Floyd Adams (Lead): (l-r) :Howard Anderson, Roger Lee , Larry "Spanky" Carter, Tucker Class
The Keynotes (1) (Harlem, New York)
Personnel :
Floyd Adams (Lead)
Howard Anderson (First Tenor)
Roger Lee (Second Tenor)
Larry "Spanky" Carter (Baritone)
Tucker Class (Bass)
Discography :
Singles :
1955 - Suddenly / Zenda (Apollo 478)
1955 - I Don't Know / A Star (Apollo 484)
1956 - Really Wish You Were Here / Bye Bye Baby (Apollo 493)
1956 - Now I Know / Zup Zup (Apollo 498)
1956 - In The Evening / O Yeah Hm-m-m (Apollo 503)
1957 - One Little Kiss / Now I Know (Apollo 513)
Unreleased:
N/A - Early one morning (Relic LP 5080)
N/A - Chapel bells are ringing (Relic LP 5080)
N/A - Tell me you love me (Relic LP 5080)
N/A - Surely (Apollo LP 1000/Relic LP 5072)
N/A - Zoop zoop (darling i love you) (Apollo LP 1000/Relic LP 5072)
N/A - Girl in the chapel (Apollo LP 1000/Relic LP 5072)
Biography :
The
Keynotes, emerged from ll5th Street in l954. Although it is rumored
that they were singing the street song "Lily Maebelle", their first
record for Apollo was "Zenda"/ "Suddenly". Later in 1955, they had a
local New York rocker, "I Don't Know," that hit on the R&B stations.
It featured Sam "The Man" Taylor on tenor horn and Mickey "Guitar"
Baker. The first two records were led by Floyd Adams, who was rumored to be the lead of another Apollo group, The Inspirations ("Raindrops"/ "Maggie").
Adams stayed on to do two more groovie rockers, "Bye Bye
Baby" and "Really Wish You Were " until he was replaced by the more
dynamic tenor, Sam Kearney, who led "In The Evening" and two different
versions of the calypso-blues-rock "Now I Know". The Keynotes were the prototype New York Street group. They may have
had as many as ten members who recorded for the fun of it, singing well
but never making it big. They were subjected to the same tragic
results, limited success and nonrecognition, as their uptown brothers,
The Vocaltones.
