1961 - They Talk Too Much / Puppy Love (Hi-III 116)
1961 - Summer Days / What Is Love (Hi-III 117)
The Sa-Shays
1961 - You Got Love / Boo Hoo Hoo (Zen 101 / Alfi 1)
1963 - Here Comes The Love / I’ll Make You Love Me (Zen 109)
The Utmosts
1962 - I Need You / Big Man (Pan Or 1123)
The Dynels
1962 - Boy Friend / Let's Do It Again (Dot 16382)
1964 - Just A Face In The Crowd / C'mon Little Darlin’ (Natural 7001)
The Postalettes
1963 - He Played One, Two, Three, Four / Like Chalypso (Instrumental) (Dore 662)
The Darlings (2)
1963 - To Know Him Is To Love Him / Train Out Of Memphis (Instrumental) (Dore 663)
1963 - He Played One, Two, Three, Four / My Pillow (Dore 677)
1966 - The Horn Goes Beep Beep Beep / Floatin' On Cotton Candy (Instrumental) (Dore 775)
The Delicates (2)
1963 - My Pillow / He Played One, Two, Three, Four (Dee Dee 677 / Celeste 676)
Biography :
The Darlings, a female quartet comprising Oma Heard, Carlotta
"Cookie" Robertson (Gaynell Hodge’s niece who In 1960 with Joyce Chapel
& Marie Love recorded as The Chiffons
and The Unforgettables) and the sisters Maxine and Julia Waters, were
managed and produced by a former artist named Bobby Sanders - real name:
Jerome Lenoir. In 1963, Dore issued two consecutive singles by the
group under different names, the first as the Postalettes singing 'He
Played 1, 2, 3, 4' (a variation of 'The Paddiwack Song'), the second as
the Darlings with their punchy revival of 'To Know Him Is To Love Him',
heard here. Sanders produced all four at the same (with Grayson
arranging) and assigned the masters over Dore on 23 January 1963. Three
of the four girls had previously sung in a Fremont High School group
named the Sweethearts, who recorded for producer H.B. Barnum in 1961 and
moonlighted on obscure one-off 45s as the Utmosts and the Sa-Shays.
Oma Heard
Although amateur, they were already establishing career paths as versatile session vocalists and barely knew their identity from one release to the next - immediately prior to signing for Dore, they had recorded a one-off 45 for producer Steve Venet (himself a former Dore artist) as the Dynels on Dot. Something
about 'He Played 1, 2, 3, 4' piqued Lew Bedell interest because a few
months later, he re-issued it with a new B-side ('My Pillow') on Dore
677 crediting the Darlings. Then again, in October 1963 on Dee Dee 677
as by the Delicates!. And he wasn't finished yet. Possibly frustrated by
his inability to break the record, Bedell sold the master to a couple
who ran a tiny R&B label, Celeste, out of their LA home, prompting a
further re-issue with the revised title 'This Old Man' on Celeste 676.
Oma Heard later sang with Ike Turner's Ikettes, did session work and
recorded under her own name for Motown in the late 1960s, while the
Water sisters worked as background singers on countless sessions by such
diverse artists as Paul Simon, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Billy
Paul and Rod Stewart.
