Personnel :
Tommy Morrissey
Harry Boyle
Tom Duffy
Discography :
The Laurels
The
story goes that two teachers from Brooklyn wrote a song called “Baby
Blue.” Those two were Sam Guilino and Val Lagueux. The two offered the
song to Johnny Powers. Powers didn’t think the song was right for him
and he passed it along to Duffy. In 1959, the Laurels took the song and
did a slow, “Earth Angel” type ballad demo version of Baby Blue. They
shopped it around without success.
In 1960, Harry Boyle was asked to join the group as a guitar player. Capano and Bender left the group and the remaining trio asked Harry Boyle and Tommy Morrissey to start singing. They renamed themselves the Echoes. Harry Boyle suggested re-recording Baby Blue as a cha-chat. The group did that, picking up the pace a bit and changing the intro of the song by spelling out the words “Baby Blue.” It was Duffy, Morrissey and Boyle with Ralph DePalma on drums. They shopped the record at the famous “1650″ building and met up with Jack Gold of Paris Records (of the G-Clefs, Four Esquires, and Newports fame). Gold liked it and re-recorded it again with a new arrangement that included guitarist Billy Mueller. That was December 1960.
Baby Blue b/w Boomerange was released in
January 1961 on the S.R.G. label (named for Gold’s son Stephen Richard
Gold) and Gold leased the rights to Seg-Way (#103 1961). The song first
broke in Cleveland and was a huge hit going all the way to #12 in
Billboard and #9 in Cashbox. The Echoes followed up on Seg-Way with Sad
Eyes b/w Its Rainin (Seg-Way #106 1961) which did well locally but only
reached #88 nationally. They followed with Gee Oh Gee b/w Angel of My
Heart (Seg-Way #1002 1961) which did not chart.
https://strathdee.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/one-hit-wonders-the-echoes/
Songs :
The Laurels (5)
Baby Blue (demo) Every Dream I Dream (demo)
The Echoes (6)
Baby Blue Boomerang
Sad Eyes It's Rainin'
Gee Oh Gee / Angel Of My Heart Bluebirds Over The Mountain
A Chicken Ain't Nothin' But A Bird A Million Miles From Nowhere
Keep An Eye On Her If Love Is
Annabelle Lee I Love Candy / Paper Roses
In A Little Spanish Town
...