L.Russell Brown & Richard Martin Oxman
The Duals (1) (Newark, New Jersey)
Personnel :
Richard Martin Oxman
L.Russell Brown
Discography :
1958 - Wait Up Baby / For Ever And Ever (Fury 10113)
1959 - Nearest To My Heart / Bye-Bye (ARC 4446)
Biography :
By Richard Martin Oxman
Richard Oxman was a "patrol boy"
at grammar school in Newark, New Jersey, helping pupils to cross the
street on the corner by his family's apartment when he was about
nine-years-old. One day, Larry (Brown) came to his corner and began to
cross the street without his permission. Patrol boys wore white strips
across the chest as a kind of uniform, letting everyone know that they
were positioned on a particular corner to regulate crossing for safety
purposes. Well, Larry had absolutely no respect for any of that, and
Richard yelled after him as he crossed the street, headed for home which
was in another apartment building (which was part of The Seth Boyden
Housing Project, a low-income complex built for families after WWII).
Larry's family lived about a block from Richard's family. Anyway, Richard yelled at him, saying that he was going to report him to Mr. Pearl. Mr. Pearl was a gym teacher, and the adult at school in charge of all patrol boys, the entire operation concerned with crossing guards at street corners.
L.Russell Brown & Richard Martin Oxman
Well, when Richard Martin knocked off for lunch that
day... He walked the few steps to his apartment, and there was Larry
waiting for him! He started to hit him in anger, and, then, his mother,
hearing Richard screaming, came out of his apartment with a Broom
screaming at Larry to leave him alone! She chased him all the way home.
[Remember that Doo Wop song with the line "I ran all the way home, just
to say I'm sorry."???] That's how they met. Their families reconciled,
and though they never really got close, it was the beginning of their
relationship. Once he found out that Richard played the guitar, he
asked Richard to teach him. n 1958, Larry and Richard just traveled into Harlem from New Jersey (across the Hudson River) where they lived to make record contacts With Bobby Robinson, the record shop guy in Harlem. It was much different then, easier to make that crucial one-on-one contact. Bobby, with Larry fast-talking about what was special about the group ("We're a combo of the Everly Brothers and Little Richard.") got Bobby to walk them up to a nearby apartment where they were introduced to a fat guy named "Fats" who played the piano. They asked Richard & Larry to show what they could do, and then, after they sang and played, Bobby Robinson immediately signed the duet! In those days, record producers routinely screwed performers. They had to give them forms for their parents to sign first because they were underaged.
Richard Martin Oxman & L.Russell Brown
IBut that didn't keep Bobby and
Fats from pulling a fast one on them, screwing them as far as potential
royalties went. They
recorded at historic Beltone Studios in New York, where many huge hits
had been recorded. They met many stars. One of them was the great DOO
WOP sax player, King Curtis... who walked into one of their sessions.
They were given the opportunity to have him play on "Wait Up, Baby", but
They turned the offer down… -- STUPIDLY, RIDICULOUSLY! -- because...
guitars were, they felt, IN, the latest thing, the upcoming thing, the
thing to embrace. Talk about mistakes! Talked about missed
opportunities! Can you imagine having a Duals' record today with King
Curtis playing the riff on it? . They met Nina Simone , and many
others. There was a great, unknown, Doo woo group (the Du Mauriers) ,
which was at their recording session. They did "All Night Long". Fury
released "Wait Up Baby" b/w "For Ever And Ever" in early 1958. Richard
Oxman and Larry Brown made a second single, "Nearest To My Heart" b/w
"Bye-Bye" in Elizabeth NJ at the ARC records studio owned by Ed Dambach.
Russell Brown continued in the music industry and wrote many hit songs
subsequently, like "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree"... and
many more.
Richard Martin Oxman
Songs :
Nearest To My Heart Bye-Bye
For Ever And Ever Wait Up Baby