1956 - The Eyes Of An Angel / I'll Never Fall In Love Again (Melba 109)
1957 - The Legend Of Love / Now I'm Telling You (Hull 727)
The Kartunes
Singles :
1957 - Raindrops / Will You Marry Me? (When We Graduate) (M-G-M 12598)
1958 - Willie The Weeper / Dedicated To Love (M-G-M 12680)
Unreleased :
1958 - Ringalivo (M-G-M)
1958 - Victim (M-G-M)
Biography :
Bobby Weinstein grew up in New York City, and attended the School of
Industrial Art in Manhattan. While there, he formed a vocal group, The
Legends, with fellow students Marshall Samples, Ron Warwell, Richard
"Chico" Brunson, Sampson Reese and Dominick Fleres. The group won a
talent contest at the Apollo Theater in 1955.
Morty
Craft
Around June of 1956, the guys decided the time was right for getting
the Legends sound down on wax, They just walked in to Morty Craft's
Melba label (at 1674 Broadway) and auditioned for him, Craft was
impressed and set up a session. Melba released "The Eyes Of An Angel"
b/w "I'll Never Fall In Love" around September 1956.
Bobby Weinstein Dominick
Fleres Ron Warwell Richard
"Chico" Brunson
In late 1957, they had another go at
recording. This time, they went down the block from Melba, to Hull
Records, at 1595 Broadway. Again they walked in cold, and auditioned for
Bea Caslon (owner of Hull, along with Billy Dawn Smith and William
Henry Miller). Bea signed them on the spot. At Hull, the Legends
recorded two songs: "The Legend Of Love" and "Now I'm Telling You" .
The record sold moderately well but some internal problems triggered the
separation of the group. Bobby Weinstein and Dominick Fleres joined
the Kartunes with Vincent Cassaro , Paul Rubenstein and Bill Barbaris.
The Kartunes recorded two singles released by MGM.
Bill
Barbaris (The Kartunes), Don Costa & Bob Weinstein (The Legends
& The
Kartunes)
In
1957, Bobby Weinstein began writing songs with Teddy Randazzo, who had
sung in another vocal group, The Three Chuckles. Their first major hit
as co-writers was "Pretty Blue Eyes," recorded by Steve Lawrence and
produced by Don Costa, which reached no. 9 on the pop charts at the
start of 1960.
