1955 - Chop Chop Boom / My Autumn Love (States 147)
1955 - Shu-Wop* / My Loving Partner (States 150
1955 - May God Be With You / Little Man (States 152)
1956 - My Love / She's Mine (States 160)
1967 - All The Way / Walk On With Your Nose Up (Midas 9004)
*Song was meant to be titled “New Way” but title had to be changed for censorship reasons.
Biography:
The
Danderliers called themselves by this made-up name, supposedly an
offshoot of the dandelion flower, hoping to differentiate themselves
from all the car and bird-named groups on the doo wop scene at the time.
The original members came together in early 1955, near Cottage Grove
between 60th and 68th Streets on Chicago's South Side. They had all
attended classes at either the Chicago Vocational High or Englewood High
School, and upon graduating, began to practice in nearby Washington
Park. During these early days in the group's history, they trudged over
to nearby United Records to audition on frequent occasions, and each
time they were turned away. One day, the group were still feeling the
sting of rejection after one such audition failed to nab them a
recording contract, and had gathered together in the park to work on a
song that would develop into “Chop Chop Boom.”
At
that very moment Sam Smith of United Records, drove by, heard the
group, and hauled them into his brother Al Smith’s basement rehearsal
hall. Together they worked on polishing “Chop,” and a beautiful ballad,
“My Autumn Love,” both written by Dallas Taylor. These two songs were
the first Danderliers single released on United's States label. By the
first week of April 1955, “My Autumn Love” was hitting the Chicago
airwaves, and many disc jockeys flipped over the flip side, “Chop Chop
Boom,” too. Later, both songs hit the Billboard R&B charts and shot
to number ten on the Disc Jockey lists and number 14 on the Best Seller
scorecard, respectively.
The Dandeliers performed their minor hit before crowds in Michigan,
Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, and Ohio, and built up a solid
repertoire of cover songs to perform, like “Glory of Love” (the 5 Keys),
“Jump Children” (the Flamingos), and “Pardon My Tears” by former
schoolmates and current labelmates the Moroccos. The group’s second
single, “New Way,” was released in the third week of July. The cha-cha
rocker featured Taylor and the group repeating the refrain “Dally's got a
new way.” (Dally was a nickname of Dallas Taylor). It's been said that
when someone in the record company asked, “Dally's got a new way to
what?,” the answer from the lead singer caused a bit of controversy.
States
Records decided that they'd better come up with an answer of their own,
in case anyone asked, and re-titled it “Shu-Wop.” Regardless of what it
was called, the single received a lot of airplay in Chicago, but
nothing much beyond the regional area. A third single, the gospel doo
wop ballad “May God Be With You,” and The Danderliers’ final single,
another fine ballad titled “My Love,” caused nary a ripple beyond the
local area as well, and with no management direction the group soon
disbanded. A few unreleased demos were done for Mercury later, and
Dallas Taylor recorded one record in 1961 as a member of a revised Dells
(“Swingin’ Teens” for the Vee-Jay label), but not much was heard from
them again until they reunited for “All the Way” (Midas Records) in
1967. Dallas Taylor passed away on November 14, 1986. At his funeral,
the former members of the Danderliers sang “May God Be With You.”
