Fifteen
year old Steve Currie formed the Del-Tones with three other Brewer,
Maine high schoolers in the fall of 1956. They Choose the name the
Del-Tones out of admiration for the Del-Vikings whose tunes they often
performed. Jim Winters, star of WABI radio and his own area record hops,
helped launch their career by booking the group all over eastern and
northern Maine.
Hallet, King, Currie, Richardson
They did TV with Curly O'Brian and Dick Curless and in 1957 played to
a capacity crowd at the Brewer Auditorium opening for Curless, who had
just won Top honors on the Arthur Godfrey Talent show. Jimmy Hayden
would sub for the sometimes absent Hallet and Robinson worked
occasionally with the Statics, but for the most patron of the Del-Tones
maintained a steady lineup. In 1959, the guys auditioned for Event
Records who offered to cut a record if the boys coughed up half the
cost. They Didn't and Event didn't.
1960 - You're Too Young / Forbidden Love (Jordan 117)
Biography :
The Sinceres was a mixture of Allentown boys and some boys from
Bethlehem Fronted by bass singer Jay Proctor. A boy named Billy Floyd
wrote a song called 'You're Too Young". There was a guy who owned a
paint company, and he decided he would like to see what he could do with
the group. He took The Group underfoot for a little bit, and he paid
for having a record recorded and stuff. Backed with "Forbidden Love" it
was issued on the Jordan logo in 1960. It sold about 100 copies. That
was the name of the paint company, Jordan Paint. Except for some local
play, the record was ignored, sold poorly.
Jay & the Techniques
George "Lucky" Lloyd arrived in Allentown from Jacksonville, Fl., at
the age of 19 to live with his grandfather. Lloyd was an aspiring singer
who made his first recording in 1959 with a group called the Joylarks and
a second single with the same Group as the Floridians. In Allentown, he
met young Jay Proctor and started a new group, Jay & the
Techniques.
1964 - I Took A Long Time / Ma Ma Marie (Delsey 302)
Biography :
John Bersami, Gus Mellace, Ronny Pro and Ron Santora were practicing
and were always looking for a lead. They met Jack Lodato at the Corner
of Porter and Hutchinson Street. Jack Lodato made his bones chirping
with the Velchords which consisted of Himself, The Bruni Twins (Future
Records), John DePalma (Later in The Prmiers on Mink), Junior Gigliotti
and Bobby Cramatola (Later in the Fantasys).
Bersani,
Lodato (Top), Santora, Mellace
(Bottom)
With Jack Lodato, The Del-Airs returned to rehearsal, learning
such ditties as "Two people in the World", "Tears On My Pillow",
"Teardrops", Long lonely night". They became so accomplished, Bruce
Reed, their Manager, landed them all types of guestings even though they
had no recordings. Joe Rocco (Mellace), Gus's older brother, a music
veteran from the Day Brothers, arranged a get-together with Morris
Ballen, Owner-operator of M.B.S record at Broad & Walmut in center
city. They Cut "While Walkin'" and "Lost My Job" on M.B.S 01.
They appears on television and radio and in 1964, they signed a
contract recording with Delsey Records and cut "I took A Long Time" and
"Ma Ma Marie".
Songs :
While Walkin' / Lost My Job I Took A Long Time / Ma Ma Marie
1955 - Somewhere, Sometime, Someday / Too Bad (Mercury 70557)
1955 - False Alarm / Honeybun Cha Cha (Wing 90013)
Biography :
The Honeytones are a female quartet, in 1955 they closed a successful engagement at Harlem's Baby Grand.
The group includes Shirley Kee, 20, and the Givens sisters —
Jacqueline, 18, Gloria, 19, and Grace, 21, all of whom attend high
school in Jersey City, N. J., and do their homework backstage between
acts.
They have been in show business since winning a I Mack Amateur Hour
show in 1951. The Honeytones cut two singles for Mercury and Wing. Wing
Records was a record label subsidiary of Mercury, founded in 1955.
The Honeytones perform at the Apollo Theater with such greats as Hal Jackson, the Solitaires and the Cadillacs .
1964 - Chapel Of Love / Ain't That Nice (Red Bird 10-001)
1964 - People Say / Girls Can Tell (Red Bird 10-006)
1964 - You Should Have Seen The Way He Looked At Me / No True Love (Red Bird 10-012)
1964 - Little Bell / Another Boy Like Mine (Red Bird 10-017)
1965 - Iko Iko / I'm Gonna Get You Yet (Red Bird 10-024)
1965 - Iko Iko / Gee Baby Gee (Red Bird 10-024)
1965 - Gee, The Moon Is Shining Bright / I'm Gonna Get You Yet (Red Bird 10-032)
1965 - That's Where It's At / Two-Way-Poc-A-Way (ABC Paramount 10692)
1965 - I'm Not The Kind Of Girl (To Marry) / What Goes Up, Must Come Down (ABC Paramount 10715)
1965 - A-B-C Song / That's What The Kids Said (ABC Paramount 10755)
1966 - Love Ain't So Bad (After All) / Daddy Said No (ABC Paramount 10855)
Unreleased:
1964 - Wrong Direction (Red Bird) [released in 1979 on the Charly LP CRM 2004]
Albums:
1964 - The Dixie Cups "Chapel Of Love" (Red Bird LP 20-100)
Chapel
Of Love / Gee, The Moon Is Shining Bright / I'm Gonna Get You Yet /
Ain't That Nice / Thank You Mama Thank You Papa / Another Boy Like Mine /
/Gee Baby Gee / Iko Iko /Girls Can Tell / All Grown Up /People Say
Iko
Iko / Chapel Of Love / Gee The Moon Is Shining Bright / I'm Gonna Get
You Yet / Ain't That Nice / Thank You Mama, Thank You Papa / Gee Baby
Gee / Another Boy Like Mine / Girls Can Tell / All Grown Up / People Say
What
Goes Up, Must Come Down / Two-Way-Poc-A-Way / That's Where It's At /
Sugar That I Need / I'm Not The Kind Of Girl (To Marry) / I've Got To
Get That Boy / Danny Boy / Chances Are / Here It Comes Again / I'll
Never Let The Well Run Dry / Promises, Promises
Biography:
The
Dixie Cups came from New Orleans and had one giant hit along with
several other records before slipping into rock history. The three girls
who comprised the group were Barbara Ann Hawkins [born 1943], her
sister Rosa Lee Hawkins [born 1944] and their cousin Joan Marie Johnson
[born 1945]
. All were from New Orleans. Originally known as Little Miss and the
Muffets, the girls were discovered at a talent contest. New Orleans
record producer/singer Joe Jones, who had a top ten hit of his own in
1960 with You Talk Too Much, liked their act and brought the girls to
the Brill Building in New York.
In 1964 they began to rehearse a song that had been written by Jeff
Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector titled Chapel Of Love. Spector
produced a version of the same song by one of his groups, the Crystals,
that went unissued. He also produced a version by another one of his
groups, the Ronettes, which coincidentally was also comprised of two
sisters and their cousin.
With Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich
Although it appeared to everyone involved that Chapel Of Love had
"hit" written all over it, Spector was somewhat apprehensive about
releasing the song. Barry and Greenwich arranged a rehearsal for the
girls from New Orleans at Red Bird Records, a new label that was owned
by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
The group was renamed the Dixie Cups, and their version of Chapel Of
Love was released in 1964 on Red Bird. It became a huge international
hit, a million seller, and a solid number one record in the United
States. It also was a huge boost to Red Bird, which a short time later
would become the home of another enormously successful girl group from
New York City, the Shangri-Las. Spector later issued the Ronettes'
version of Chapel Of Love on an album.
The Dixie Cups added two more top forty hits in 1964, People Say and
You Should Have Seen The Way He Looked At Me. When there was a pause in
one of their recording sessions, the girls began a chanting song that
they had learned in New Orleans called Iko Iko.
It was a call-and-respond type of chant with some percussion in the
background, and when they recorded it, it became their final top forty
record, in the Spring of 1965. Iko Iko was covered by a British female
band called the Belle Stars in the 80's, and when this version was used
in the movie Rain Man it made a return to the top forty in 1989.
The Dixie Cups' run on the charts didn't last very long, but their
brief run was enough to make them one of the memorable girl groups of
the Sixties.
Movies:
Chapel Of Love
Iko Iko
Songs:
Chapel Of Love / Ain't That Nice People Say Girls Can Tell
You Should Have Seen The Way He Looked At Me No True Love Little Bell
Another Boy Like Mine Iko Iko Gee Baby Gee
I'm Gonna Get You Yet That's Where It's At Gee, The Moon Is Shining Bright
Two-Way-Poc-A-Way I'm Not The Kind Of Girl (To Marry) A-B-C Song
What Goes Up, Must Come Down That's What The Kids Said Love Ain't So Bad (After All)
Daddy Said No Thank You Mama, Thank You Papa Sugar That I Need
I've Got To Get That Boy Danny Boy Chances Are
Here It Comes Again I'll Never Let The Well Run Dry Promises, Promises
1954 - Laverne / Darlene (Girl of My Dreams) (Parrot 803 )
Biography :
Parrot Records was a Chicago-based label founded in 1952 by disc
jockey Al Benson. It specialized in blues, jazz, doo-wop, and gospel.
The Five Thrills were basically an aggregation of young men who lived
Thirty-first Street and began singing together in 1950, while they were
still students at Douglas Elementary School at Thirty-second and
Calumet.
Al Benson
The Five Thrills flashed onto the R&B scene in Chicago for a year
during 1953-54 and then disappeared forever. During that year, they
were the most frequently recorded group on Parrot. By early 1954,
Robinson had left the group and was replaced with Leon Pace . Two sides
from their last session (Parrot 800) were released under a new name :
"The Earls".
Robert Pruter "Doowop: the Chicago scene"
http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/parrot.html
Songs :
The Five Thrills (1)
My Baby's Gone / Feel So Good Gloria / Wee Wee Baby
1960 - Rich Boy - Poor Boy / Please Be Mine (Shad 5018)
1961 - You Can Take My Girl / Fever (MGM 13010)
1964 - Mo Jo (Part 1) (Got My Mo Jo Working) / Mo Jo (Part 2) (Tribute 199)
1964 - What's On Your Mind / Tweet-Tweet (Tribute 201)
1964 - Don't Say Goodbye (instrumental) / Ecuador (Tribute 203)
1965 - Falling From Paradise* / Ecuador* (Tribute 216)
*credited to Bob D’Andrea & The Knockouts
Unreleased:
1960 - Please Be Mine (Allegro acetate)
N/A - Stormy Weather
N/A - Jungle Mambo
Album:
1964
-Go Ape With The Knockouts (Tribute LP 1202)Mo Jo Pt. 1 / Darling
Lorraine* / Tweet Tweet / Ecuador / Poor Boy - Rich Boy** / I Got A
Woman Pt. 1 / What’s On Your Mind / Give Me A Chance / Number One Girl /
Molly Malone / Don’t Say Goodbye / I Got A Woman Pt. 2
*re-recording, **re-recording of Rich Boy - Poor Boy
Biography:
The
Knockouts hailed from North Bergen and Bayonne, New Jersey and
consisted of Bob D'Andrea (vocals), Eddie Parente (guitar), Bob Collada
(piano) and Harry Venuta (drums). In 1959, their manager Chic Salerno
persuaded Bob Shad of Time/Brent Records, who'd just come off two hits
with "I've had it" by the Bell Notes and "It Was I" by Skip and Flip, to
sign his boys.
Aware
of their limitations as vocalists, The Knockouts hedged their bets by
placing "Darling Lorraine", which sounded like a bunch of leathery-faced
cowboys breaking into an impromptu doo-wop session around the camp
fire. Shad heavily hyped "Darling Lorraine" in New York area in the
autumn of '59 and the song ascended to #45 on the charts just before the
payola bandwagon came to a crashing halt amid a welter of
recriminations and investigations.
During the 60's, The Knockouts used to perform in Seaside, NJ at the
Parrot Club, Luciano's in Lodi, NJ, in Lyndhurst, NJ and also up at
Greenwood Lake, NY on weekends. Bob Catucci (aka Pierre LaSalle)
replaced Harry Venuta in 1960.
left Eddie Parente, right Bob D'Andrea; back: left. Bob Collada, right
Pierre LaSalle
Pierre was with the group in all the recordings that followed
Lorraine and stayed with them until the group started to decline in the
early mid sixties. Bob D’Adrea went on to form a comedy duo called Andre
and Cirell which still performs around the Jersey Shore.
Songs:
Darling Lorraine / Riot In Room 3C Rich Boy - Poor Boy / Please Be Mine
1955 - All My Love Belongs To You / Talk About Him Girlie (Baton 211)
1955 - Gone, Gone, Gone / Until The Real Thing Comes Along (Baton 215)
1956 - Disappointed Bride / Going Home To Stay (Baton 222)
1956 - He Drives Me Crazy / I Had A Guy (Baton 228)
1957 - Dancing In A Dream World / You Needn't Tell Me, I Know (J&S 1657)
1957 - You Say You Love Me / So Long Baby (J&S 1660)
1958 - I Want Your Love Tonight / Like Later Baby (J&S 1626/1627)
1958 - If I Had Known / There Are So Many Ways (J&S 10002/10003)
1959 - My Love Has Gone / You Or Me Have Got To Go (J&S 425/426)
1959 - There Is No Love At All / Goodbye, Baby (J&S 4571)
1960 - A Thousand Years From Today / I Feel So Good (J&S 995)
1961 - I Couldn't Let Him See Crying / You Weren't Home (J&S 1180/1181)
1963 - Dear Abby / (Instrumental) (Tuff 370)
1963 - I Understand Him / (Instrumental) (Tuff 373)
Biography :
The
group’s story begins in the mid-fifties, when a woman by the name of
Zell Sanders started her own production company. Zell was looking for an
R&B group and found the original Hearts, Hazel Crutchfield,
Forestine Barnes, Joyce West, and later Louise Harris singing together
at the Apollo Theatre. In 1954 few labels were willing to take a chance on a group of female singers who weren’t clones of the Andrews Sisters or McGuire Sisters, let alone one produced and managed by a woman, but Sanders’ tough attitude brought them to the attention of the small Baton Records label, and a studio recording of the very doo-wopish "Lonely Nights" was the result.
Rex Garvin, Hazel Anderson, Joyce West, Thaddus Mc Lean & Louise Harris
The song became a big hit on the R&B charts and is credited as
being one of the first true girl group tunes. The group had some local
success in New York with some follow-ups , but nothing came close to the
chart power of "Lonely Nights."After a series of mild items on baton, the Hearts were moved to
Zell’s own J&S Records, but the girls in the original group were
dumped when Sanders felt they weren’t being serious enough about being
recording stars.
Theresa Chatman, Anna Barnhill, Justine "Baby" Washington, Joyce Peterson & Rex Garvin
By 1957, the new group, which featured a young Baby Washington, in
addition to Anna Barnhill, Theresa Chatman and Joyce Peterson, began
recording. The first release "Dancing In A Dream World," kept the
Hearts’ schedule busy, but the chart was still barren. Over the next few years a dozen girls or more would filter in and out of the Hearts as Sanders picked who would be on what recording, hired and fired personnel at will, and created new group names to release her product. One such name was the Jaynetts, a combination of the J in J&S records, and Heart singer Lezli Valentine’s middle name, Anetta. In 1958 Sanders’ released "I Wanted To Be Free b/w Where Are You Tonight," to an indifferent audience.
Meanwhile, various configurations of the Hearts kept releasing singles through 1961 without much more than regional interest. Sanders encountered some financial problems in the early 1960s and despite the creation of new labels like Tuff and Zell’s, couldn’t keep her business afloat. Executives at Chess Records still thought Sanders had something going for her, though, and helped to bankroll her next venture, a revamped version of the Jaynetts.
(The Hearts) Marie Hood, Lezli Valentine, Mandy Hooper & friends Lezli Valentine & Marie Hood
In 1963, Sanders, producer Abner Spector and his wife Lona Stevens,
came together to create one of the most talked-about records of the
1960s. "Sally Go ‘Round The Roses," by The Jaynetts, a nursery rhyme
turned pop hit was recorded during several sessions over for more than a
week.
Justine 'Baby' Washington The Hearts, 1962, (top) Theresa Chatman, (Bottom) Marie Hood, Cindy Felder & Louise Muray
Estimates now put the cost of this recording at well over
$60,000, a huge cost for something that only lasted about 3 minutes and
for a producer who hadn’t had a bonafide hit since 1955.
1965 - My Barbara Ann / When You Loved Me (Ascot 2167)
1965 - My Barbara Ann (Re-release) / I Wish It Were Summer (Ascot 2173)
Unreleased :
1959 - A Boy And A Girl Were Meant To Fall In Love (Climax)
1959 - Eight Wonders Of The World (Climax)
Biography :
Mike
Lazo, Gene Schacter, and Bobby Vinton formed a singing trio The Hilites
in 1954 that performed at local records hops. Drafted into the Army
Lazo and Schachter sang at U.S.O. shows while stationed together in
Korea. Returning to civilian life in 1957 Lazo and Schachter joined
forces with two Duquense University music majors, song writer Jim Drake
(Lead Singer of the Four Larks)
and saxophonist Tom Minito to form the Tempos. Singing rich harmonies
the performed a local record hops where the came to attention of local
artist manager/producer Jack Gold. Gold, who was managing Lou Christie
at the time, persuaded David Kapp to sign them to his New York City
based Kapp Records. Kapp released 3 singles by the Tempos.
Mike Lazo, Gene Schacter, and Bobby Vinton : The Hilites
Brill Building song writers Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards wrote the
song “See You in September” on a Friday of June 1959. They pitched the
song to Jack Gold that afternoon. He brought the rights to it for $500
and called the Tempos that evening to fly New York. The Tempos recorded
the song the next day in New York, the record was on Monday, the
testing pressing was done on Thursday, and its was getting airplay on
WNEW on Friday. It was released on the short lived Climax Records
label. The record broke in San Francisco, hit the national charts in
July, and climbed to #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 at the end of August.
The Tempos performed on American Bandstand on October 12, 1959. “See
you in September” was their one national success. Climax released a
follow-up single "The Crossroads of Love" / "What" later in 1959 that
did not reach the charts. They continued to perform at Pittsburgh area
dances, appear on local television dance programs, and record until
1965. They release the singles "Look Homeward Angel" / "Under 10 Flags"
(Paris 1959), "My Barbara Ann" / "When You Loved Me" (Ascot 1965), and
"My Barbara Ann (re-release) / "I Wish It Were Summer" (Ascot 1965).
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