettes, with three friends in 1959. In 1960 two of the original members left and were replaced by Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash. Not long after the third original member of the group was replaced by Cindy Birdsong. The group left school and toured local clubs, honky tonks, and truck stops.
The Ordettes almost never got to record, because at an audition with Newton Records, Holt was considered too plain, too dark, and not very attractive. That was until she started to sing! To spice Patti up a bit, a name change was suggested, she went from Holt to LaBelle, and the group changed their name to The Bluebells.
The Bluebells first release "I Sold My Heart To The Junkman" was really recorded by The Starlets, but was released as a Bluebell song due to a contract dispute with The Starlets and their label. The song went to #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. The group became a hit on the Chitlin' Circuit, earning national fame at the Apollo. We all know that Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells went on to great fame over the years. And if you listen to their version of "Down The Isle", "Danny Boy", and the Doo-wop song that almost every group recorded, "You'll Never Walk Alone", with the old time church feel, that's neither R&B or Pop, you'll understand why I say that in Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells early career "They Should'da Been Doo-wop"!!
ETTA JAMES
Born Jamesette Hawkins in Los Angeles, in 1938, Etta James went on to fame in the R&B world, but before then she started out in what was considerd race music. James moved with her family to San Francisco in 1950. She soon teamed up with two friends and formed a doo-wop group called The Peaches. Johnny Otis heard them and had them audition for him. The group sang an answer to Hank Ballard's song "Work With Me Annie" called "Roll With Me Henry". Without her mother permission, The Peaches went to Los Angeles to record the song. The group recorded the song for Modern Records. The group changed the name of the song to "The Wallflower" (Dance With Me Henry). The song was released in 1955. The song went to #2 on the R&B charts, but was quickly covered by Georga Gibbs. The success of the song got the group a chance to go on tour with Little Richard. As the success of the song faded Etta and the group split, but this didn't stop Etta from finding her own way to success.
In 1960 Etta signed with Chess Records, singing on their Argo label and later on their Cadet label. Etta started making hits, starting with "If I can't Have You", "Spoonful", but her big hit was "All I could Do was Cry", the song went to #2 on the Billboard R&B chart. Etta followed those songs with "My Dearest Darling", and then came "AT LAST". Every doo-wop group that was worth anything sang "At Last". And then came another doo-wop favorite "Sunday Kind Of Love". After the success of these songs Etta started moving away from those kind of songs and went more to R&B, but when you listen to early Etta James you understand why I say she "Should'da been doo-wop".
JACKIE WILSON
Jackie Wilson's first venture into music came when he formed a group called The Falcons, which included his cousin Levi Stubbs, who would later lead The Four Tops of MOTOWN fame. Wilson was another Johnny Otis discovery. Otis moved Wilson to a group called The Thrillers. That group would later become the Royals, who would later become the Midnighters, but Wilson had left the group by this time. Wilson recorded two versions of "Danny Boy" with Dizzyy Gillespie's label Gee Dee Records using the name Sonny Wilson, his nick name.
In 1953 Wilson joined Billy Wards Dominoes, after an audition to replace Clyde McPhatter, who had left to form his own group, The Drifters. Billy Ward is credited with changing Wilson's name from Jack to Jackie for the stage. Wilson was coached by McPhatter to ensure that the sound of The Dominoes stayed true to what Ward wanted. Wilson was lead for the group for three years, but it seems that the group was never the same after McPhatter's departure. Wilson went solo in 1957 and he and Levi Stubbs found work at Detroit's Flame Show Bar, owned by music publisher Al Green. Green worked a deal for Wilson with Decca Records, and Wilson was signed to the Brunswick label.
Soon after Wilson signed his contract Green died, but his partner took over as Wilson's manager. Wilson's first release was "Reet Petite", written by Barry Gordy, Roquel Davis, and Gordy's sister Gwen. This trio of song writers would write nine hits for Wilson, including "To Be Loved", "That's Why I Love You So", "I'll Be Satisfied", and "Lonely Teardrops"
In later years Wilson would sing some operatic ballads and some easy listening material, but he would return to his roots with songs like "Doggin Around", "Night", "Alone At Last", and "My Empty Arms". All of these songs made the charts. Wilson had a lull in his career between 1964 and 1966, but had a hit in 1966 with "(Your Love Keeps Liftng Me)" "Higher and Higher".
If you love Jackie Wilson like I do and you know his story, than you understand why I say Wilson "Should'da been doo-wop".
CARLA THOMAS
Carla Thomas was born December 21, 1942 in Memphis Tennesee. Her father was the legendary Rufus Thomas. Carla grew up in a house full of music, Carla and her siblings were musically gifted, and performed amateur shows around town with their father as MC. These shows gave Carla a view of the music world and gave her footing for her rise to The Queen of the Memphis sound. Carla performed with a local group that was sponsered by the Black radio station in Memphis. The group was called The Teen Town Singers. Even though the rules stated the members had to be teenagers, Carla got in at ten years old, because Rufus was a radio personality. One of the members of the group at the time was Issac Hayes.
While Carla released albums into the 2000's, she is best known for her work Atlantic and Stax Records in the 60's. Carla's first record was a duet with her father called "Cause I Love You". The record got the attention of Jerry Wexler. Wexler stole Carla from Satelite Records and distibuted the song which paved the way for Carla's biggest hit, "GEE Whiz". "Gee Whiz" would chart at #5 on the R&B chart and #10 on the pop chart. The song was first recorded at the Thomas family home. Rufus shopped the song to Vee-Jay Records in Chicago, but dispite their interest, Vee-Jay never moved on the song. Rufus took the song back to Memphis and the record was distributed through Atlantic Records and became an overwhelming success. Carla was propelled into the visual spotlight and was soon on American Bandstand. Carla said she thought the song was young sounding and was surprised at the song's success. The song also did wonders for Stax Records a subsidary of Atlantic Records. Carla didn't have the same success with future recordings. She did however record some memorable songs, "I'll Bring It On Home To You", an answer to Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home To Me", in 1962, "Stop Look What You're Doing", in 1965, "Let Me Good To You", and "B-A-B-Y" in 1966. In 1967 Carla recorded her second best song "Tramp" with Otis Redding.
Carla, like a lot of doo-wop artist, had one giant hit and some songs that charted, but nothing as big as the first one. With that in mind and the kind of music Stax was making at the time, you see why I say Carla "Should'da been doo-wop".
GENE CHANDLER
Gene Chandler was born Eugene Dixon, July 6, 1937, in Chicago. Chandler's music career started in the early 50's with a group called The Gaytones. In 1957 Chandler joined a doo-wop group called The Dukays. The group included Chandler, James Love, Shirley Jones, Earl Edwards and Ben Broyles, and Chandler soon became lead singer.
Chandler was drafted into the Army, but returned to the group in 1960. The group's first record, "The Girl Is A Devil" was with Nat Records in 1961. The group also recorded "Nite Owl". Chandler recorded as Gene Dixon with The Dukays and as Gene Chandler for his solo work. Vee-Jay Records, recorded and released The Dukay's "Duke Of Earl", but gave all of the credit for the song to Chandler. "Duke Of Earl" sold over a millin copies in one month. The song spent three weeks on the Billboard charts at #1. After the success of the song Chandler started wearing a cape and top hat and became "The Duke Of Earl. Chandler appeared in his Duke outfit in the movie Don't Knock The Twist in 1962. Chandler's concerts became popular and his encore song became "Rainbow '65 one his collaborations with Curtis Mayfield. Chandler recorded "Rainbow three times in his career, and each time it became a hit.
Chandler had another hit with "Just Be True" in 1964, the song was produced by Curtis Mayfield, and landed in the top 20. Chandler had more hits with "Nothing Can Stop Me", "What Now", "A Man's Temptation", "Bless Our Love" over the next five years. Chandler also scored with "You Threw A Lucky Punch" which was ment to compete with Mary Well's "You Beat To The Punch".
Chandler got into the production side of the business in the 70's, and continued to preformed as the Duke in doo-wop shows around the country.
I think because of his background and his popularity on the oldies circuit Gene Chandler "Should'da been doo-wop".
THE O'JAYS
The O'Jays were formed in 1958 at Canton McKinley High School in Canton, Ohio. The group was first called The Triumphs, then The Mascots. The group's first recording was "The Miracles", in 1961. The song was moderate hit in Cleveland. In 1963 the group change their name again to The O'Jays in honor of a local DJ, Eddie O'Jay. As The O'Jays their first recording was "Lonely Drifter", which went national. The group charted throughout the 60's with songs like "Lipstick Traces", "Stand In For Love", "Let It All Out", "I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow", "Deeper In Love With You", and "One Night Affair".
To me "Deeper In Love With You" sounds like a doo-wop jump song, so in my mind if these early songs had been arranged in five part harmony The O'Jays "Should'da been doo-wop".
The O'Jays were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall Of Fame in 2004, and the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2005.
Now I know some of you won't agree with me on some of these groups, so let's hear some comments, I need feed back so that I can continue to provide you with these blogs.
Next up The Jive Five, The Pastels, Earl Lewis and The Channels, and The Hartones. If there are any groups that you want to read about please let me know.
See you next time!!!!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
THE LADIES OF DOO-WOP
In this installment we're going look at some of the girls groups of the 50's and early 60's. For the most part the girl groups weren't considered doo-wopers, but as we look back there are afew groups that would fit the bill. With the exception of the Shirells, and the Chantels most of the early girl groups came and went without much notice.
We'll look at The Bobbettes, The Crystals, Shirley Gunter and The Queens, The Teen Queens, The Deltairs, The Primettes, and The Poni-Tails.
The Bobbettes
The Bobbettes were formed in Harlem, New York in 1955. At first they called themselves The Harlem Queens. They met as young ladies while singing at the Glee Club at P.S. 109 in Harlem. The group was discovered by James Dailey, a record producer who became their manager, while playing a concert at the famed Apollo. They were signed to Atlantic Records.
In 1957 the girls released their first hit "Mr. Lee", an uptempo tune where the group proclaims their devotion for their school teacher. The girls actually disliked the real life Mr. Lee. The original lyrics were a put down to the real Mr. Lee, but the label insisted that the lyrics be changed. The song became the group's biggest hit, it peaked #6 on Billboard Pop chart and spent 4 weeks at #1 on the R&B chart. This made The Bobbettes the first girl group to have a #1 R&B hit that also made the Pop top 10.
After the release of some novelty songs for Atlantic, that didn't score, the group recorded the original "I Shot Mr. Lee". Atlantic refused the song and the group left the label and signed with Teddy Vann, and a new version of the song was recorded on the Triple-X label, the song went to #52 on the Billboard Hot 100, which forced Atlantic to release the first version of the song.
Over the years they recorded a series of songs that didn't move, the group disbanded in 1974.
The Bobbettes were nominated for induction into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
The Crystals
The Crystals were a girl group out of New York, and are considered one of the defining girl acts of the early 60's. Between 1961 and 1964 the group charted hits with songs like, "Uptown", "He's A Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me". All of the songs were producd by Phil Spector and featured three different leads.
The original group included Barbara Alston, Mary Thomas, Dolores "Dee Dee" Kenniebrew, Myrna Girard and Patricia "Patsy" Wright. The group signed with Phil Spector's Phillies Records. Phil Spector choose Alston to lead the group even though she was afraid of singing in front of audiences.
The groups first hit was "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", in 1961, the B-side was "Oh Yeah , Maybe Baby", with Wright on lead. The song was written by Spector and Leroy Bates, and reached #20 on the Billboard chart, giving Spector a good start for his new label. The group's second hit was "UpTown" written by Brill Building writers Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Alston was the lead on this song. Their next song was "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)" was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin. The song had touchy subject about men hitting women, had limited airplay, but still has an underground following.
After "He Hit Me" failed, Spector started recording Darlene Love and her group The Blossoms as The Crystals. As the story goes, The Crytals weren't able to travel from New York to LA in time for a recording session. Spector wanted to record "He's A Rebel", a Gene Pitney written song, before anyone else could. Darlene Love and The Blossoms were available because they were based in LA. Spector recorded Love and her group as The Crystals. The best story is that Vikki Carr was recording "He's A Rebel at the same time as Spector. The Shirells had turned down the song because of it's anti establishment lyrics. The song marked a shift where girls stated singing about falling love with bad boys instead of the he's so sweet kind of guy. " He's A rebel" was The Crystal's only US #1 hit. The Crystals next hit was "He's Sure The Boy I Love" was also sung by Darlene and The Blossoms. It reached #11 on Billboard and had a spoken intro by Darlene Love.
The next release by the Crystals had to be one the strangest releases ever. The song was "Let's Dance To The Screw". No-one knows the real story, but most agree the Spector wanted to upset his former business partner Lester Sill. The song was six minutes long and was not playable on the radio in 1963. The song had basic instrumentation and Spector himself intoning "Dance The Screw. No-one knows if this group was The Crystals or The Blossoms. The single was never released commercially and the only copies to be found are marked DJ copy not for sale.
The real Crystals returned to the studio in 1963, but by this time Thomas had left the group. Alston never liked being on lead, finally gave it up and Brooks took over. Brooks had been singing Alston's lead in live shows for awhile. After "Let's Dance The Screw" the group's next release was "Da Doo Ron Ron" It has been said the the song was recorded by Darlene Love and her Blossoms, with Love on lead, but prior to release Spector erased Love's voice and replaced it with LaLa Brooks voice, and kept The Blossoms in the background. A soon to be discovered Cher was also in the background. The song hit the top 10 in the US and the UK. "Then He Kissed Me" was the first single since "He Hit Me" that featured all members of the Crystals as a definite group.
In 1964, because of lack of attention from Spector and a dispute over royalties, The Crystals were very unhappy with Spector. The group left Phillies Records and moved to United Artist Records in late 1964.
Wright left the group in 1964 and was replaced by Frances Collins, the group became a trio after Alston left. The group didn't have much success after this and disbanded in 1967. They reunited in 1971 and are still performing today.
Shirley Gunter and The Queens
Shirley Gunter and The Queens formed the group with some high school friends, pushed into it by her brother Cornel, future member of The Coasters. The group is considered the first real all-female Doo-Wop group. The group's 1954 recording of "Oop Shoop", is the first record to be written, and performed successfully by a group of young Black women. The song was recorded on Flair Records, and it was brother Cornel, who arranged for the girl's audition with the Bihari brothers owners of Flair Records.
Gunter recorded as a solo act at first, but it wasn't until Shirley had her friends join with her that things started to move. The uptempo "Oop Shoop", was recorded in just a couple of takes, and as some say the rest is rock & roll history.
Shirley recorded with The Queens before teaming up with her bother and the group called the Flairs. Shirley had an almost hit with a song called "Headin' Home". Shirley went solo again, but never had a major hit, not because she didn't have the talent, or for lack of effort, it just seems that the public wasn't ready.
It's been said that "Oop Shoop" lyrics and dance beat set the standard for future groups like The Bobbettes.
In a recording career the was only three years long, Shirley was part of the first female doo-wop group, written her own hits, and gave rock & roll it's first big female hit "Oop Shoop", Shirley was a big hit.
THE TEEN QUEENS
The Teen Queens were formed in the early 50's and are most rembered for their hit "Eddie My Love", recorded in 1956. The song went to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The group consisted of sisters Betty and Rose Collins, their brother was Aaron Collins of The Cadets. Aaron wrote "Eddie My Love", the song was released by RPM Records, but "Eddie MY Love" was their only hit dispite the release of a string of songs.
The group left RPM in 1958 and signed a one song contract with RCA Records, where they released "Dear Tommy", which failed to make the charts. The group then signed with Antler Records, however they had little success. The group disbanded in 1961.
The song "Eddie My Love" was covered by The Chordettes, and The Fontane Sisters, the song made the charts with both groups.
THE DELTAIRS
The Deltairs were formed in the South Jamaica projects of New York in 1955. The group came in second in a senior year talent show at Central Commercial High School. The original name was The Centraltone Debs, before switching to The Deltairs. The group included Mae Brown, Carol Stansbury, Henrietta Roper, and someone named Joyce.
After graduation Brown got married and Stanabury lost track of Roper and Joyce. Not wanting to give up music, after a few months Stansbury recruited her sister Thelma and a friend Shirley Taylor and The Deltairs were re-born. The group practiced with other young groups, like The 5 Sharps, The Beltones and The Cleftones. There was a fourth member of the group Barbara Lee who became a permanent member of the group.
At her job Carol Stansbury, became friends with Al Browne, a pianist and band leader. Browne introduced the group to Malcolm Dodds who told the group about a talent show at the boys club, they came in second. Malcolm liked the groups harmony and helped them with their arrangements.
In 1955 there weren't a lot of female groups around so the groups that influenced the girls were male groups. The group arranged their own versions of some of the standards of the day such as "Danny Boy", "That Lucky Old Sun", and "You'll Never Walk Alone".
The group played small clubs and schools when they could find work. In 1957 Shirley Taylor brought in a friend, Barbara Thompson and the four became five. Also in 1957 Al Browne introduced the girls to Stan Feldman, and Ed Portnoy, who became their managers. Wanting to showcase their talent, Feldman and Portnoy, formed Ivy Records.
At their first session with Ivy Records, the group recorded four songs, two of the songs were "Lullaby Of The Bells", and "Standing At The Altar", two songs that were written by Stansbury. The other two songs were "It's Only You Dear" written by Al Browne and Oliver Hall, and "I Might like It" written by veteran songwriter George Weiss. The orchestra was lead by Al Browne himself. Barbara Thompson led Lullaby Of The Bells", with Barbara Lee singing bass. Thomson and Stansbury teamed up on "It's Ony You". This recording was The Deltairs first record and the first release by Ivy Records. Later Portnoy teamed with Paul Winley of Winley Records (Remember that name??) to form Porwin Records, which recorded The Clovers in 1960.
The record started moving in the New York area and the group got booked on a show put on by DJ Hal Jackson at the Hunts Point Palace in the Bronx. The show included The Bobbettes, The Rays, The Chantels, The Dubs, The Rob-Roys, and a few more groups. The song did so well that the group was booked for a week at The Apollo in december of 1957. The show included some heavy weights in music, Bo Diddley, The Moonglows, The Drifters, Big Maybelle, The Dells, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Priscilla Bowman, and The Reuben Phillips Orchestra. In January of 1958 the group appeared on Paul Sherman's first show at the St. Nicholas Arena, with Roy Hamilton, The Dubs, Thruston Harris and others. The group played the Chittlin' Circuit and appeared at the Uptown in Philly, the Howard, in D.C., and the Royal in Baltimore. They sang "Come Go With Me" on Ted Mack's Amateur Hour, and sang "Lullaby Of The Bells" on American Bandstand.
The Deltairs recorded more songs with the Ivy Label, but with no real success. Feldman and Portnoy brought in Bennie Benjamin and George Weiss to run the label while they spent their time recording artist. Benjamin wanted to be the girls manager but one of the parents didn't like Benjamin so the girls dropped Benjamin. Feldman and Portnoy farmed the group out to other labels. They made a deal with Feisted Records to take over the group. The group released a single on the label in 1958. Feldman, Portnoy and Weiss formed Evergreen Enterprises, a talent management company, to handle The Deltairs, and other groups.
Things started going bad with Evergreen, the girls weren't getting paid and had to buy their own outfits, and provide their own transportation, and they weren't getting much work.
Bennie Benjamin came through for the girls by introducing them to song writer Lincoln Chase. The group later recorded two of Chase's songs, "One Billion Seven Million Thirty-three", and "You're Such A Much" for the Hamilton label in late 1958, as The Tranquils.
Thompson left the group in early 1959 and was replaced by Stansbury's other sister Rose. The group struggled through 1960 and were working mostly on weekends. They had quit trying to sing for a living, but were now doing for the fun of it.
A lot of the oldies DJ's don't play "Lullaby Of The Bells" as often as they should, but the song is a solid oldies hit in New York.
THE PRIMETTES
The Primettes were formed in the mid 50's in Detroit, by Florence Ballard. The members of the group were Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Betty McGlown, later known as Betty Travis.
The Primettes were one of the most sought out backup groups for the many small recording labels in Detroit. The group had auditioned for Barry Gordy, but were turned away and told to come back after they graduated high school. Song writer Richard Morris introduced the group to Bob West, the owner of Lupine Records. West signed the group to his label mainly to backup and sweeten the vocals on other artist recordings. MOTOWN was the group's first love and they hung around MOTOWN as much as possible. The Primettes recorded a single on Lupine in 1959, the song was not released until 1964 after The Primettes had become The Supremes and were having some success. The single was "Pretty Baby/Tears Of Sorrow", which sounded much like what would be known as the Supreme sound. Mary Wilson lead on "Pretty Baby" and Diana Ross lead on "Tears of Sorrow", at this time all members of the group would lead depending on the song.
The group was well liked in the many studios around Detroit, because they did what they were asked, were easy to coach, and had a great sound in the background. McGlown left the group and was replaced by Barbara Martin. Martin would sing on some of The Supremes fist recordings, but would not be pictured or listed as a Supreme. The Primettes backed up so many groups that it is impossible to track all of their recordings. They recorded for many labels including Lupine, Cub, Correc-Tone, and Pussy Cat labels.
All of the hard work finally paid off in 1961 when the group was signed to MOTOWN. Gordy didn't like the name Primettes and Florence Ballard suggested The Supremes and the name stuck. Before the group changed their name they recorded some unreleased tracks with MOTOWN. These song didn't surface until 30 years later. The group backed up more than afew of MOTOWN's list of recording artist.
By this time their friends The Primes had merged with The Distants and had become The Temptations. Contrary legend The Primes and The Primettes never appeared on stage together, they did however record an early version of "Not Now I'll Tell You Later" together. The song would be recorded again as The Temptations with The Supremes as backup.
The group had a string of eleven singles that went nowhere, but starting with "Where Did Our Love Go", the group had an impressive string of hits as The SUPREMES. The group became the standard for girl groups.
As the Supremes the group would collect every recording award possible, but as The Primettes they are hardly remembered.
THE PONI-TAILS
The Poni-Tails were formed in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. The group included Toni Cistone, Karen Topinka, and Patti McCabe. Tom Ilius, a music publisher signed the group to Point Records a local label. At Point the group recorded their first single, "Your Wild Heart"/"Que la Bozena". "Your Wild Heart " was covered and became a hit by someone else. The group's next release was "Can I Be Sure" on Marc Records, was a flop. Topinka left the group and was replaced by LaVerne Novak.
The group moved to ABC/Paramount and released "Just My Luck To Be Fifteen", another flop. Next the group released "Come On Joey, Dance With Me"/"Born To Late". "Born To Late" got a lot of radio play and became the group's first and only hit. The song went to #11 on the US R&B chart and #7 on Billboard Hot 100. Their next few releases did not chart very high. Their last single, "Who, When And Why" did not chart.
ABC/Paramount offered the group a five year contract, but the group turned them down, and the members of the group left the music industry. They reunited to play a Cleveland festival in 1997.
I know that some of these groups are new to some of you, but without these groups our beloved Doo-Wop would be a lot less colorful. The so-called "Girl Groups" forced
the male groups to be better out of fear of being out done by the girls.
I need some suggestions as to what groups you would like to read about next.
We'll look at The Bobbettes, The Crystals, Shirley Gunter and The Queens, The Teen Queens, The Deltairs, The Primettes, and The Poni-Tails.
The Bobbettes
The Bobbettes were formed in Harlem, New York in 1955. At first they called themselves The Harlem Queens. They met as young ladies while singing at the Glee Club at P.S. 109 in Harlem. The group was discovered by James Dailey, a record producer who became their manager, while playing a concert at the famed Apollo. They were signed to Atlantic Records.
In 1957 the girls released their first hit "Mr. Lee", an uptempo tune where the group proclaims their devotion for their school teacher. The girls actually disliked the real life Mr. Lee. The original lyrics were a put down to the real Mr. Lee, but the label insisted that the lyrics be changed. The song became the group's biggest hit, it peaked #6 on Billboard Pop chart and spent 4 weeks at #1 on the R&B chart. This made The Bobbettes the first girl group to have a #1 R&B hit that also made the Pop top 10.
After the release of some novelty songs for Atlantic, that didn't score, the group recorded the original "I Shot Mr. Lee". Atlantic refused the song and the group left the label and signed with Teddy Vann, and a new version of the song was recorded on the Triple-X label, the song went to #52 on the Billboard Hot 100, which forced Atlantic to release the first version of the song.
Over the years they recorded a series of songs that didn't move, the group disbanded in 1974.
The Bobbettes were nominated for induction into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
The Crystals
The Crystals were a girl group out of New York, and are considered one of the defining girl acts of the early 60's. Between 1961 and 1964 the group charted hits with songs like, "Uptown", "He's A Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me". All of the songs were producd by Phil Spector and featured three different leads.
The original group included Barbara Alston, Mary Thomas, Dolores "Dee Dee" Kenniebrew, Myrna Girard and Patricia "Patsy" Wright. The group signed with Phil Spector's Phillies Records. Phil Spector choose Alston to lead the group even though she was afraid of singing in front of audiences.
The groups first hit was "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", in 1961, the B-side was "Oh Yeah , Maybe Baby", with Wright on lead. The song was written by Spector and Leroy Bates, and reached #20 on the Billboard chart, giving Spector a good start for his new label. The group's second hit was "UpTown" written by Brill Building writers Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Alston was the lead on this song. Their next song was "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)" was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin. The song had touchy subject about men hitting women, had limited airplay, but still has an underground following.
After "He Hit Me" failed, Spector started recording Darlene Love and her group The Blossoms as The Crystals. As the story goes, The Crytals weren't able to travel from New York to LA in time for a recording session. Spector wanted to record "He's A Rebel", a Gene Pitney written song, before anyone else could. Darlene Love and The Blossoms were available because they were based in LA. Spector recorded Love and her group as The Crystals. The best story is that Vikki Carr was recording "He's A Rebel at the same time as Spector. The Shirells had turned down the song because of it's anti establishment lyrics. The song marked a shift where girls stated singing about falling love with bad boys instead of the he's so sweet kind of guy. " He's A rebel" was The Crystal's only US #1 hit. The Crystals next hit was "He's Sure The Boy I Love" was also sung by Darlene and The Blossoms. It reached #11 on Billboard and had a spoken intro by Darlene Love.
The next release by the Crystals had to be one the strangest releases ever. The song was "Let's Dance To The Screw". No-one knows the real story, but most agree the Spector wanted to upset his former business partner Lester Sill. The song was six minutes long and was not playable on the radio in 1963. The song had basic instrumentation and Spector himself intoning "Dance The Screw. No-one knows if this group was The Crystals or The Blossoms. The single was never released commercially and the only copies to be found are marked DJ copy not for sale.
The real Crystals returned to the studio in 1963, but by this time Thomas had left the group. Alston never liked being on lead, finally gave it up and Brooks took over. Brooks had been singing Alston's lead in live shows for awhile. After "Let's Dance The Screw" the group's next release was "Da Doo Ron Ron" It has been said the the song was recorded by Darlene Love and her Blossoms, with Love on lead, but prior to release Spector erased Love's voice and replaced it with LaLa Brooks voice, and kept The Blossoms in the background. A soon to be discovered Cher was also in the background. The song hit the top 10 in the US and the UK. "Then He Kissed Me" was the first single since "He Hit Me" that featured all members of the Crystals as a definite group.
In 1964, because of lack of attention from Spector and a dispute over royalties, The Crystals were very unhappy with Spector. The group left Phillies Records and moved to United Artist Records in late 1964.
Wright left the group in 1964 and was replaced by Frances Collins, the group became a trio after Alston left. The group didn't have much success after this and disbanded in 1967. They reunited in 1971 and are still performing today.
Shirley Gunter and The Queens
Shirley Gunter and The Queens formed the group with some high school friends, pushed into it by her brother Cornel, future member of The Coasters. The group is considered the first real all-female Doo-Wop group. The group's 1954 recording of "Oop Shoop", is the first record to be written, and performed successfully by a group of young Black women. The song was recorded on Flair Records, and it was brother Cornel, who arranged for the girl's audition with the Bihari brothers owners of Flair Records.
Gunter recorded as a solo act at first, but it wasn't until Shirley had her friends join with her that things started to move. The uptempo "Oop Shoop", was recorded in just a couple of takes, and as some say the rest is rock & roll history.
Shirley recorded with The Queens before teaming up with her bother and the group called the Flairs. Shirley had an almost hit with a song called "Headin' Home". Shirley went solo again, but never had a major hit, not because she didn't have the talent, or for lack of effort, it just seems that the public wasn't ready.
It's been said that "Oop Shoop" lyrics and dance beat set the standard for future groups like The Bobbettes.
In a recording career the was only three years long, Shirley was part of the first female doo-wop group, written her own hits, and gave rock & roll it's first big female hit "Oop Shoop", Shirley was a big hit.
THE TEEN QUEENS
The Teen Queens were formed in the early 50's and are most rembered for their hit "Eddie My Love", recorded in 1956. The song went to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The group consisted of sisters Betty and Rose Collins, their brother was Aaron Collins of The Cadets. Aaron wrote "Eddie My Love", the song was released by RPM Records, but "Eddie MY Love" was their only hit dispite the release of a string of songs.
The group left RPM in 1958 and signed a one song contract with RCA Records, where they released "Dear Tommy", which failed to make the charts. The group then signed with Antler Records, however they had little success. The group disbanded in 1961.
The song "Eddie My Love" was covered by The Chordettes, and The Fontane Sisters, the song made the charts with both groups.
THE DELTAIRS
The Deltairs were formed in the South Jamaica projects of New York in 1955. The group came in second in a senior year talent show at Central Commercial High School. The original name was The Centraltone Debs, before switching to The Deltairs. The group included Mae Brown, Carol Stansbury, Henrietta Roper, and someone named Joyce.
After graduation Brown got married and Stanabury lost track of Roper and Joyce. Not wanting to give up music, after a few months Stansbury recruited her sister Thelma and a friend Shirley Taylor and The Deltairs were re-born. The group practiced with other young groups, like The 5 Sharps, The Beltones and The Cleftones. There was a fourth member of the group Barbara Lee who became a permanent member of the group.
At her job Carol Stansbury, became friends with Al Browne, a pianist and band leader. Browne introduced the group to Malcolm Dodds who told the group about a talent show at the boys club, they came in second. Malcolm liked the groups harmony and helped them with their arrangements.
In 1955 there weren't a lot of female groups around so the groups that influenced the girls were male groups. The group arranged their own versions of some of the standards of the day such as "Danny Boy", "That Lucky Old Sun", and "You'll Never Walk Alone".
The group played small clubs and schools when they could find work. In 1957 Shirley Taylor brought in a friend, Barbara Thompson and the four became five. Also in 1957 Al Browne introduced the girls to Stan Feldman, and Ed Portnoy, who became their managers. Wanting to showcase their talent, Feldman and Portnoy, formed Ivy Records.
At their first session with Ivy Records, the group recorded four songs, two of the songs were "Lullaby Of The Bells", and "Standing At The Altar", two songs that were written by Stansbury. The other two songs were "It's Only You Dear" written by Al Browne and Oliver Hall, and "I Might like It" written by veteran songwriter George Weiss. The orchestra was lead by Al Browne himself. Barbara Thompson led Lullaby Of The Bells", with Barbara Lee singing bass. Thomson and Stansbury teamed up on "It's Ony You". This recording was The Deltairs first record and the first release by Ivy Records. Later Portnoy teamed with Paul Winley of Winley Records (Remember that name??) to form Porwin Records, which recorded The Clovers in 1960.
The record started moving in the New York area and the group got booked on a show put on by DJ Hal Jackson at the Hunts Point Palace in the Bronx. The show included The Bobbettes, The Rays, The Chantels, The Dubs, The Rob-Roys, and a few more groups. The song did so well that the group was booked for a week at The Apollo in december of 1957. The show included some heavy weights in music, Bo Diddley, The Moonglows, The Drifters, Big Maybelle, The Dells, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Priscilla Bowman, and The Reuben Phillips Orchestra. In January of 1958 the group appeared on Paul Sherman's first show at the St. Nicholas Arena, with Roy Hamilton, The Dubs, Thruston Harris and others. The group played the Chittlin' Circuit and appeared at the Uptown in Philly, the Howard, in D.C., and the Royal in Baltimore. They sang "Come Go With Me" on Ted Mack's Amateur Hour, and sang "Lullaby Of The Bells" on American Bandstand.
The Deltairs recorded more songs with the Ivy Label, but with no real success. Feldman and Portnoy brought in Bennie Benjamin and George Weiss to run the label while they spent their time recording artist. Benjamin wanted to be the girls manager but one of the parents didn't like Benjamin so the girls dropped Benjamin. Feldman and Portnoy farmed the group out to other labels. They made a deal with Feisted Records to take over the group. The group released a single on the label in 1958. Feldman, Portnoy and Weiss formed Evergreen Enterprises, a talent management company, to handle The Deltairs, and other groups.
Things started going bad with Evergreen, the girls weren't getting paid and had to buy their own outfits, and provide their own transportation, and they weren't getting much work.
Bennie Benjamin came through for the girls by introducing them to song writer Lincoln Chase. The group later recorded two of Chase's songs, "One Billion Seven Million Thirty-three", and "You're Such A Much" for the Hamilton label in late 1958, as The Tranquils.
Thompson left the group in early 1959 and was replaced by Stansbury's other sister Rose. The group struggled through 1960 and were working mostly on weekends. They had quit trying to sing for a living, but were now doing for the fun of it.
A lot of the oldies DJ's don't play "Lullaby Of The Bells" as often as they should, but the song is a solid oldies hit in New York.
THE PRIMETTES
The Primettes were formed in the mid 50's in Detroit, by Florence Ballard. The members of the group were Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Betty McGlown, later known as Betty Travis.
The Primettes were one of the most sought out backup groups for the many small recording labels in Detroit. The group had auditioned for Barry Gordy, but were turned away and told to come back after they graduated high school. Song writer Richard Morris introduced the group to Bob West, the owner of Lupine Records. West signed the group to his label mainly to backup and sweeten the vocals on other artist recordings. MOTOWN was the group's first love and they hung around MOTOWN as much as possible. The Primettes recorded a single on Lupine in 1959, the song was not released until 1964 after The Primettes had become The Supremes and were having some success. The single was "Pretty Baby/Tears Of Sorrow", which sounded much like what would be known as the Supreme sound. Mary Wilson lead on "Pretty Baby" and Diana Ross lead on "Tears of Sorrow", at this time all members of the group would lead depending on the song.
The group was well liked in the many studios around Detroit, because they did what they were asked, were easy to coach, and had a great sound in the background. McGlown left the group and was replaced by Barbara Martin. Martin would sing on some of The Supremes fist recordings, but would not be pictured or listed as a Supreme. The Primettes backed up so many groups that it is impossible to track all of their recordings. They recorded for many labels including Lupine, Cub, Correc-Tone, and Pussy Cat labels.
All of the hard work finally paid off in 1961 when the group was signed to MOTOWN. Gordy didn't like the name Primettes and Florence Ballard suggested The Supremes and the name stuck. Before the group changed their name they recorded some unreleased tracks with MOTOWN. These song didn't surface until 30 years later. The group backed up more than afew of MOTOWN's list of recording artist.
By this time their friends The Primes had merged with The Distants and had become The Temptations. Contrary legend The Primes and The Primettes never appeared on stage together, they did however record an early version of "Not Now I'll Tell You Later" together. The song would be recorded again as The Temptations with The Supremes as backup.
The group had a string of eleven singles that went nowhere, but starting with "Where Did Our Love Go", the group had an impressive string of hits as The SUPREMES. The group became the standard for girl groups.
As the Supremes the group would collect every recording award possible, but as The Primettes they are hardly remembered.
THE PONI-TAILS
The Poni-Tails were formed in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. The group included Toni Cistone, Karen Topinka, and Patti McCabe. Tom Ilius, a music publisher signed the group to Point Records a local label. At Point the group recorded their first single, "Your Wild Heart"/"Que la Bozena". "Your Wild Heart " was covered and became a hit by someone else. The group's next release was "Can I Be Sure" on Marc Records, was a flop. Topinka left the group and was replaced by LaVerne Novak.
The group moved to ABC/Paramount and released "Just My Luck To Be Fifteen", another flop. Next the group released "Come On Joey, Dance With Me"/"Born To Late". "Born To Late" got a lot of radio play and became the group's first and only hit. The song went to #11 on the US R&B chart and #7 on Billboard Hot 100. Their next few releases did not chart very high. Their last single, "Who, When And Why" did not chart.
ABC/Paramount offered the group a five year contract, but the group turned them down, and the members of the group left the music industry. They reunited to play a Cleveland festival in 1997.
I know that some of these groups are new to some of you, but without these groups our beloved Doo-Wop would be a lot less colorful. The so-called "Girl Groups" forced
the male groups to be better out of fear of being out done by the girls.
I need some suggestions as to what groups you would like to read about next.
Monday, February 8, 2010
THE BIRD GROUPS OF DOO-WOP
In the 50's and 60's there were quite a few groups named after birds. The most famous were The Ravens and The Orioles, we'll look at these two groups and others in this blog.
THE RAVENS
The Ravens have stood the test of time as one of the pioneering R&B groups. The Ravens were the first group to use a bass and falsetto tenor to lead , rather than just be in the background. The Ravens also were the first group to add dance steps to their act. Before The Clovers and The Orioles, The Ravens would use bits of jazz, blues, and gospel, to create a sound that appealed to more than just White audiences. This seems to time when the term RACE music got started.
The Ravens were formed by Jimmy Ricks, and Warren "Birdland" Suttles, two waiters from Harlem. The two went to the Evans booking Agency to recruit two more singers, Ollie Jones, and Leonard Puzey, and formed the group in 1945. They named themselves The Ravens and started a craze to name groups after birds. The group hooked up with Howard Biggs, who became their musicical arranager and wrote many of their songs.
The Ravens first appeared at The Club Baron in Harlem in 1946. That same year the group signed with Hub Records and their first single was a song called "Honey". They released two more singles, the best of the two was a jump tune called "My Sugar Is So Refined". They opened with this song when they appeared on a show with Nat King Cole at The Apollo. Puzey started the song singing lead, but when they switched leads and Ricks took over with his booming bass, he brought down the house. Ollie Jones soon left the group and was replaced by a falsetto tenor Maithe Marshall.
The group signed with National Records in 1947 and released a series of songs with Ricks on jump tunes and Marshall with his clear falsetto singing the ballards. Marshall called himself the "B' side singer. In later years fans of the Ravens would fight to get copies of Ravens records just for the "B" side.
In 1947 "Write Me A Letter" on National Records, became the first R&B record to reach #24 on the national charts, but didn't hit the R&B charts until january 1948. The Ravens were the first group to hit the pop charts before they hit the R&B charts. The groups second release for National established the group and it's sound internationally, the song was a rhythmic version of "Old Man River". It was said to have sold over two million copies.
Between 1947 and 1949 the group released a string of ballards and jump tunes for National Records. "Bye, Bye, Baby Blues" reached #13 on the Juke Box chart.
Even though The Orioles were a new group, in 1948, The Ravens covered their first release, "It's Too Soon To Know". The Orioles version reached #1, while The Ravens version only reached #11.
The group started touring on the legendary chitlin circuit, a series of venues on the East Coast and Midwest where thousand of R&B acts performed.
In 1948 National released the groups version of "White Christmas", it went to #9 on the juke box chart. It's been said that this inspired The Drifters version of 1954, almost a note for note copy. The group also had a thrilling ballard version of "Silent Night". In 1949 "Ricky's Blues" went to #8 on juke box. The group's last single with National Records, was "Lilacs In The Rain" with Marshall on lead.
The Ravens signed with Columbia Records in 1950, releasing a number of great songs like the Ricks led "Time Takes Care Of Everything" and the Marshall led "I'm So Crazy For Love". The group recorded just a few singles for Columbia's Okeh affilliate before moving to Mercury late in 1951. With the exception of Ricks, this was an all new Ravens. Jimmy Steward replaced Puzey, Louis Frazier, replaced Heyward, and a falsetto named Joe Van Loan replaced Marshall.
The Ravens were considered one of the top drawer acts of the day, and at times recieved as much as $2,000.00 per show, which was a lot of money for the time.
Mercury issued some softer songs for the group, but they didn't hit the charts for two and a half years and the song was "Rock Me All Night Long". Their best sides for Mercury were "Who'll Be The Fool", and "September Song". Some think that the best ballard ever recorded by the group was the Joe Van Loan led "Don't Mention My Name" released in 1952. Even though three-fourths of the group was new, their sound was almost as good as the original group of the National Record days.
The group signed with Jubilee Records, but in the spring of 1956, Ricks decided to go solo. Van Loan did not want to quit just yet, so he recruited his brothers Paul and James, and David Bowers as the new Ravens. The group was able to maintain the true sound of The Ravens when they signed with Argo Records in 1956. With Van Loan on lead The Ravens had two moderate hits with "Kneel And Pray", and "A Simple Prayer". Van Loan was touching the sky with his glass breaking falsetto tenor. The groups last great hit was a cover of The Scarlets "Dear One" in the summer of 1957.
The groups manager, Nat Margo bought the Ravens name from Ricks, and from that point on a varity groups using the Ravens' name showed up on the circuit in the 60's and 70's.
While it's true Jimmy Ricks created one of the greatest doo-wop groups of all times, he neverd charted as a solo. He signed with a lot of labels overed the years, but finally moved to Florida to work with Count Basie. Ricks stayed active on the club circuit until he passed in 1974.
THE ORIOLES
The Orioles were formed by Earlington Carl Tilghman, (soon to be Sonny Til), in 1947. The original group included Til, Alexander Sharp, George Nelson, and Tommy Gaither. A wanna be song writer named Deborah Chessler discovered the group over the telephone and became their manager(see previous blog Deborah Chessler). In 1948 the group appeared as The Vibra-Naires, on the Arthur Godfrey radio talent show. Richard Williams was the bass for the show, but was replaced by Johnny Reed soon after. The group won a recording deal with a subsidiary of Jubilee Records. Jubilee owner, Jerry Blaine, changed the groups name to The Orioles. In July of 1948 Chessler wrote "It's To Soon To Know" on some toilet paper in a restroom. This was the group's first release. Til was on lead, and the song sold 30,000 copies which put the song at #1 on the R&B chart. Not only did The Ravens cover the song, but so did Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington. It was the biggest race song to cross over to mainstream markets at the time.
The Orioles started touring all over and were moved off of the subsidiary label up to Jubilee. In 1949 they scored another hit with "Tell Me So", and again they were at #1 on the R&B charts but the song didn't cross over. The group had other hits that included "Forgive And Forget", and "Lonely Christmas". Unlike audiences at a Mills Brothers shows, where audience just sat there, The Orioles kept the audience excited, with girls screaming and trying to get to the stage and at Sonny Til. From 1948 to 1954 the group recorded over 120 sides for the National and Jubilee labels. By the late 1950 they were major stars, even though their hits had stop coming.
In 1950 a tragic car accident killed Gaither, and severly injured Nelson and Reed. Til and Sharp were in another car and didn't know about the accident until later. Til and Sharp performed as a duo for a short time, but soon added two new members, guitarist/second tenor, Ralph Williams, and pianist, Charlie Harris. Nelson and Reed both returned to the group. A year later the group had another accident, but this time no-one was hurt. In 1952 the group had a hit with "Baby Please Don't Go" which was an early 45 on red vinyl.
In 1953 Nelson left the group and was replaced by John Gregory Carroll, from the Four Buddies. Also in 1953 they recorded what was a country song by Darrell Glen. The song was "Crying In The Chapel", this song became the group's biggest hit, staying at #1 on the R&B charts for five weeks and reached #11 on the pop charts. This would be the group's last big hit. They had a minor hit later with "In The Mission Of St. Augustine". Williams left the group shortly in 1953, and in 1954 Chessler quit. In 1955 Reed left to join The Ink Spots. He was replaced by Maurice Hicks. The group disbanded in late 1955 or early 1956.
Left without a group Til took a group called The Regals and started The New Orioles. This new group included, Tex Cornelius, Diz Russell, Jerry Holeman, Billy Adams, and pianist Paul Griffin. With the new group Til found a new sound, and some of the old songs were re-recorded to fit the new sound. The group left Jubilee and moved to Vee-Jay Records. This group stayed together until 1957 when Cornelius left the group. Cornelius was replaced by Frank Todd, who lasted a short time and was replaced by Jimmy Brown. After Til's car was repossessed (the group's transportation), in 1959 Holeman and Russell left the group. This was the end of the second Orioles.
Til went solo for awhile, but then formed a third Orioles. This group included, Delton McCall, Billy Taylor, and Gerald Gregory from the Spaniels. This group lasted for awhile and recorded for Charlie Parker Records. Gregory left after a couple of years,and was replaced by Lawrence Joyner, this group split in 1960.
In 1966 Til met Bobby Thomas, a long time Oriole fan who had a group of his own. The group was call The Vibrannaires, (which was the Orioles original name). This group included Thomas, Clarence Young, Harry Accoo, and Mike Robinson. Thomas, Young, and Robinson joined Til as the fourth Orioles. This group recorded until 1975.
After the break-up of the fourth group, Til joined a version of The Ink Spots. With this group Til was able to be an Ink Spot one night and an Oriole the next. This group toured as both groups. Til formed another Orioles in 1977, with former members, Diz Russell, Jerry Holeman, and Billy Taylor. This group somtimes featured Eddie Palmer. The group was together until Til passed in 1981.
The group continued with Russell, Reese Palmer, Skip Mahoney, Larry Jordan and music director Eddie Jones. Jones and Mahoney were replaced by George Spann and Royal Height. Bobby Thomas later started his own Orioles.
There is still an Orioles group touring today, and they still sound great!!
THE FLAMINGOS
The Flamingos were founded in Chicago by cousins Jake and Zeke Carey. They recruited another set of cousins Paul Wilson and Johnny Carter that had met at a Black Messianic Jewish synagogue. Earl Lewis, (not from the Channels), soon joined the group. The group had many names before they settled on The Flamingos. Sollie McElroy replaced Lewis, who joined The Five Echoes. The group signed with Chance Records and their first single was "If I Can't Have You", was a moderate hit in Chicago. Their second single didn't fair much better. The group's reputation was established with a Johnny Carter written song, "Golden Teardrops". The song had Carters shrill falsetto backed up with some very complex harmonies. The group left Chance Records in late 1953 and signed with DJ Al Benson's Parrot Records. McElroy was there for the first recording session, but soon left the group and was replaced by Nate Nelson. Nelson lead on "I'm Yours", which was released in January 1955. Later that year the group moved to Chess Record's Checker label. Checker Records gave the group the materials they needed to score their first national hit, "I'll Be Home", which went to #5 on Billboard, and was covered by Pat Boone with incorrect lyrics. The group had some moderate hits with songs like, "A Kiss From Your Lips", "The Vow", and "Would I Be Crying", these songs still hold up as some of the greatest R&B records of all time. In 1956 The Flamingos appeared in Alan Freed's movie Rock, Rock, Rock.
Zeke Carey and Johnny Carter were both drafted that same year. Nelson, Jake Carey and Paul Williams, continued on with new member Tommy Hunt, and Terry Johnson who joined the group in 1956.
The group began recording for Decca Records in 1957. The group now included Nate Nelson, Tommy Hunt, Terry Johnson, Paul Wilson, and Jake Carey. The group recorded "The Ladder Of Love", but a dispute between Checker and Nelson ruined any chance of the song having any success. Zeke Carey returned to the group in 1958, making the group a sextet. When Johnny Carter was discharged, he joined The Dells, and stayed with them until he passed.
The Flamingos moved again to End Records and began recording for George Goldner (there's that name again), in New York. Goldner provided them with a more sophisticated sound. They weren't at End very long before they had a hit on the pop charts, "Lovers Never Say Goodbye", written by Terry Johnson, who shared lead on the song with Paul Wilson. This proved to be a winning formula and 3 of the next 12 songs were lead by Johnson and Wilson, on their first album "Flamingo Serenade". The group had a big hit with an old standard "I Only Have Eyes For You" in 1959. The song was recorded in 1934 by Dick Powell. The song has been featured in many movies and TV shows. The group then had a string of hits, which included, "Mio Amore", a Doc Pomus song, "Your Other Love", "Nobody Loves You Like Me" written by Sam Cooke, and "I Was A Fool". That same year the group appeared in Alan Freed's movie Go Johnny Go, songing "Jump Children". The group was known as much for their dancing as they were for their harmonnies. The Temptations and Tavares credit the group as influences.
The group started to fall apart in 1960. Tommy Hunt left for a solo career, Nelson and Johnson left and started The Modern Flamingos in 1961, and recorded as The Starglows for Atco records, in 1963. After some changes, some of the old names re-appeared. Zeke and Jake Carey, and Paul Wilson joined the new group, along with Billy Clarke, Eddie Williams, Alan Fontaine, and Julien Vaught. Clarke and Williams were the leads. A 6th vocalist, Doug McClure, was added in 1962. Clarke and Williams soon left the group. Wilson left in 1964, and Sidney Hall joined the group in 1966. Jake Carey's son J.C, joined the group in 1969. The group recorded several uptempo songs in the 60's, and got their first #1 on the UK charts, with "Ain't But Nothing A Party" during this time. Also at this time The Flamingos started their own label, Ronze, and starting producing their own recordings.
The group continued recording into the 70's and changed members many times over the years. The group appeared on the PBS Doo-wop 50 shows and flew in Tommy Hunt to work with them. Johnny Carter took time off from The Dells for the shows too. In 2005 the group split over a money dispute. There have been, and still are a number of Flamingos groups touring. Members of the group sued Pepsi Cola for using "I Only Have Eyes For You" without permission, the group was awarded $250,00.00.
The Flamingos were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall Of Fame in 2000, The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2001, and the Doo-Wop Hall Of fame in 2004. "I Only Have Eyes For You" was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame.
The Flamingos are considered one of the best Doo-Wop groups of all times!!
THE SWALLOWS
The Swallows were formed in Baltimore in 1946, but were first called The Oakateers. The group included Lawrence Coxson, Irving Turner, Earl Hurley and Norris Mack. The group practised on street corners until 1948, when they joined with Eddie Rich, and Frederick Johnson. Herman Denby was hired later. Turner left the group and became their valet.
The Swallows recorded "Will You Be Mine" in 1951, and the song is considered one of the first Doo-Wop hits. The song went to #9 on Billboard's R&B charts. In 1952 the group released "Beside You", which was the group's second national hit. The 78 year old Eddie Rich and The Swallows are still performing at clubs and cabarets all over the country.
THE PENGUINS
The Penguins were formed in 1953 by Cleveland Duncan and Curtis Williams, who were ex-members of a group called The Hollywood Flames. The two added Dexter Tisby, and Bruce Tate. At first their style was a cross between R&B and rock and roll.
The group took their name from Kool ciarettes, who used Willie the Penguin for advertising. Since the group was cool they decided to call themselves The Penguins.
When Williams joined the group, he brought with a song called "Earth Angel", that he had worked on while with The Hollywood Flames.
The group signed with Dootone Records, and recorded a single in 1954 with "Hey Senorita" as the intended "A" side, but somehow the DJ played the wrong side and played "Earth Angel" instead. "Earth Angel" went to #1 on the billboard charts and stayed there for 3 weeks in early 1955, Duncan sang lead on the song.
As was the custom of the time, if a song looked to be promising a white group would record and release a version of the same song at the same time. This happened with "Earth Angel", the white group in this case was The Crew-Cuts. Their cover of the song went to #3 on the Hot 100 chart five spot above The Pinguins' version. The success of this song launched the career of The Crew-Cuts as cover artist. More than a few singers made their careers as cover artist. Two of the more famous are Johnny Rivers, who stole from Chuck Berry and James Taylor, who robbed MOTOWN.
There was some dispute over who wrote "Earth Angel", so the credit was split between Curtis Williams, Gaynel Hodge, and Jesse Belvin. The song was influenced by Jesse and Marvin's #2 hit "Dream Girl", which contained many of the same vocal changes. The will you be mine phrase in the song came from The Swallows' song of the same name, "Will You Be Mine. The Hollywood Flames had recorded a song in 1953 called "I Know" which is a cord for cord layout of "Earth Angel", and had the same Curtis Williams' piano intro as "Earth Angel. The background harmony of repeated you-oo, you-oo, you-oo had been heard before in the Dominos' "These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You"
After their initial success the group asked Buck Ram to be their manager. Ram's main concern was The Platters, but he was able to make a two for one deal with Mercury Records, who agreed to take on The Platters so they could get The Penguins. As fate would have it, The Platters became the more successful act. The Penguins never had another hit.
In 1955 Bruce left the group and was replaced by Randy Jones (who would later sing with The Cadets). For awhile in 1956 Jones and Tisby were gone from the group. and were replaced by Ray Brewster, and Teddy Harper. Jones and Tisby returned then Williams left and Harper replaced him for good.
The group broke up in 1962, But Cleveland Duncan continued to record as The Penguins with Walter Saulsberry, and a group called The Viceoys as their backup. The group changed personell many times until Duncan was performing at times as The Fabulous Penguins.
The group performed on the PBS television special Doo-Wop 50 show. The Penguins were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall Of Fame in 2004.
THE WRENS
The Wrens were formed in 1950 by two friends from the Morrisania section of the Bronx. The friends were, Waldo (Champ Rollow) Champen, and Francis (Frenchie) Consepcion. The first group included Archangel (Archie) Oropeza, and Raoul McLeod. They sang together for awhile before drifting apart.
Determined to put a group together Concepcion, recruited two more singers, George Magnezid, James (Archie) Archer. They sang as a trio in the community center at PS 99, before adding a 4th member, Bobby Mansfield. Mansfield and Concepcion were the leads, Mansfield on uptempo songs and Concepcion on ballards. They admired the great groups of the day, The Clovers, The Ravens, and The Orioles. They practiced songs like "Red Sails In The Sunset", and "White Cliffs Of Dover" The group started appearing at community centers and amateur shows in the Bronx, Manhattan, and parts of New Jersey.
In 1954 the group heard about a talent contest being held by Freddy Johnson, an arranger/pianist. The group entered and won the contest, and Johnson became their manager.
After being urged by Johnson, Rama Records owner George Goldner (there's that name again) stopped by one of the group's rehearsals and liked what he heard. Goldner promised the group that if they signed with him, he would record them immediately. The group had a tentative agreement in place with another label, when Goldner made his offer. The group could not turn down Goldner's offer, so they signed with Rama Records. True to his word Goldner arranged a session for the group in late 1954. They recorded four songs at the session. The songs were "Love's Something That's Made For Two", Beggin' For Love", "Come Back My Love", and "Eleven Roses". The piano player was Freddy Johnson. For some reason Johnson parted with the group soon after the session, some think he was pushed out by Goldner. Goldner's policy was to have complete control of the groups on his labels. The first three songs were written by the group, but "Eleven Roses" was poem by Jack Wachs.
The Wren's first release was "Love's Something That's Made For Two"/"Beggin' For Love". Goldner said the record would be bigger than "Sh-boom". Rama Records didn't push the record very hard and the group only made a few promo appearances.
In early 1955, Rama released The Wren's second record, "Come Back My Love" backed by "Beggin' For Love", no-one knows why Rama used "Beggin' For Love" again. The group then recorded "Come Back My Love" again backed by "Eleven Roses". It was said that 1955 was a chaotic year for Rama Records and that a lot of strange things were happening.
Goldner may have liked The Wren's, but with gambling issues and his involvement with Morris Levy, Goldner was to busy to work with them.
The group released a number of songs, most written by Mansfield and Washington, but out of the blue, the name Vastola started showing up on the labels as a co-writer. This Vastola person was getting credit for songs he had nothing to do with. This name would appear on a number of songs recorded by Rama and Gee labels. As it turns out This person was Gaetano "Tommy" Vastola who was a business associate of Morris Levy (remember that name?).
The Wren's only had one big show and that was Alan Freed's Rock'n Roll Holiday Jubilee. The show ran for 10 days in the winter of 1955/56. The show was the last chance for the group to make it big, it didn't happen. The group drifted apart after the show. After the show Rama released a song that had been recorded earlier called "C'est La Vie". This was a great song but it didn't move, and this would the last time The Wrens' name would appear on a record.
The members of the group went their own way, some sang with other groups, and some tried solo carrers, but no-one had any great success.
The treatment of The Wrens and George Goldner was repeated many times with other groups. There were some very good groups that recorded for Goldner's labels, that never made it in the business. Some were neglected, but most were exploited by Goldner and his partners.
THE RAVENS
The Ravens have stood the test of time as one of the pioneering R&B groups. The Ravens were the first group to use a bass and falsetto tenor to lead , rather than just be in the background. The Ravens also were the first group to add dance steps to their act. Before The Clovers and The Orioles, The Ravens would use bits of jazz, blues, and gospel, to create a sound that appealed to more than just White audiences. This seems to time when the term RACE music got started.
The Ravens were formed by Jimmy Ricks, and Warren "Birdland" Suttles, two waiters from Harlem. The two went to the Evans booking Agency to recruit two more singers, Ollie Jones, and Leonard Puzey, and formed the group in 1945. They named themselves The Ravens and started a craze to name groups after birds. The group hooked up with Howard Biggs, who became their musicical arranager and wrote many of their songs.
The Ravens first appeared at The Club Baron in Harlem in 1946. That same year the group signed with Hub Records and their first single was a song called "Honey". They released two more singles, the best of the two was a jump tune called "My Sugar Is So Refined". They opened with this song when they appeared on a show with Nat King Cole at The Apollo. Puzey started the song singing lead, but when they switched leads and Ricks took over with his booming bass, he brought down the house. Ollie Jones soon left the group and was replaced by a falsetto tenor Maithe Marshall.
The group signed with National Records in 1947 and released a series of songs with Ricks on jump tunes and Marshall with his clear falsetto singing the ballards. Marshall called himself the "B' side singer. In later years fans of the Ravens would fight to get copies of Ravens records just for the "B" side.
In 1947 "Write Me A Letter" on National Records, became the first R&B record to reach #24 on the national charts, but didn't hit the R&B charts until january 1948. The Ravens were the first group to hit the pop charts before they hit the R&B charts. The groups second release for National established the group and it's sound internationally, the song was a rhythmic version of "Old Man River". It was said to have sold over two million copies.
Between 1947 and 1949 the group released a string of ballards and jump tunes for National Records. "Bye, Bye, Baby Blues" reached #13 on the Juke Box chart.
Even though The Orioles were a new group, in 1948, The Ravens covered their first release, "It's Too Soon To Know". The Orioles version reached #1, while The Ravens version only reached #11.
The group started touring on the legendary chitlin circuit, a series of venues on the East Coast and Midwest where thousand of R&B acts performed.
In 1948 National released the groups version of "White Christmas", it went to #9 on the juke box chart. It's been said that this inspired The Drifters version of 1954, almost a note for note copy. The group also had a thrilling ballard version of "Silent Night". In 1949 "Ricky's Blues" went to #8 on juke box. The group's last single with National Records, was "Lilacs In The Rain" with Marshall on lead.
The Ravens signed with Columbia Records in 1950, releasing a number of great songs like the Ricks led "Time Takes Care Of Everything" and the Marshall led "I'm So Crazy For Love". The group recorded just a few singles for Columbia's Okeh affilliate before moving to Mercury late in 1951. With the exception of Ricks, this was an all new Ravens. Jimmy Steward replaced Puzey, Louis Frazier, replaced Heyward, and a falsetto named Joe Van Loan replaced Marshall.
The Ravens were considered one of the top drawer acts of the day, and at times recieved as much as $2,000.00 per show, which was a lot of money for the time.
Mercury issued some softer songs for the group, but they didn't hit the charts for two and a half years and the song was "Rock Me All Night Long". Their best sides for Mercury were "Who'll Be The Fool", and "September Song". Some think that the best ballard ever recorded by the group was the Joe Van Loan led "Don't Mention My Name" released in 1952. Even though three-fourths of the group was new, their sound was almost as good as the original group of the National Record days.
The group signed with Jubilee Records, but in the spring of 1956, Ricks decided to go solo. Van Loan did not want to quit just yet, so he recruited his brothers Paul and James, and David Bowers as the new Ravens. The group was able to maintain the true sound of The Ravens when they signed with Argo Records in 1956. With Van Loan on lead The Ravens had two moderate hits with "Kneel And Pray", and "A Simple Prayer". Van Loan was touching the sky with his glass breaking falsetto tenor. The groups last great hit was a cover of The Scarlets "Dear One" in the summer of 1957.
The groups manager, Nat Margo bought the Ravens name from Ricks, and from that point on a varity groups using the Ravens' name showed up on the circuit in the 60's and 70's.
While it's true Jimmy Ricks created one of the greatest doo-wop groups of all times, he neverd charted as a solo. He signed with a lot of labels overed the years, but finally moved to Florida to work with Count Basie. Ricks stayed active on the club circuit until he passed in 1974.
THE ORIOLES
The Orioles were formed by Earlington Carl Tilghman, (soon to be Sonny Til), in 1947. The original group included Til, Alexander Sharp, George Nelson, and Tommy Gaither. A wanna be song writer named Deborah Chessler discovered the group over the telephone and became their manager(see previous blog Deborah Chessler). In 1948 the group appeared as The Vibra-Naires, on the Arthur Godfrey radio talent show. Richard Williams was the bass for the show, but was replaced by Johnny Reed soon after. The group won a recording deal with a subsidiary of Jubilee Records. Jubilee owner, Jerry Blaine, changed the groups name to The Orioles. In July of 1948 Chessler wrote "It's To Soon To Know" on some toilet paper in a restroom. This was the group's first release. Til was on lead, and the song sold 30,000 copies which put the song at #1 on the R&B chart. Not only did The Ravens cover the song, but so did Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington. It was the biggest race song to cross over to mainstream markets at the time.
The Orioles started touring all over and were moved off of the subsidiary label up to Jubilee. In 1949 they scored another hit with "Tell Me So", and again they were at #1 on the R&B charts but the song didn't cross over. The group had other hits that included "Forgive And Forget", and "Lonely Christmas". Unlike audiences at a Mills Brothers shows, where audience just sat there, The Orioles kept the audience excited, with girls screaming and trying to get to the stage and at Sonny Til. From 1948 to 1954 the group recorded over 120 sides for the National and Jubilee labels. By the late 1950 they were major stars, even though their hits had stop coming.
In 1950 a tragic car accident killed Gaither, and severly injured Nelson and Reed. Til and Sharp were in another car and didn't know about the accident until later. Til and Sharp performed as a duo for a short time, but soon added two new members, guitarist/second tenor, Ralph Williams, and pianist, Charlie Harris. Nelson and Reed both returned to the group. A year later the group had another accident, but this time no-one was hurt. In 1952 the group had a hit with "Baby Please Don't Go" which was an early 45 on red vinyl.
In 1953 Nelson left the group and was replaced by John Gregory Carroll, from the Four Buddies. Also in 1953 they recorded what was a country song by Darrell Glen. The song was "Crying In The Chapel", this song became the group's biggest hit, staying at #1 on the R&B charts for five weeks and reached #11 on the pop charts. This would be the group's last big hit. They had a minor hit later with "In The Mission Of St. Augustine". Williams left the group shortly in 1953, and in 1954 Chessler quit. In 1955 Reed left to join The Ink Spots. He was replaced by Maurice Hicks. The group disbanded in late 1955 or early 1956.
Left without a group Til took a group called The Regals and started The New Orioles. This new group included, Tex Cornelius, Diz Russell, Jerry Holeman, Billy Adams, and pianist Paul Griffin. With the new group Til found a new sound, and some of the old songs were re-recorded to fit the new sound. The group left Jubilee and moved to Vee-Jay Records. This group stayed together until 1957 when Cornelius left the group. Cornelius was replaced by Frank Todd, who lasted a short time and was replaced by Jimmy Brown. After Til's car was repossessed (the group's transportation), in 1959 Holeman and Russell left the group. This was the end of the second Orioles.
Til went solo for awhile, but then formed a third Orioles. This group included, Delton McCall, Billy Taylor, and Gerald Gregory from the Spaniels. This group lasted for awhile and recorded for Charlie Parker Records. Gregory left after a couple of years,and was replaced by Lawrence Joyner, this group split in 1960.
In 1966 Til met Bobby Thomas, a long time Oriole fan who had a group of his own. The group was call The Vibrannaires, (which was the Orioles original name). This group included Thomas, Clarence Young, Harry Accoo, and Mike Robinson. Thomas, Young, and Robinson joined Til as the fourth Orioles. This group recorded until 1975.
After the break-up of the fourth group, Til joined a version of The Ink Spots. With this group Til was able to be an Ink Spot one night and an Oriole the next. This group toured as both groups. Til formed another Orioles in 1977, with former members, Diz Russell, Jerry Holeman, and Billy Taylor. This group somtimes featured Eddie Palmer. The group was together until Til passed in 1981.
The group continued with Russell, Reese Palmer, Skip Mahoney, Larry Jordan and music director Eddie Jones. Jones and Mahoney were replaced by George Spann and Royal Height. Bobby Thomas later started his own Orioles.
There is still an Orioles group touring today, and they still sound great!!
THE FLAMINGOS
The Flamingos were founded in Chicago by cousins Jake and Zeke Carey. They recruited another set of cousins Paul Wilson and Johnny Carter that had met at a Black Messianic Jewish synagogue. Earl Lewis, (not from the Channels), soon joined the group. The group had many names before they settled on The Flamingos. Sollie McElroy replaced Lewis, who joined The Five Echoes. The group signed with Chance Records and their first single was "If I Can't Have You", was a moderate hit in Chicago. Their second single didn't fair much better. The group's reputation was established with a Johnny Carter written song, "Golden Teardrops". The song had Carters shrill falsetto backed up with some very complex harmonies. The group left Chance Records in late 1953 and signed with DJ Al Benson's Parrot Records. McElroy was there for the first recording session, but soon left the group and was replaced by Nate Nelson. Nelson lead on "I'm Yours", which was released in January 1955. Later that year the group moved to Chess Record's Checker label. Checker Records gave the group the materials they needed to score their first national hit, "I'll Be Home", which went to #5 on Billboard, and was covered by Pat Boone with incorrect lyrics. The group had some moderate hits with songs like, "A Kiss From Your Lips", "The Vow", and "Would I Be Crying", these songs still hold up as some of the greatest R&B records of all time. In 1956 The Flamingos appeared in Alan Freed's movie Rock, Rock, Rock.
Zeke Carey and Johnny Carter were both drafted that same year. Nelson, Jake Carey and Paul Williams, continued on with new member Tommy Hunt, and Terry Johnson who joined the group in 1956.
The group began recording for Decca Records in 1957. The group now included Nate Nelson, Tommy Hunt, Terry Johnson, Paul Wilson, and Jake Carey. The group recorded "The Ladder Of Love", but a dispute between Checker and Nelson ruined any chance of the song having any success. Zeke Carey returned to the group in 1958, making the group a sextet. When Johnny Carter was discharged, he joined The Dells, and stayed with them until he passed.
The Flamingos moved again to End Records and began recording for George Goldner (there's that name again), in New York. Goldner provided them with a more sophisticated sound. They weren't at End very long before they had a hit on the pop charts, "Lovers Never Say Goodbye", written by Terry Johnson, who shared lead on the song with Paul Wilson. This proved to be a winning formula and 3 of the next 12 songs were lead by Johnson and Wilson, on their first album "Flamingo Serenade". The group had a big hit with an old standard "I Only Have Eyes For You" in 1959. The song was recorded in 1934 by Dick Powell. The song has been featured in many movies and TV shows. The group then had a string of hits, which included, "Mio Amore", a Doc Pomus song, "Your Other Love", "Nobody Loves You Like Me" written by Sam Cooke, and "I Was A Fool". That same year the group appeared in Alan Freed's movie Go Johnny Go, songing "Jump Children". The group was known as much for their dancing as they were for their harmonnies. The Temptations and Tavares credit the group as influences.
The group started to fall apart in 1960. Tommy Hunt left for a solo career, Nelson and Johnson left and started The Modern Flamingos in 1961, and recorded as The Starglows for Atco records, in 1963. After some changes, some of the old names re-appeared. Zeke and Jake Carey, and Paul Wilson joined the new group, along with Billy Clarke, Eddie Williams, Alan Fontaine, and Julien Vaught. Clarke and Williams were the leads. A 6th vocalist, Doug McClure, was added in 1962. Clarke and Williams soon left the group. Wilson left in 1964, and Sidney Hall joined the group in 1966. Jake Carey's son J.C, joined the group in 1969. The group recorded several uptempo songs in the 60's, and got their first #1 on the UK charts, with "Ain't But Nothing A Party" during this time. Also at this time The Flamingos started their own label, Ronze, and starting producing their own recordings.
The group continued recording into the 70's and changed members many times over the years. The group appeared on the PBS Doo-wop 50 shows and flew in Tommy Hunt to work with them. Johnny Carter took time off from The Dells for the shows too. In 2005 the group split over a money dispute. There have been, and still are a number of Flamingos groups touring. Members of the group sued Pepsi Cola for using "I Only Have Eyes For You" without permission, the group was awarded $250,00.00.
The Flamingos were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall Of Fame in 2000, The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2001, and the Doo-Wop Hall Of fame in 2004. "I Only Have Eyes For You" was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame.
The Flamingos are considered one of the best Doo-Wop groups of all times!!
THE SWALLOWS
The Swallows were formed in Baltimore in 1946, but were first called The Oakateers. The group included Lawrence Coxson, Irving Turner, Earl Hurley and Norris Mack. The group practised on street corners until 1948, when they joined with Eddie Rich, and Frederick Johnson. Herman Denby was hired later. Turner left the group and became their valet.
The Swallows recorded "Will You Be Mine" in 1951, and the song is considered one of the first Doo-Wop hits. The song went to #9 on Billboard's R&B charts. In 1952 the group released "Beside You", which was the group's second national hit. The 78 year old Eddie Rich and The Swallows are still performing at clubs and cabarets all over the country.
THE PENGUINS
The Penguins were formed in 1953 by Cleveland Duncan and Curtis Williams, who were ex-members of a group called The Hollywood Flames. The two added Dexter Tisby, and Bruce Tate. At first their style was a cross between R&B and rock and roll.
The group took their name from Kool ciarettes, who used Willie the Penguin for advertising. Since the group was cool they decided to call themselves The Penguins.
When Williams joined the group, he brought with a song called "Earth Angel", that he had worked on while with The Hollywood Flames.
The group signed with Dootone Records, and recorded a single in 1954 with "Hey Senorita" as the intended "A" side, but somehow the DJ played the wrong side and played "Earth Angel" instead. "Earth Angel" went to #1 on the billboard charts and stayed there for 3 weeks in early 1955, Duncan sang lead on the song.
As was the custom of the time, if a song looked to be promising a white group would record and release a version of the same song at the same time. This happened with "Earth Angel", the white group in this case was The Crew-Cuts. Their cover of the song went to #3 on the Hot 100 chart five spot above The Pinguins' version. The success of this song launched the career of The Crew-Cuts as cover artist. More than a few singers made their careers as cover artist. Two of the more famous are Johnny Rivers, who stole from Chuck Berry and James Taylor, who robbed MOTOWN.
There was some dispute over who wrote "Earth Angel", so the credit was split between Curtis Williams, Gaynel Hodge, and Jesse Belvin. The song was influenced by Jesse and Marvin's #2 hit "Dream Girl", which contained many of the same vocal changes. The will you be mine phrase in the song came from The Swallows' song of the same name, "Will You Be Mine. The Hollywood Flames had recorded a song in 1953 called "I Know" which is a cord for cord layout of "Earth Angel", and had the same Curtis Williams' piano intro as "Earth Angel. The background harmony of repeated you-oo, you-oo, you-oo had been heard before in the Dominos' "These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You"
After their initial success the group asked Buck Ram to be their manager. Ram's main concern was The Platters, but he was able to make a two for one deal with Mercury Records, who agreed to take on The Platters so they could get The Penguins. As fate would have it, The Platters became the more successful act. The Penguins never had another hit.
In 1955 Bruce left the group and was replaced by Randy Jones (who would later sing with The Cadets). For awhile in 1956 Jones and Tisby were gone from the group. and were replaced by Ray Brewster, and Teddy Harper. Jones and Tisby returned then Williams left and Harper replaced him for good.
The group broke up in 1962, But Cleveland Duncan continued to record as The Penguins with Walter Saulsberry, and a group called The Viceoys as their backup. The group changed personell many times until Duncan was performing at times as The Fabulous Penguins.
The group performed on the PBS television special Doo-Wop 50 show. The Penguins were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall Of Fame in 2004.
THE WRENS
The Wrens were formed in 1950 by two friends from the Morrisania section of the Bronx. The friends were, Waldo (Champ Rollow) Champen, and Francis (Frenchie) Consepcion. The first group included Archangel (Archie) Oropeza, and Raoul McLeod. They sang together for awhile before drifting apart.
Determined to put a group together Concepcion, recruited two more singers, George Magnezid, James (Archie) Archer. They sang as a trio in the community center at PS 99, before adding a 4th member, Bobby Mansfield. Mansfield and Concepcion were the leads, Mansfield on uptempo songs and Concepcion on ballards. They admired the great groups of the day, The Clovers, The Ravens, and The Orioles. They practiced songs like "Red Sails In The Sunset", and "White Cliffs Of Dover" The group started appearing at community centers and amateur shows in the Bronx, Manhattan, and parts of New Jersey.
In 1954 the group heard about a talent contest being held by Freddy Johnson, an arranger/pianist. The group entered and won the contest, and Johnson became their manager.
After being urged by Johnson, Rama Records owner George Goldner (there's that name again) stopped by one of the group's rehearsals and liked what he heard. Goldner promised the group that if they signed with him, he would record them immediately. The group had a tentative agreement in place with another label, when Goldner made his offer. The group could not turn down Goldner's offer, so they signed with Rama Records. True to his word Goldner arranged a session for the group in late 1954. They recorded four songs at the session. The songs were "Love's Something That's Made For Two", Beggin' For Love", "Come Back My Love", and "Eleven Roses". The piano player was Freddy Johnson. For some reason Johnson parted with the group soon after the session, some think he was pushed out by Goldner. Goldner's policy was to have complete control of the groups on his labels. The first three songs were written by the group, but "Eleven Roses" was poem by Jack Wachs.
The Wren's first release was "Love's Something That's Made For Two"/"Beggin' For Love". Goldner said the record would be bigger than "Sh-boom". Rama Records didn't push the record very hard and the group only made a few promo appearances.
In early 1955, Rama released The Wren's second record, "Come Back My Love" backed by "Beggin' For Love", no-one knows why Rama used "Beggin' For Love" again. The group then recorded "Come Back My Love" again backed by "Eleven Roses". It was said that 1955 was a chaotic year for Rama Records and that a lot of strange things were happening.
Goldner may have liked The Wren's, but with gambling issues and his involvement with Morris Levy, Goldner was to busy to work with them.
The group released a number of songs, most written by Mansfield and Washington, but out of the blue, the name Vastola started showing up on the labels as a co-writer. This Vastola person was getting credit for songs he had nothing to do with. This name would appear on a number of songs recorded by Rama and Gee labels. As it turns out This person was Gaetano "Tommy" Vastola who was a business associate of Morris Levy (remember that name?).
The Wren's only had one big show and that was Alan Freed's Rock'n Roll Holiday Jubilee. The show ran for 10 days in the winter of 1955/56. The show was the last chance for the group to make it big, it didn't happen. The group drifted apart after the show. After the show Rama released a song that had been recorded earlier called "C'est La Vie". This was a great song but it didn't move, and this would the last time The Wrens' name would appear on a record.
The members of the group went their own way, some sang with other groups, and some tried solo carrers, but no-one had any great success.
The treatment of The Wrens and George Goldner was repeated many times with other groups. There were some very good groups that recorded for Goldner's labels, that never made it in the business. Some were neglected, but most were exploited by Goldner and his partners.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Robert & Johnny, The Falcons, The Clovers, and The Five Satins
While I'm sure there was a lot of good information in my last blog, I'm equally sure that it was kind of boring. In my defense, I set you up. There are three names you need to take from the blog, and they are, Carole King, George Goldner, and Morris Levy. Their names will come up again and again as I talk about the artist of the doo-wop era.
Next up Robert & Johnny, The Falcons, The Clovers , and The Five Satins.
ROBERT AND JOHNNY
Robert Carr and Johnny Mitchell grew up in the same neighborhood and attended the same high school in the Bronx, a center of doo-wop activity.
The duo's style was to pause on a note when changing lead or when the two came together in the choruses. The duo made a number of recordings, but were really one hit wonders.
Robert & Johnny started recording for Old Town Records in 1956. "I Believe In You" was one of their first recordings. This estabished the duo in New York. "We Belong Together" put the duo on the list of all time great songs. The song went to #12 on the R&B charts and #32 on the pop charts in 1958. The duo however ended their recording career in late 1962 or early 1963.
Marv Goldberg's R&B notebooks list a number of recordings and shows that featured Robert & Johnny.
According to Goldberg the duo started in a group called The Royal Tones, which included Leo Macedon, Henry Wilkerson, and Eugene Tomkins. The group tried to get signed with Atlantic Records with a song called "Where will We Spend Eternity", which was written by Robert. Jerry Wexler liked the group and told them to get their parents consent so they could record for the label. The group broke up when Macedon's mother refused to sign. Robert then teamed up with guitar playing Johnny Mitchell. The two showed up at Hy Weiss' midnight auditions at the Tri-Boro Theater. Weiss was the owner of Old Town Records and was impressed with the two and hired them in early 1956. "I Believe In You" and "Train To Paradise" were released in April 1956, both sides got good reviews. Because of Old Town's bad distribution system the record never got out New York. Later in 1956 the duo recorded three more songs, "You're Mine", Million Dollars Bills", and "Your Kisses". At the same time Morris Levy (remember that name?) and his partners, purchased 50% of Old Town's Maureen Music publishing company and "You're Mine" and "Million Dollar Bills" were the first releases of the new set-up. Somehow Levy convinced Weiss to turn over local distribution of Old Town and Paradise labels to Tico Distributing. Tico was owned by George Goldner, who would become one of Levy's many many partners and victims. Levy also managed Alan Freed which made it easy for Levy to get songs from his labels played more often.
In November of 1956 the duo made their first of many trips to the famed Appollo as part of something called the Dr. Jive Show. They were at The Apollo again in February of 1957. In 1957 Robert and Johnny recorded "Don't Do It", "Broken Hearted Man", "Indian Marriage", "In The Rain" and "We Belong Together". January of 1958 found the duo at The Apollo again as part of another Dr. Jive Show. By February 1958 "We Belong Together" was a hit, and on March 25 of that same year they sang it on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, as well on his Saturday night show on the 29th. The song then became a hit in Los Angeles and made the national R&B charts at #12.
1958 and 1959 found the duo at The Apollo quite often.
In March 1959, the duo recorded "Dream Girl", "Oh My Love", "Bad Dan", and "Wear This Ring".
In April 1960 the duo were part of another Dr Jive show at The Apollo. In 1961 the duo joined an Oldies Show at The Apollo. They had become one New York's favorite acts.
Robert and Johnny finally left Old Town Records and like many of the artist that came in contact with Goerge Goldner and Morris Levy they wound up with little to show for their efforts.
The duo recorded many songs over the years, but are still considered ONE HIT WONDERS.
THE FALCONS
The Falcons formed in Detroit, in 1955, and were signed to Mercury Records. The first group Of Falcons included, Eddie Floyd, Bob Manardo, Arnett Robinson, Tom Shetler, and Willie Schofield. Their first hit was "You're So Fine" in 1959, on Lupine Records. Like most of the groups of the time there were many personnel changes over the years. Some of the people to pass through the group were, Joe Stubbs,(brother Of Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops), Wilson Pickett, Mack Rice, Lance Finnie and Robert Ward. Joe Stubbs would later become a member of The Contours and a member of The Originals, after that. Mack Rice was the first to sing "Mustang Sally" which would later become a hit for Wilson Pickett, after he left the group. Wilson Pickett was on lead when the group had a hit with "I Found A Love" on the Lupine label in 1962.
After Pickett left, the group broke up, but the name was carried on by a group called The Fabulous Playboys, who became The Falcons. That group included Carlis "Sonny" Monroe, James Gibson, Johnny Alvin, and Alton Hollowell. This group made the R&B charts in 1966 with "Standing On Guard".
From time to time various groups toured as The Falcons on the Doo-wop circuit.
THE FIVE SATINS
The Five Satins formed in 1954 in New Haven, Connecticut. The group included Fred Parris, Lou Peebles, Stanly Dortch, Ed Martin, and Jim Freeman. The group had little success, so Peebles and Dortch soon left the group, and Al Denby then joined the group.
The group recorded "In The Still Of The Night" as a b-side of a record called "The Jones Girls". "In The Still Of The Night" scored big, and charted at #3 on the R&B charts and #25 on the pop charts.
Parris went into the Army, and the group reorganized with Martin Freeman, Tommy Killebrew, Jessie Murphy, and new lead Bill Baker. This lineup had a hit with "To The Aisle" by Billy Dawn Smith.
When Parris returned from the Army the group reorganized again, this group consisted of Parris, Peebles, Sylvester Hopkins, Richie Freeman and Wes Forbes. This group was called Fred Parris and The Scarlets, until the Bill Baker lead group split-up. At this point Parris went back to being The Satins.
With more personell changes the group continued to record into the 80's, with no major hits. The Five Satins were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall Of Fame in 2003. The group still performs in the Northeast and record new material.
THE CLOVERS
The Clovers formed in 1946 at Armstrong High School in Washington, D.C. The group included Harold Lucas, Billy Shelton, and Thomas Woods. John "Buddy" Bailey was added later. They were called The Four Clovers, with Bailey on lead. In an effort to perfect their sound, Shelton and Woods were pushed out of the group in 1948, and Matthew McQuarter and Harold Winley replaced them.
The group's break came in 1950 when Lou Krefetz became their manager. They signed with Rainbow Records in New York and released "Yes Sir, That's My Baby"/"when You Come Back To Me". Krefetz took the group to Atlantic Records and introduced them to Ahmet Ertegun, and the group signed with Atlantic in 1951. Guitarist Bill Harris was added to group about this time. The group made their first appearance at The Apollo in February of that year.
The Clovers first recording session with Atlantic produced three hits, "Don't You Know I Love You" went to #1 on the national charts, in 1951, "One Mint Julep" and "Fool, Fool, Fool, went to #1 in September of the same year.
Bailey went into the Army in 1952 and was replaced by John Phillip. Phillip was there for just a few months and was replaced by Charlie White, who had been with The Dominoes and The Checkers. White was fired in 1953 and was replaced by Billy Mitchell. The group was having little success with Atlantic at this time. Bailey came back from the Army in 1954, and rejoined the group making them a quintet. The group had a moderate success with "Devil or Angel" in 1955.
Mitchell left the group for a short time to chase a solo career, returning after deciding that he could do solo work and work with The Clovers.
Their contract with Atlantic expired, so Krefetz moved the group to his own label, Popular Records. Popular was sold to United Artist Records which put the group in touch with Leiber and Stoller. After a few recordings, the group had their biggest hit with "Love Potion #9" in July 1959, with Mitchell on lead. There are two versions of "Love Potion #9", the second version refered to love potion #10 and was played more often than the original.
After their United Artist contract expired in 1961 the group moved to Winley Records. The group had little success at Winley, and soon split. Lucas and Mitchell found two new members, James Walton and Robert Russell and recorded for Atlantic again. Bailey formed his own Clovers and recorded for Winley Records in 1962. Also in 1962 Mitchell left the group and was replaced by Roosevelt 'Tippie" Hubbard. The group recorded as Tippie and the Clovermen and Tippie and the Clovers for Tiger Records, a subsidiary of Rust Records. By the end of 1963 the group was a trio, consisting of Lucas, Bailey and Winley.
After The Searchers coverd "Love Potion #9, in 1965, some of the groups old tracks were leased to Pickwick International Records, who released an album called "The Original Love Potion #9 By The Clovers"
Lucas and Russell asked Hubbard and Walton to return, then added a 5th member Al Fox. They recorded as Tippie and The Wisemen for D.C's Shrine Records. When Fox left, the group went back to being The Clovers. Bailey fromed his owned version of The Clovers and re-recorded "Devil or Angel" and "Love Potion #9", for Lana Records in 1965. Harold Winley started a third Clovers group in 1968, which caused serious confusion, they recorded for Josie Records.
Russell passed in 1969 and was replaced by John Bowie. The group released a disco song called "Bump Jive" on D.C.'s Alladin Records in 1975. Soon after the release Walton passed and was replaced by Johnnie Mason. Tippie passed in 1980 and was replaced by Steve Charles.
At a reunion in 1988 in Austin, Texas. Lucas brought his Clovers and reunited with Bailey, McQuarter, and Winley. Lucas' group recorded for Ripete Records in Elliott, South Carolina.
Chuck Battle replaced Charles in 1990. Harold Lucas became ill and stop touring in 1993. The personell continues to change, but the group still tours and is popular on the doo-wop circuit.
The Clovers recieved the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, Pioneer Award in 1988, were inducted into The Doo-Wop Hall of Fame in 2001, inducted into The Vocal Group Hall Of Fame in 2002, and inducted into The United in Group Harmony Hall Of Fame in 2002
As stated before we will see the names Leiber and Stoller, George Goldner, Morris Levy and Carole King over and over again. They where major players in the doo-wop era, along with many others, we'll try to get to them all.
Please send your comments and request so I can keep the blog going.
Next up Robert & Johnny, The Falcons, The Clovers , and The Five Satins.
ROBERT AND JOHNNY
Robert Carr and Johnny Mitchell grew up in the same neighborhood and attended the same high school in the Bronx, a center of doo-wop activity.
The duo's style was to pause on a note when changing lead or when the two came together in the choruses. The duo made a number of recordings, but were really one hit wonders.
Robert & Johnny started recording for Old Town Records in 1956. "I Believe In You" was one of their first recordings. This estabished the duo in New York. "We Belong Together" put the duo on the list of all time great songs. The song went to #12 on the R&B charts and #32 on the pop charts in 1958. The duo however ended their recording career in late 1962 or early 1963.
Marv Goldberg's R&B notebooks list a number of recordings and shows that featured Robert & Johnny.
According to Goldberg the duo started in a group called The Royal Tones, which included Leo Macedon, Henry Wilkerson, and Eugene Tomkins. The group tried to get signed with Atlantic Records with a song called "Where will We Spend Eternity", which was written by Robert. Jerry Wexler liked the group and told them to get their parents consent so they could record for the label. The group broke up when Macedon's mother refused to sign. Robert then teamed up with guitar playing Johnny Mitchell. The two showed up at Hy Weiss' midnight auditions at the Tri-Boro Theater. Weiss was the owner of Old Town Records and was impressed with the two and hired them in early 1956. "I Believe In You" and "Train To Paradise" were released in April 1956, both sides got good reviews. Because of Old Town's bad distribution system the record never got out New York. Later in 1956 the duo recorded three more songs, "You're Mine", Million Dollars Bills", and "Your Kisses". At the same time Morris Levy (remember that name?) and his partners, purchased 50% of Old Town's Maureen Music publishing company and "You're Mine" and "Million Dollar Bills" were the first releases of the new set-up. Somehow Levy convinced Weiss to turn over local distribution of Old Town and Paradise labels to Tico Distributing. Tico was owned by George Goldner, who would become one of Levy's many many partners and victims. Levy also managed Alan Freed which made it easy for Levy to get songs from his labels played more often.
In November of 1956 the duo made their first of many trips to the famed Appollo as part of something called the Dr. Jive Show. They were at The Apollo again in February of 1957. In 1957 Robert and Johnny recorded "Don't Do It", "Broken Hearted Man", "Indian Marriage", "In The Rain" and "We Belong Together". January of 1958 found the duo at The Apollo again as part of another Dr. Jive Show. By February 1958 "We Belong Together" was a hit, and on March 25 of that same year they sang it on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, as well on his Saturday night show on the 29th. The song then became a hit in Los Angeles and made the national R&B charts at #12.
1958 and 1959 found the duo at The Apollo quite often.
In March 1959, the duo recorded "Dream Girl", "Oh My Love", "Bad Dan", and "Wear This Ring".
In April 1960 the duo were part of another Dr Jive show at The Apollo. In 1961 the duo joined an Oldies Show at The Apollo. They had become one New York's favorite acts.
Robert and Johnny finally left Old Town Records and like many of the artist that came in contact with Goerge Goldner and Morris Levy they wound up with little to show for their efforts.
The duo recorded many songs over the years, but are still considered ONE HIT WONDERS.
THE FALCONS
The Falcons formed in Detroit, in 1955, and were signed to Mercury Records. The first group Of Falcons included, Eddie Floyd, Bob Manardo, Arnett Robinson, Tom Shetler, and Willie Schofield. Their first hit was "You're So Fine" in 1959, on Lupine Records. Like most of the groups of the time there were many personnel changes over the years. Some of the people to pass through the group were, Joe Stubbs,(brother Of Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops), Wilson Pickett, Mack Rice, Lance Finnie and Robert Ward. Joe Stubbs would later become a member of The Contours and a member of The Originals, after that. Mack Rice was the first to sing "Mustang Sally" which would later become a hit for Wilson Pickett, after he left the group. Wilson Pickett was on lead when the group had a hit with "I Found A Love" on the Lupine label in 1962.
After Pickett left, the group broke up, but the name was carried on by a group called The Fabulous Playboys, who became The Falcons. That group included Carlis "Sonny" Monroe, James Gibson, Johnny Alvin, and Alton Hollowell. This group made the R&B charts in 1966 with "Standing On Guard".
From time to time various groups toured as The Falcons on the Doo-wop circuit.
THE FIVE SATINS
The Five Satins formed in 1954 in New Haven, Connecticut. The group included Fred Parris, Lou Peebles, Stanly Dortch, Ed Martin, and Jim Freeman. The group had little success, so Peebles and Dortch soon left the group, and Al Denby then joined the group.
The group recorded "In The Still Of The Night" as a b-side of a record called "The Jones Girls". "In The Still Of The Night" scored big, and charted at #3 on the R&B charts and #25 on the pop charts.
Parris went into the Army, and the group reorganized with Martin Freeman, Tommy Killebrew, Jessie Murphy, and new lead Bill Baker. This lineup had a hit with "To The Aisle" by Billy Dawn Smith.
When Parris returned from the Army the group reorganized again, this group consisted of Parris, Peebles, Sylvester Hopkins, Richie Freeman and Wes Forbes. This group was called Fred Parris and The Scarlets, until the Bill Baker lead group split-up. At this point Parris went back to being The Satins.
With more personell changes the group continued to record into the 80's, with no major hits. The Five Satins were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall Of Fame in 2003. The group still performs in the Northeast and record new material.
THE CLOVERS
The Clovers formed in 1946 at Armstrong High School in Washington, D.C. The group included Harold Lucas, Billy Shelton, and Thomas Woods. John "Buddy" Bailey was added later. They were called The Four Clovers, with Bailey on lead. In an effort to perfect their sound, Shelton and Woods were pushed out of the group in 1948, and Matthew McQuarter and Harold Winley replaced them.
The group's break came in 1950 when Lou Krefetz became their manager. They signed with Rainbow Records in New York and released "Yes Sir, That's My Baby"/"when You Come Back To Me". Krefetz took the group to Atlantic Records and introduced them to Ahmet Ertegun, and the group signed with Atlantic in 1951. Guitarist Bill Harris was added to group about this time. The group made their first appearance at The Apollo in February of that year.
The Clovers first recording session with Atlantic produced three hits, "Don't You Know I Love You" went to #1 on the national charts, in 1951, "One Mint Julep" and "Fool, Fool, Fool, went to #1 in September of the same year.
Bailey went into the Army in 1952 and was replaced by John Phillip. Phillip was there for just a few months and was replaced by Charlie White, who had been with The Dominoes and The Checkers. White was fired in 1953 and was replaced by Billy Mitchell. The group was having little success with Atlantic at this time. Bailey came back from the Army in 1954, and rejoined the group making them a quintet. The group had a moderate success with "Devil or Angel" in 1955.
Mitchell left the group for a short time to chase a solo career, returning after deciding that he could do solo work and work with The Clovers.
Their contract with Atlantic expired, so Krefetz moved the group to his own label, Popular Records. Popular was sold to United Artist Records which put the group in touch with Leiber and Stoller. After a few recordings, the group had their biggest hit with "Love Potion #9" in July 1959, with Mitchell on lead. There are two versions of "Love Potion #9", the second version refered to love potion #10 and was played more often than the original.
After their United Artist contract expired in 1961 the group moved to Winley Records. The group had little success at Winley, and soon split. Lucas and Mitchell found two new members, James Walton and Robert Russell and recorded for Atlantic again. Bailey formed his own Clovers and recorded for Winley Records in 1962. Also in 1962 Mitchell left the group and was replaced by Roosevelt 'Tippie" Hubbard. The group recorded as Tippie and the Clovermen and Tippie and the Clovers for Tiger Records, a subsidiary of Rust Records. By the end of 1963 the group was a trio, consisting of Lucas, Bailey and Winley.
After The Searchers coverd "Love Potion #9, in 1965, some of the groups old tracks were leased to Pickwick International Records, who released an album called "The Original Love Potion #9 By The Clovers"
Lucas and Russell asked Hubbard and Walton to return, then added a 5th member Al Fox. They recorded as Tippie and The Wisemen for D.C's Shrine Records. When Fox left, the group went back to being The Clovers. Bailey fromed his owned version of The Clovers and re-recorded "Devil or Angel" and "Love Potion #9", for Lana Records in 1965. Harold Winley started a third Clovers group in 1968, which caused serious confusion, they recorded for Josie Records.
Russell passed in 1969 and was replaced by John Bowie. The group released a disco song called "Bump Jive" on D.C.'s Alladin Records in 1975. Soon after the release Walton passed and was replaced by Johnnie Mason. Tippie passed in 1980 and was replaced by Steve Charles.
At a reunion in 1988 in Austin, Texas. Lucas brought his Clovers and reunited with Bailey, McQuarter, and Winley. Lucas' group recorded for Ripete Records in Elliott, South Carolina.
Chuck Battle replaced Charles in 1990. Harold Lucas became ill and stop touring in 1993. The personell continues to change, but the group still tours and is popular on the doo-wop circuit.
The Clovers recieved the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, Pioneer Award in 1988, were inducted into The Doo-Wop Hall of Fame in 2001, inducted into The Vocal Group Hall Of Fame in 2002, and inducted into The United in Group Harmony Hall Of Fame in 2002
As stated before we will see the names Leiber and Stoller, George Goldner, Morris Levy and Carole King over and over again. They where major players in the doo-wop era, along with many others, we'll try to get to them all.
Please send your comments and request so I can keep the blog going.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
LABEL OWNERS, SONG WRITERS, AND PRODUCERS
No matter how good a group was, they didn't make the charts if they couldn't find the right song, the right producer, or the right label! In most situations the groups needed a combination of all three elements.
While researching information for this blog, some surprises popped up. I knew that a large number of the groups that sang doo-wop were Black, and a smaller number were Italian, and a smaller number were Puerto Rician, but it's the other numbers that got me. It seems that while most of the groups were minorities, most of the management were non-minorities, mostly Jewish. It seems that the music buisness was a metaphor for what was happening across the country, racism and corruption was rampant through out the industry. Most of the people I'll write about in this blog, tried to be fair, but we'll also talk about some of the people who were deep into the corruption.
Let's start with DEBORAH CHESSLER.
According to Rolling Stone Magezine, Deborah Chessler was a young White girl working in a shoe store when her dream came true. In 1948, 18 year old Chessler, was a wanna be song writer. Chessler had one song, ("Tell Me So") that had been recorded, but it flopped bad. A friend ask Chessler to listen to a group over the telephone. The group was led by a young, Erlington Tilghman, soon to become Sonny Til, the group was called The Vibranaires. The sound she heard was the sound she was looking for. The rest is doo-wop history.
The writer of the Rolling Stone's article, tells how Chessler had to fight the established pattern of racism, sexism and corruption to make things happen. After a lot of hard work, Chessler got the group a contract with Jerry Blaine, owner of the Jubilee label. It was Blaine who changed the groups name to The Orioles. In true doo-wop tradition, Chessler wrote the groups smash hit, "To Soon To Know", on a roll of toilet paper in a rest room.
Most Black groups of the day, like The Mills Brothers and The Ink Spots, aimed their music at White audiences, but The Orioles did just the opposite. They went straight for the Black auduence, with the lyrical impressions of a young White woman, the group was a success. The song went to #1 on the "race" charts and #13 on the pop charts. "To Soon To Know" has been covered by many singers over the years.
In later years Chessler was there to discover eight year old Leslie Uggams.
FLORENCE GREENBERG
Here's a story of an unlikely housewife who turned the music world on it's head when she took an unknown girl group and made them stars. Florence Greenberg was a female pioneer in a male dominated world of Rhythm and Blues. Greenberg said of herself, that she was a triple anomaly: A "White woman" who is in a "Black Business", and "who couldn't carry tune". What she did have was a triple treat "an ear for popular music", "a sharp eye for talent", and "a driving ambition", which worked great for her and the rest of the music loving world. Greenberg is responsible for introducing The Shirelles to the world. Greenberg wrote "Soldier Boy" for the group, and recorded them on her Tiara label. Her labels also produced 60's hits like, "Louie Louie", by the The Kingsmen, "Twist And Shout" by The Isley Brothers, and "Walk On By", by Dionne Warwick. Greenberg also produced "Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head" sung by BJ Thomas and was on the soundtrack of the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and won an academy Award in 1969.
After the release of "I Met Him On A Sunday" Greenberg made the rounds of all the radio stations and pestered DJ's until she got the song played. The song was such a hit that the demand for the song was fantastic. So much so that her small Tiara label could not handle the orders, so Greenberg sold The Shirelles contract to Decca Records. Not realizing what they had, and thinking the group would be a one hit wonder, Decca returnd The Shirelles to Greenberg, who formed Sceptor Records. Over the next decade, Sceptor became an industry sensation.
Greenberg's eye for talent was never more evident, than when Burt Bacharach, played her a demo. Greenberg said she didn't like the song, but she loved the singer. The next day Bacharach, returned saying that he had signed a new young singer named Dionne Warwick. Partly because of The Shirelles, and Dionne Warwicks successs Gulf and Western offered $6 million for Greenberg"s Sceptor label in 1965, Greenberg declined. This turned out to be a bad choice, Greenberg's success had faded over the years and by 1977, Sceptor folded and Greenberg lost everything.
Bette Midler wanted to make a movie of Greenberg's life, but could not get the required rights from two of the surviving Shirelles, so plans for the movie are dormant.
LUTHER DIXON
Luther Dixon wrote many songs that were hits for many groups of the 50's and 60's, like The Shirelles. Dixon was hired by Florence Greenberg to work at her Sceptor label. Dixon was in charge of artist development, while Greenberg ran the company. The Shirelles had their first hit with Dixon's arrangement of CAROLE KING and GERRY GOFFIN'S song "Will You Love Me Tomorrow".
Dixon produced many more hits including "sixteen Candles", "I Don't Want To Cry", "Soul Serenade, "MaMa Said", and "Big Boss Man".
VIVIAN CARTER
Vivian Carter was one of a few Black record company executives of the doo-wop era. Carter won a talent contest conducted by Al Benson in 1948, for new DJs in Chicago. She worked WGES in Chicago and later at WJOB in Gary, Indiana. In 1944 Carter met and would latter marry Jimmy Bracken, who would also become her business partner.
In 1953 the couple started a record company, called Vee-Jay Records taking it's name from their initials. During the 50's and 60's Vee-Jay grew to become a major independent record label with acts including The Spaniels, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Gene Chandler, and Jerry Butler, The four Seasons and for a while The Beatles.
Because of Carter's relationship with the radio industry she was able to get her groups played and attract new talent.
Carter passed in 1989, but the groups that she recorded and managed will keep her memory alive.
BERT BERNS
Bert Berns was born in the Bronx to Russian Jewish parents. Berns contracted rheumatic fever as a child, and this would affect him for the rest of his life. He turned to music and found comfort in the music of his Black and Latino neighbors. Berns danced the mambo as a young man and made his way to Havana Cuba. After his return he began a seven-year run, from an obscure song writer to the owner of his own labels.
Berns first hit was "A Little Bit Of Soap", by The Jarmels in 1961. A year later he scored with "Twist And Shout", by The Isley Brothers. The song was written by Berns and Phil Medley. Berns wrote for many labels including Wand, United Artist, Capitol, Laurie,MGM, Big Top, Old Town,Roulette, and Atlantic Records.
In 1963 Berns replaced Leiber and Stoller as staff producer for Atlantic Records, where he produced Solomon Burke's "Cry To Me", and "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love", The Drifters' "Under The Boardwalk" and "Saturday Night At The Movies", Barbara Lewis' "Baby I'm Yours" and "Make Me Your Baby", Little Ester Phillips, Wilson Pickettt, and LaVern Baker. Berns was one of the few producers to travel to London, where he produced acts for British Decca.
Berns passed in 1967 and a golden era of rock, soul and doo-wop passed with him. One of his last songs was "Piece Of My Heart", that was recorded by Erma Franklin, the song was covered by many artist over the years.
Berns' BANG and Shout Records catalogue is owned by Sony Music, but the Berns family owns the publishing operations originally called WEB IV Music.
Berns' list of songs cover doo-wop to soul to R&B and the list is long. Berns was not as well known as other Brill Building writers, but Berns should be listed among the most significant and influential of his generation and on par with the likes of Leiber and Stoller, Holland-Dozier-Holland. Berns is also credited with bringing soul,rock, and Latin rhythms together.
CAROLE KING
Born Carol Klein in Brooklyn, New York. Later she added an "e" to her first name and changed her last name to King.
King started out playing piano and moved on to singing and formed a singing group, called The Co-Sines while still attending James Madison High School. It was while she was attending Queens College that she met Neil Sedaka. She was his inspiration for his song "Oh Carol", and in response King wrote "Oh Neil". King befriended Paul Simon and Gerry Goffin who would play an important part in her life for years to come.
King and Goffin soon started writing songs together. Working for Aldon Music at the Brill Building, where hit songs were turned out on a regular basis in the 60's. The first Goffin-King hit was "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", recorded by The Shirelles in 1961. Like a lot of King's songs "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" has been covered by to many singers to count, and is still being sung today.
King and Goffin married in 1960 and divorced in 1968, but their song writing relationship continued during the marriage and after.
Some of the songs out of King's book are: "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", By The Shirelles, "Some Kind Of Wonderful", and "Up On The Roof" by The Drifters, "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" and "Loco Motion", by Little Eva, "Hey Girl" by Freddie Scott, "One Fine Day", The Chiffons, "Oh No Not My Baby", by Maxine Brown, "Don't Foreget About Me" by Barbara Lewis and " You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin.
As the 60's moved on, King's music changed with the times. King had many more hits in the following years, but it's her early years that are important to doo-wop lovers.
King has been inducted into the Song Writers Hall Of Fame, King and Goffin have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. King has Recieved four Grammy Awards and is look at as one of the greatest song writers around.
GEORGE GOLDNER
Goldner was born in New York, and original made his living as a garment dealer. His love of Latin music led him to run dance halls in the early 40's In the late 40's Goldner started his first label, Tico Records. In and effort to promote his records, Goldner started paying DJ's at the radio stations to play his records. This practice came to be known as payola.
Goldner was a gambler,and was always in need of cash, this problem put him in contact with Morris Levy, another dance hall owner. Over time Goldner would sell parts of his labels to Levy for cash. Goldner and Levy formed Rama Records which would later record R&B music. The Crows" recording of "Gee" inspired the formation of another label, Gee Records, who's most successful act was Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers. Goldner helped establish a number of labels, including Gone Records, End Records, and the more famous, Roulette. Morris Levy would take advantage of Goldner's gambling problems and take control of these labels.
Goldner recorded some of the best doo-wop groups of the time, including, The Crows, The Wrens, The Valentines, The Cleftones, The Five Crowns, (who would become The Drifters), The Heartbeats, The Chantels, Little Anthony and The Imperials, The Starlighters, The Flamingos, The Dubs, The Channels and The Isley Brothers.
Goldner's last run at success was Red Bird Records and it's Blue Cats subsidiary, co-founded by Leiber and Stoller. As a partner of the company Goldner was in charge of promoting Red Bird releases, while Leiber and Stoller worked on production. Red Bird only lasted two years, Leiber and Stoller wanted out of the music business and Goldner started having gambling problems again. Leiber and Stoller sold their part of Red Bird to Goldner for $1.00. The Red Bird catalogue (except for releases by The Shangri-Las, whos contract was sold to Mercury Records) was sold to Morris Levy's Roulette Records. Goldner passed in 1970.
Goldner had his problems, but he also had a big impact on the music scene and started more than few groups on their way.
MORRIS LEVY
Born Moishe Levy in the Bronx, New York, but was known as Morrie Levy to the insiders of the music business.
After leaving the Navy, Levy became the owner of a string night clubs. His most famous club was The Birdland, which Levy is said to have taken over from Joseph "Joe the Wop" Catalano in 1949.
By accident Levy found out the value of publishing rights of a piece of music. Each time a song he owned was performed or played he was entitled to royalties. Levy learned this when an ASCAP representative told Levy at Birdland he must pay publishing companies for performing live music. Levy's lawyer confirmed that fact and soon Levy formed his first publishing company, Patricia Music.
Levy was one of the bad ones. He founded Roulette Records in 1956 where he started what would become his most profitable side of his business. Levy began claiming writers rights on songs he had nothing to do with. The first and most famous is, he claimed writers rights on "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". It is believed that Frankie Lymon and Herman Santiago wrote the song. Levy repeated this pratice through out the years. Levy collected revenues from all sides of the business. He claimed writers rights, he claimed publishing rights and he claimed distribution rights, and he claimed the profits form the sale of his records. There are stories that Levy even bootlegged his own records. Levy became one of the wealthiest executives in the record business.
Levy had a long running law suit with John Lennon over a phrase Lennon used from a Chuck Berry song.
After a time Levy sold Roulette for an estimated $55 million. There was an investigation started in the 50's about Levy's business practices, but it wasn't until 1986 that the law caught up with him. Levy was convicted of extortion, but died in Ghent, New York before serving any time.
Some of Levy's business practices were adopted and perfected by Berry Gordy at MOTOWN.
Next we'll look at Robert and Johnny, The Falcons, The Clovers, The Five Satins, and The Harptones. I onow Robert and Johnny are not really doo-wopers, but Victoria requested them so they're up next.
Please continue to leave comments and make request for your favorite group. In a few weeks we'll look two of the best writers and producers of the doo-wop era, Leiber and Stoller, and we'll take another look a Smokey's songs and productions from the beginning.
While researching information for this blog, some surprises popped up. I knew that a large number of the groups that sang doo-wop were Black, and a smaller number were Italian, and a smaller number were Puerto Rician, but it's the other numbers that got me. It seems that while most of the groups were minorities, most of the management were non-minorities, mostly Jewish. It seems that the music buisness was a metaphor for what was happening across the country, racism and corruption was rampant through out the industry. Most of the people I'll write about in this blog, tried to be fair, but we'll also talk about some of the people who were deep into the corruption.
Let's start with DEBORAH CHESSLER.
According to Rolling Stone Magezine, Deborah Chessler was a young White girl working in a shoe store when her dream came true. In 1948, 18 year old Chessler, was a wanna be song writer. Chessler had one song, ("Tell Me So") that had been recorded, but it flopped bad. A friend ask Chessler to listen to a group over the telephone. The group was led by a young, Erlington Tilghman, soon to become Sonny Til, the group was called The Vibranaires. The sound she heard was the sound she was looking for. The rest is doo-wop history.
The writer of the Rolling Stone's article, tells how Chessler had to fight the established pattern of racism, sexism and corruption to make things happen. After a lot of hard work, Chessler got the group a contract with Jerry Blaine, owner of the Jubilee label. It was Blaine who changed the groups name to The Orioles. In true doo-wop tradition, Chessler wrote the groups smash hit, "To Soon To Know", on a roll of toilet paper in a rest room.
Most Black groups of the day, like The Mills Brothers and The Ink Spots, aimed their music at White audiences, but The Orioles did just the opposite. They went straight for the Black auduence, with the lyrical impressions of a young White woman, the group was a success. The song went to #1 on the "race" charts and #13 on the pop charts. "To Soon To Know" has been covered by many singers over the years.
In later years Chessler was there to discover eight year old Leslie Uggams.
FLORENCE GREENBERG
Here's a story of an unlikely housewife who turned the music world on it's head when she took an unknown girl group and made them stars. Florence Greenberg was a female pioneer in a male dominated world of Rhythm and Blues. Greenberg said of herself, that she was a triple anomaly: A "White woman" who is in a "Black Business", and "who couldn't carry tune". What she did have was a triple treat "an ear for popular music", "a sharp eye for talent", and "a driving ambition", which worked great for her and the rest of the music loving world. Greenberg is responsible for introducing The Shirelles to the world. Greenberg wrote "Soldier Boy" for the group, and recorded them on her Tiara label. Her labels also produced 60's hits like, "Louie Louie", by the The Kingsmen, "Twist And Shout" by The Isley Brothers, and "Walk On By", by Dionne Warwick. Greenberg also produced "Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head" sung by BJ Thomas and was on the soundtrack of the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and won an academy Award in 1969.
After the release of "I Met Him On A Sunday" Greenberg made the rounds of all the radio stations and pestered DJ's until she got the song played. The song was such a hit that the demand for the song was fantastic. So much so that her small Tiara label could not handle the orders, so Greenberg sold The Shirelles contract to Decca Records. Not realizing what they had, and thinking the group would be a one hit wonder, Decca returnd The Shirelles to Greenberg, who formed Sceptor Records. Over the next decade, Sceptor became an industry sensation.
Greenberg's eye for talent was never more evident, than when Burt Bacharach, played her a demo. Greenberg said she didn't like the song, but she loved the singer. The next day Bacharach, returned saying that he had signed a new young singer named Dionne Warwick. Partly because of The Shirelles, and Dionne Warwicks successs Gulf and Western offered $6 million for Greenberg"s Sceptor label in 1965, Greenberg declined. This turned out to be a bad choice, Greenberg's success had faded over the years and by 1977, Sceptor folded and Greenberg lost everything.
Bette Midler wanted to make a movie of Greenberg's life, but could not get the required rights from two of the surviving Shirelles, so plans for the movie are dormant.
LUTHER DIXON
Luther Dixon wrote many songs that were hits for many groups of the 50's and 60's, like The Shirelles. Dixon was hired by Florence Greenberg to work at her Sceptor label. Dixon was in charge of artist development, while Greenberg ran the company. The Shirelles had their first hit with Dixon's arrangement of CAROLE KING and GERRY GOFFIN'S song "Will You Love Me Tomorrow".
Dixon produced many more hits including "sixteen Candles", "I Don't Want To Cry", "Soul Serenade, "MaMa Said", and "Big Boss Man".
VIVIAN CARTER
Vivian Carter was one of a few Black record company executives of the doo-wop era. Carter won a talent contest conducted by Al Benson in 1948, for new DJs in Chicago. She worked WGES in Chicago and later at WJOB in Gary, Indiana. In 1944 Carter met and would latter marry Jimmy Bracken, who would also become her business partner.
In 1953 the couple started a record company, called Vee-Jay Records taking it's name from their initials. During the 50's and 60's Vee-Jay grew to become a major independent record label with acts including The Spaniels, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Gene Chandler, and Jerry Butler, The four Seasons and for a while The Beatles.
Because of Carter's relationship with the radio industry she was able to get her groups played and attract new talent.
Carter passed in 1989, but the groups that she recorded and managed will keep her memory alive.
BERT BERNS
Bert Berns was born in the Bronx to Russian Jewish parents. Berns contracted rheumatic fever as a child, and this would affect him for the rest of his life. He turned to music and found comfort in the music of his Black and Latino neighbors. Berns danced the mambo as a young man and made his way to Havana Cuba. After his return he began a seven-year run, from an obscure song writer to the owner of his own labels.
Berns first hit was "A Little Bit Of Soap", by The Jarmels in 1961. A year later he scored with "Twist And Shout", by The Isley Brothers. The song was written by Berns and Phil Medley. Berns wrote for many labels including Wand, United Artist, Capitol, Laurie,MGM, Big Top, Old Town,Roulette, and Atlantic Records.
In 1963 Berns replaced Leiber and Stoller as staff producer for Atlantic Records, where he produced Solomon Burke's "Cry To Me", and "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love", The Drifters' "Under The Boardwalk" and "Saturday Night At The Movies", Barbara Lewis' "Baby I'm Yours" and "Make Me Your Baby", Little Ester Phillips, Wilson Pickettt, and LaVern Baker. Berns was one of the few producers to travel to London, where he produced acts for British Decca.
Berns passed in 1967 and a golden era of rock, soul and doo-wop passed with him. One of his last songs was "Piece Of My Heart", that was recorded by Erma Franklin, the song was covered by many artist over the years.
Berns' BANG and Shout Records catalogue is owned by Sony Music, but the Berns family owns the publishing operations originally called WEB IV Music.
Berns' list of songs cover doo-wop to soul to R&B and the list is long. Berns was not as well known as other Brill Building writers, but Berns should be listed among the most significant and influential of his generation and on par with the likes of Leiber and Stoller, Holland-Dozier-Holland. Berns is also credited with bringing soul,rock, and Latin rhythms together.
CAROLE KING
Born Carol Klein in Brooklyn, New York. Later she added an "e" to her first name and changed her last name to King.
King started out playing piano and moved on to singing and formed a singing group, called The Co-Sines while still attending James Madison High School. It was while she was attending Queens College that she met Neil Sedaka. She was his inspiration for his song "Oh Carol", and in response King wrote "Oh Neil". King befriended Paul Simon and Gerry Goffin who would play an important part in her life for years to come.
King and Goffin soon started writing songs together. Working for Aldon Music at the Brill Building, where hit songs were turned out on a regular basis in the 60's. The first Goffin-King hit was "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", recorded by The Shirelles in 1961. Like a lot of King's songs "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" has been covered by to many singers to count, and is still being sung today.
King and Goffin married in 1960 and divorced in 1968, but their song writing relationship continued during the marriage and after.
Some of the songs out of King's book are: "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", By The Shirelles, "Some Kind Of Wonderful", and "Up On The Roof" by The Drifters, "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" and "Loco Motion", by Little Eva, "Hey Girl" by Freddie Scott, "One Fine Day", The Chiffons, "Oh No Not My Baby", by Maxine Brown, "Don't Foreget About Me" by Barbara Lewis and " You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin.
As the 60's moved on, King's music changed with the times. King had many more hits in the following years, but it's her early years that are important to doo-wop lovers.
King has been inducted into the Song Writers Hall Of Fame, King and Goffin have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. King has Recieved four Grammy Awards and is look at as one of the greatest song writers around.
GEORGE GOLDNER
Goldner was born in New York, and original made his living as a garment dealer. His love of Latin music led him to run dance halls in the early 40's In the late 40's Goldner started his first label, Tico Records. In and effort to promote his records, Goldner started paying DJ's at the radio stations to play his records. This practice came to be known as payola.
Goldner was a gambler,and was always in need of cash, this problem put him in contact with Morris Levy, another dance hall owner. Over time Goldner would sell parts of his labels to Levy for cash. Goldner and Levy formed Rama Records which would later record R&B music. The Crows" recording of "Gee" inspired the formation of another label, Gee Records, who's most successful act was Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers. Goldner helped establish a number of labels, including Gone Records, End Records, and the more famous, Roulette. Morris Levy would take advantage of Goldner's gambling problems and take control of these labels.
Goldner recorded some of the best doo-wop groups of the time, including, The Crows, The Wrens, The Valentines, The Cleftones, The Five Crowns, (who would become The Drifters), The Heartbeats, The Chantels, Little Anthony and The Imperials, The Starlighters, The Flamingos, The Dubs, The Channels and The Isley Brothers.
Goldner's last run at success was Red Bird Records and it's Blue Cats subsidiary, co-founded by Leiber and Stoller. As a partner of the company Goldner was in charge of promoting Red Bird releases, while Leiber and Stoller worked on production. Red Bird only lasted two years, Leiber and Stoller wanted out of the music business and Goldner started having gambling problems again. Leiber and Stoller sold their part of Red Bird to Goldner for $1.00. The Red Bird catalogue (except for releases by The Shangri-Las, whos contract was sold to Mercury Records) was sold to Morris Levy's Roulette Records. Goldner passed in 1970.
Goldner had his problems, but he also had a big impact on the music scene and started more than few groups on their way.
MORRIS LEVY
Born Moishe Levy in the Bronx, New York, but was known as Morrie Levy to the insiders of the music business.
After leaving the Navy, Levy became the owner of a string night clubs. His most famous club was The Birdland, which Levy is said to have taken over from Joseph "Joe the Wop" Catalano in 1949.
By accident Levy found out the value of publishing rights of a piece of music. Each time a song he owned was performed or played he was entitled to royalties. Levy learned this when an ASCAP representative told Levy at Birdland he must pay publishing companies for performing live music. Levy's lawyer confirmed that fact and soon Levy formed his first publishing company, Patricia Music.
Levy was one of the bad ones. He founded Roulette Records in 1956 where he started what would become his most profitable side of his business. Levy began claiming writers rights on songs he had nothing to do with. The first and most famous is, he claimed writers rights on "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". It is believed that Frankie Lymon and Herman Santiago wrote the song. Levy repeated this pratice through out the years. Levy collected revenues from all sides of the business. He claimed writers rights, he claimed publishing rights and he claimed distribution rights, and he claimed the profits form the sale of his records. There are stories that Levy even bootlegged his own records. Levy became one of the wealthiest executives in the record business.
Levy had a long running law suit with John Lennon over a phrase Lennon used from a Chuck Berry song.
After a time Levy sold Roulette for an estimated $55 million. There was an investigation started in the 50's about Levy's business practices, but it wasn't until 1986 that the law caught up with him. Levy was convicted of extortion, but died in Ghent, New York before serving any time.
Some of Levy's business practices were adopted and perfected by Berry Gordy at MOTOWN.
Next we'll look at Robert and Johnny, The Falcons, The Clovers, The Five Satins, and The Harptones. I onow Robert and Johnny are not really doo-wopers, but Victoria requested them so they're up next.
Please continue to leave comments and make request for your favorite group. In a few weeks we'll look two of the best writers and producers of the doo-wop era, Leiber and Stoller, and we'll take another look a Smokey's songs and productions from the beginning.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
THE DELLS
The Dells are one of the longest lasting groups of all times! They have found a way to keep original members in the group for over forty nine years. Their line-up did not change from 1960 until the death of Johnny Carter on August 21, 2009. Over the years The Dells repertoire included doo-wop, jazz, soul, disco, and rhythm and blues.
The Dells started singing together while attending Thorton Township High School, in Harvey, Illinois. The group formed in 1952, using the name, The El-Rays. The group consisted of Marvin Junior, Mickey McGill, Lucius McGill, Verne Allison, Chuck Barksdale, and Johnny Funches. Lucius McGill left the group in 1954, making the group a quintet. Lucius signed with the Chess brothers' Checker label and recorded a doo-wop single, "Darling I Know", the record flopped.
The group changed their name to The Dells in 1955, and soon signed with Vee-Jay Records. In 1956 they recorded their first hit, "Oh What A Night". Funches was a co-writer and lead singer on the song. The song went to #5 on the R&B charts and is listed at #260 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time. Follow up songs failed to have the same impact.
A tragic car accident in 1958, threatened to derail the group. Mickey McGill, nearly lost his leg in the accident. The group agreed to split-up to give McGill time to recover.
Barksdale joined a new version of The Moonglows, that included a young Marvin Gaye on lead. McGill did recover and Barksdale rejoined the group in 1960. By this time Johnny Funches, had left the group for good, frustrated with the group's slow progress. Funches was soon replaced by Johnny Carter, who came from The Flamingos. This would be the final line-up change for the group for over forty nine years. The Dells went on to sing background for the likes of Dinah Washington, Ray Charles, and Barbara Lewis, of "Hello Stranger" fame. The group got some fine tuning from Quincy Jones, and began to include jazz, and Broadway styled show tunes as part of their live and recorded acts.
The Dells returned to Chess' subsidiary label Cadet, working with Bobby Miller, and Charles Stepney. Stepney would later become an arranger and producer for Earth, Wind, and Fire.
In 1967, The Dells released an album called, "There Is", which included their first R&B hit in years with the titled track. The song featured a contrast to most other groups of the time by having the raspy baritone voice of Marvin Junior on lead, with the very tight harmony in the background. The song was also a top 20 pop hit. After "There Is", The Dells continued with a string of hits, including "Wear It On Your Face", "Always Together", "I can sing A Rainbow/Love Is Blue", and their first #1 hit "Stay In My Corner" in 1968. The song also went to #10 on the pop chart. "Stay In My Corner" featured another contrast, it featured Johnny Carter's first tenor balanced against Marvin Junior's baritone. This arrangement became a trademark of The Dells. The group had to wait until 1969 before they were looked at as R&B stars. That year the group revived their first hit, "Oh What A Night", which was re-produced under a classic soul format. Marvin Junior's husky lead made the song sound new. It was in stark contrast to Johnny Funches smooth tenor on the original recording, this version went to #1. They had more hits with "Open Up My Heart", "Oh What A Day", and "On The Dock Of The Bay".
"The Love We Had Stays On My Mind", was another top 10 hit for the group on the R&B charts in 1971. Charles Stepney took over production duties from Bobby Miller at this time. In 1973 The Dells had their first certified gold record, "Give Your Baby A Standing Ovation", that was produced by Don Davis. The Dells were now a top-selling recording act.
With The Chess Label having financial troubles, Cadet records, a subsidiary started having problems, so The Dells left at the end of 1974. The group then recorded for Mercury, ABC, 20th Century Fox, and Virgin labels, with a few hits including, "I Touched A Dream", which put the group back in the top 40.
For awhile The Dells were confined to the oldies market, until they were asked by Robert Townson to be creative consultants on his acclaimed 1991 musical "The Five Heartbeats". The movie was based loosely on the lives of The Dells. The group had a hit with the George Duke composition, "A Heart Is A Home For Love". The song was issued on the sound track of the movie and went to #13 on the R&B charts. This hit gave the group a push and made them the second group to chart singles in four different decades, after the Isley Brothers.
The group then moved to the Philadelphia International label, where they recorded the album "I Salute You". The Dells have kept an active touring schedule stopping from time to time to record an album, including 2003's "HOTT".
In 2004 the group was inducted in both the Vocal Group Hall Of Fame, and The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
Like the Imperials, The Dells don't consider themselves a doo-wop group, but on their 1974 recording "I Miss You" you can hear the doo-wops in the background, ten years after doo-wop was said to be dead. In my mind and heart no matter what The Dells sing I hear doo-wop.
The next blog will be about some of the writers, arrangers, producers and managers. These are the behind the scenes people that created the songs, and the acts to sing them. Very few groups were able to direct their own lives once these other people got involved. Some of these people were good for the groups and really helped them along. So many of these groups were young and were exploited by some of these people.
Please leave comments and request and we'll keep doo-woping!!
The Dells started singing together while attending Thorton Township High School, in Harvey, Illinois. The group formed in 1952, using the name, The El-Rays. The group consisted of Marvin Junior, Mickey McGill, Lucius McGill, Verne Allison, Chuck Barksdale, and Johnny Funches. Lucius McGill left the group in 1954, making the group a quintet. Lucius signed with the Chess brothers' Checker label and recorded a doo-wop single, "Darling I Know", the record flopped.
The group changed their name to The Dells in 1955, and soon signed with Vee-Jay Records. In 1956 they recorded their first hit, "Oh What A Night". Funches was a co-writer and lead singer on the song. The song went to #5 on the R&B charts and is listed at #260 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time. Follow up songs failed to have the same impact.
A tragic car accident in 1958, threatened to derail the group. Mickey McGill, nearly lost his leg in the accident. The group agreed to split-up to give McGill time to recover.
Barksdale joined a new version of The Moonglows, that included a young Marvin Gaye on lead. McGill did recover and Barksdale rejoined the group in 1960. By this time Johnny Funches, had left the group for good, frustrated with the group's slow progress. Funches was soon replaced by Johnny Carter, who came from The Flamingos. This would be the final line-up change for the group for over forty nine years. The Dells went on to sing background for the likes of Dinah Washington, Ray Charles, and Barbara Lewis, of "Hello Stranger" fame. The group got some fine tuning from Quincy Jones, and began to include jazz, and Broadway styled show tunes as part of their live and recorded acts.
The Dells returned to Chess' subsidiary label Cadet, working with Bobby Miller, and Charles Stepney. Stepney would later become an arranger and producer for Earth, Wind, and Fire.
In 1967, The Dells released an album called, "There Is", which included their first R&B hit in years with the titled track. The song featured a contrast to most other groups of the time by having the raspy baritone voice of Marvin Junior on lead, with the very tight harmony in the background. The song was also a top 20 pop hit. After "There Is", The Dells continued with a string of hits, including "Wear It On Your Face", "Always Together", "I can sing A Rainbow/Love Is Blue", and their first #1 hit "Stay In My Corner" in 1968. The song also went to #10 on the pop chart. "Stay In My Corner" featured another contrast, it featured Johnny Carter's first tenor balanced against Marvin Junior's baritone. This arrangement became a trademark of The Dells. The group had to wait until 1969 before they were looked at as R&B stars. That year the group revived their first hit, "Oh What A Night", which was re-produced under a classic soul format. Marvin Junior's husky lead made the song sound new. It was in stark contrast to Johnny Funches smooth tenor on the original recording, this version went to #1. They had more hits with "Open Up My Heart", "Oh What A Day", and "On The Dock Of The Bay".
"The Love We Had Stays On My Mind", was another top 10 hit for the group on the R&B charts in 1971. Charles Stepney took over production duties from Bobby Miller at this time. In 1973 The Dells had their first certified gold record, "Give Your Baby A Standing Ovation", that was produced by Don Davis. The Dells were now a top-selling recording act.
With The Chess Label having financial troubles, Cadet records, a subsidiary started having problems, so The Dells left at the end of 1974. The group then recorded for Mercury, ABC, 20th Century Fox, and Virgin labels, with a few hits including, "I Touched A Dream", which put the group back in the top 40.
For awhile The Dells were confined to the oldies market, until they were asked by Robert Townson to be creative consultants on his acclaimed 1991 musical "The Five Heartbeats". The movie was based loosely on the lives of The Dells. The group had a hit with the George Duke composition, "A Heart Is A Home For Love". The song was issued on the sound track of the movie and went to #13 on the R&B charts. This hit gave the group a push and made them the second group to chart singles in four different decades, after the Isley Brothers.
The group then moved to the Philadelphia International label, where they recorded the album "I Salute You". The Dells have kept an active touring schedule stopping from time to time to record an album, including 2003's "HOTT".
In 2004 the group was inducted in both the Vocal Group Hall Of Fame, and The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
Like the Imperials, The Dells don't consider themselves a doo-wop group, but on their 1974 recording "I Miss You" you can hear the doo-wops in the background, ten years after doo-wop was said to be dead. In my mind and heart no matter what The Dells sing I hear doo-wop.
The next blog will be about some of the writers, arrangers, producers and managers. These are the behind the scenes people that created the songs, and the acts to sing them. Very few groups were able to direct their own lives once these other people got involved. Some of these people were good for the groups and really helped them along. So many of these groups were young and were exploited by some of these people.
Please leave comments and request and we'll keep doo-woping!!
Monday, January 25, 2010
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
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
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