Bobby Collins, Robert Whitehead (Rear), Lloyd Jones (Front) and Will T. Vance
The Sports (Nashville, TN.)
Personnel :
Lloyd Jones (Lead)
Will T. Vance (Tenor)
Robert Whitehead (Baritone)
Bobby Collins (Bass)
Discography :
Nick Dean & The Sports
1956 - High School Baby / When You Lose Your True Love (Deb 1001)
The Sports Featuring Lloyd Jones
1956 - True Love Come Back To Me / Hot Lips And Pretty Brown Hair (Deb 1002)
Biography :
The Sports were a group of young high school and College lads
composed by Bobby Collins, Robert Whitehead, Lloyd Jones and Will T.
Vance . The Sports have garnered a reputation for harmony in local and
middle Tennessee bookings. They also have furnished the background
vocalising for records, especially two sides cut by Nick Dean for the
Deb Label. Nick Dean (Nee Nicholas "Nick" Boone) Younger brother of Pat
Boone was born 1 June 1935, Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Todd's brief
career from 1957-60 was built during the era when record companies were
flooding the market with teen idol types who could sing a poppish
unthreatening style of rock 'n' roll. As the younger brother of the king
of poppish rock 'n' roll, Pat Boone, Todd was quickly snapped up.
Nick Boone (Nick Dean)
After his first release on Deb, Nick Boone was signed to Dot Records
(which gave the singer his name by reversing the company's name). Todd's
"Plaything", which entered the US Top 50 in 1957, brought the singer to
the public's attention, and, that same year, a cover of Danny And The
Juniors' "At The Hop" (number 21) cemented a relationship with his
teenage fans. There then followed a spate of television appearances and
fan magazine profiles, but it did not last and Todd left the music
business to pursue a career in social work. The Sports recorded a second
single for Deb records with "True Love Come Back To Me" and "Hot Lips
And Pretty Brown Hair."
1959 - Please Jan / Always Yours (Stars Of Hollywood 101)
Biography :
There were actually quite a lot of groups that used the name The
Ideals. This group came from California and was composed by Darlene
Lucas, Elaine Lloyd, Tommy Starr, Joe Paskel & another guy. The
Ideals have only one single on Stars Of Hollywood Record.
Stars
Of Hollywood was a division of Mobile Fidelity Recording Co., Burbank,
California Owned by Brad Miller. Brad Miller (1939-1998) began his
career by recording the sounds of steam engine railroad trains as a
teenager during the 1950's, releasing LP's on Mobile Fidelity Records.
1959 - My Pretty Baby / My Love For You (Reed 1038)
Biography :
The Coeds were a recording group from Troy State College, Troy, Ala.
They were composed of Tommy Fowler, from Luverne, Carole Weeks, from
Lake City, Fla., Joyce Grissett from Mobile, and Elbert Schory, from Ft.
Myers, Fla.. The Coeds were formed July 14, 1959, when they appeared
at a talent show at Troy High School. Fowler and Schory joined forces
early in June and began writing songs. Fowler writes the lyrics and
Schory writes the music for the Coeds. They started writing songs as a
hobby, but when students at the college heard the songs, they encouraged
the boys to record them.
Fired with the idea of making a record Fowler contacted several
recording companies in the area and set a date with Artist Recording
Company in Birmingham. With a recording contract in sight, Fowler and
Schory teamed up with two youne ladies, Miss Carole Weeks and Miss Joyce
Grissett to form the vocal group called the Coeds. Since then, the
Coeds have sung over radio and have appeared in several talent and
variety shows in the Troy area. On October 17, the Coeds have recorded
their first record with Artist on the Reed Label. The record, entitled
"My Pretty Baby", sung by Tommy Fowler, and "My Love For You", sung by
Elbert Schory, was released to the public on December 14, 1959.
1962 - Just Words / The White Cliffs Of Dover (Peacock 1910)
Biography :
Despite the fact that he is registered vocal quartet on the disc, the
band consists of five members. The group comes from Mount Vernon, NY.
and consists of two brothers, Billy Landrine and Patrick Landrine, Ben
Sands, Joe Johnson and Shirley Lee, . In 1958, The Versatiles recorded
"Crying" and "Passing By" both written by James Stansfield. Atlantic
Records released the single in October 1958.
Three years and a few months later, Peacock released another single
by the Versatiles with the classic "White Cliffs Of Dover" and "Just
Words" written again by James Stansfield as well as Brown (maybe the
fifth member) and lead singer of the group Billy Sand.
1954 - For Sentimental Reasons / I Want To See My Baby (Baton 207)
1955 - Don't Ever Leave Me / Little Girl (Baton 209)
Unreleased :
1954 - I (Baton)
1954 - Sing Little Bird (Baton)
1954 - How Am I To Know (Baton)
1954 - Deep Down Inside (Baton)
Gene Pearson & The Rivileers
1953 - A Thousand Stars / Hey Chiquita (Baton 200)
1957 - A Thousand Stars / Who Is The Girl (Baton 241)
Biography :
The Rivileers enjoyed a short (less than two years) recording career
from 1954 to 1955. They formed in Jamaica Queens, NY, and at one time
included actor Lou Gossett who claims he sung with them on "A Thousand
Eyes." Led by Eugene Pearson, the Rivileers most stable lineup consisted
of neighborhood and high school buds: Pearson, Milton Edwards, Earl
Lennard, Herb Crosby, and Alphonso Delaney. They cut a demo and left it
as a resume in a record shop. Sol Rabinowitz (a salesman for a record
distributor) heard the multi-song demo and decided to venture into the
recording business. Pearson had previously sung with the Embers and
co-wrote "Paradise Hill" for them in 1953, a year before the Rivileers
first single hit the streets.
Rabinowitz
redid the songs with jazz musicians giving the tracks an upscale sound,
but after futile attempts at leasing the masters (he cut four),
Rabinowitz decided to go it on his own and formed Baton Records. The
label's first single (1954) "A Thousand Stars" (written by Pearson)
backed by "Hey Chiquita" was credited as Gene Pearson & the
Rivileers. Despite limited distribution the record was Top Ten in many
cities. Baton followed it up with "Forever" b/w "Darling, Farewell," a
hit as well, but not as big. The first two singles bore the catalog
numbers Baton 200 and 201, the Rivileers third single "Eternal Love" b/w
"Carolyn" catalog number was 205, indicating Rabinowitz had issued
three non-Rivileers recordings in the interim. (Buddy Tate and his Band
cut Baton single #202.) Unlike their first two singles the Rivileers'
third effort flopped, but Baton scored with the Buddy Tate record.
The following year (1955) saw the release of "For Sentimental
Reasons" b/w "I Want to See My Baby," which chocked up some sales,
trailed by "Don't Ever Leave Me" b/w "Little Girl" the same year but no
more records followed and the group disbanded. Baton reissued "A
Thousand Stars" in 1957 with a new flip, "Who Is That Girl," but that
was the final shot for the Jamaica Queens hopefuls. Every single after
the first was credited as simply the Rivileers. Some unreleased
Rivileers' recordings have surfaced, including "Deep Down Inside," a
yearning ballad.
Kathy Young & the Innocents had an even bigger hit with "A
Thousand Stars" in 1960; Young was only 15 when she redid it, the Los
Angeles native was quite familiar with the song cause the Rivileers'
original was number one in L.A. in 1954. The song, which also was redone
by Britain's Billy Fury (1961), has amassed more than a million
performances with B.M.I. Pearson also wrote "Eternal Love" and "Don't
Ever Leave Me" for the Rivileers and later sang with the Cleftones
(co-writing a few of their songs including "Time Is Running out on
Love"); he then replaced Dock Green in the Drifters and sang second
tenor on many of their hits from 1962 to 1966.
He sandwiched a two-year stint with the military between the
Cleftones and Drifters stints and retired as a New York Transit Police
Officer in 1987. Delaney is a Reverend but the career paths of the
others are unknown. Baton had a couple more hits with the Hearts before
Zell Sanders got them, but faded from the scene before the '60s rolled
in. The Rivileers regrouped June 6, 1999 for the A Great Day In Harlem
event and talked about old times. Eugene Pearson passed April 6, 2000 in
Silver Springs, MD, where he relocated after retiring from the New York
Transit Authority.
http://www.uncamarvy.com/Rivileers/rivileers.html
The Rivileers
Darling Farewell / Forever Eternal Love / Carolyn
For Sentimental Reasons / I Want To See My Baby Don't Ever Leave Me / Little Girl
