Faith Taylor & The Sweet Teens (2) (Chicago)
Personnel :
Faith Taylor (Lead)
Yvonne Waddell
Saundra Long
Marry Collins
Curtis Burrell (Bass)
Discography :
1958 - Your Candy Kisses / Won't Someone Tell Me Why? (Federal 12334)
1959 - I Need Him To Love Me / I Love You Darling (Bea & Baby 104)
1959 - Please Be Mine / Paper Route Baby (Bea & Baby 105)
Biography :
Faith
Taylor was born in Dumas, Arkansas, in 1948. She began performing at
the age of four and won her first amateur contest in Little Rock. She
came to Chicago with her family in 1957 and continued her music career
by singing at small club affairs. She also worked in a few combos,
including that of Muddy Waters. In June 1957 she entered and won the
"Morris B. Sachs Amateur Hour" on WGN-TV. The following year a friend of
Taylor, Charles Jones, was assembling a vocal group and brought her in
as the lead. Other members of this group were alto Yvonne Waddell (age
seventeen), tenor Saundra Long (sixteen), soprano Mary Collins
(seventeen), and bass Curtis Burrell (seventeen). Most of the group came
from two South Side high schools, DuSable and Dunbar. Faith Taylor and
the Sweet Teens were unlike most "teen tenor lead" groups in being
mostly comprised of females. From that start, the group was not going to
be a "girl group" but one patterned after Frankie Lymon and the
Teenagers.
The
group made its first recordings in August 1958, recording "Your Candy
Kisses" and "Won't Someone Tell Me Why," released back to back on the
Federal label. Both were written by Charles Jones. "Your Candy Kisses"
opens with a sax flourish, followed by Taylor doing a patented Frankie
Lymon "oh oh ooh oh oh ooh." However, she sounds a tad too young, like
the ten-year-old she was (although newspaper reports at the time stated
she was nine). The vocal support is a bit weak, but Curtis Burrell' s
bass work is good. "Won't Someone Tell Me Why" opens with an impact, a
vocal arpeggio, or bell-tone, and young Taylor goes into her "oh oh ooh"
thing again. After that it sounds a bit ragged. They return to the
"bell-tone" just before the bridge, again with good effect, and Burrell
again distinguishes himself. Central to the appeal of both songs is
Faith Taylor, who knew at a tender age exactly how she was supposed to
sing them, but with all her talent she is still a bit raw.
Despite
the record's evident flaws, it is a terrific rock 'n' roll pairing that
deserves to belong in anyone's record collection. The two songs were
paired on a single and released in September 1958. The record made a bit
of a stir in Chicago and several other markets but never managed to
crack the national charts. Faith Taylor and the Sweet Teens appeared on
Jim Lounsbury's record hop on WBKB-TV in October and played a few clubs
in the Chicago area, notably Budland in the Pershing Hotel. The Budland
date would seem strange todayas the group shared the bill with a
bluesman (Dr. Jo Jo Adams), a jazz combo (Prince James Combo), and an
avant garde group (Sun Ra). In late 1959 Faith Taylor and the Sweet
Teens joined Narvel Eatmon's Bea and Baby label. Members of the Bea and
Baby group, besides Faith Taylor, were Curtis Burrell and Mary Collins
from the original group, and two new members, Elizabeth Shelby and
Ernestine Fisher.
The Bea and Baby release, "I Need Him to Love Me" backed with "I Love
You Darling," featured two outstanding sides in the Frankie Lymon mode.
"I Need Him to Love Me," the ballad side written by Bernice Williams,
is sublime, with chorusing by the rest of the group that sounded
angelic. Faith Taylor now had the depth of expression to come across
with a terrific soulful feeling. The flip is a rousing jump written by
Charles Jones, and again the chorusing is terrific. Noticeably absent on
both sides is the good bass work of Burrell. The group was gone by the
summer of 1960, when Faith Taylor appeared by herself at the annual Bud
Billiken Picnic Show in August. She appeared again on the next year's
picnic show as part of a youth package of performers, Paula Greer and
Eddie Purrell among them. She was heard last in December 1961, when she
performed for patients at a veterans hospital. Except for Curtis
Burrell, who became a member of the Daylighters in 1964.
Songs :
Your Candy Kisses Won't Someone Tell Me Why?
I Need Him To Love Me I Love You Darling