1956 - Robert Mills, Robert Randolph, Norman Palm & Charles McKnight
The Pastels (1) (Chicago)
Personnel :
Fred Buckley (Lead)
Norman Palm (First tenor)
Robert Randolph (Second tenor)
Charles McKnight (Baritone)
Charles Williams (Bass)
Discography :
Singles :
1955 - Put Your Arms Around Me / Boom De De Boom (United 196)
Unreleased :
1955 - Bye Bye (Unreleased)
1955 - Goodbye (Unreleased)
1955 - Patty (demo tape)
1955 - My Little Girl (demo tape)
1955 - Goodbye (demo tape)
Biography :
in 1954, Fred Buckley, the group's lead organized the pastels from
among High School Friends in his south side neighborhood, the other
members were Vernon Thomas (first tenor), Trey Clark (second tenor),
Charles McKnight (baritone), and Pettis Williams (bass). Thomas, Clark
and Williams eventually dropped out of the group and Fred recruited
Norman Palm (first tenor, whom he had met in the National Guard), Robert
Randolph (second tenor), and Charles Williams (Pettis Williams'
brother; bass). The group signed with United owned by Leonard Allen in
October of 1955. The songs they did at the October 19 session were "Bye
Bye" and "Goodbye," both of which were fairly good, but Leonard Allen
for some reason chose not to release them.
Leonard Allen obviously had plans for the group, because on November
23 the Pastels were recording again, putting on wax an average ballad,
"Put Your Arms around Me," with a bouncy El Dorados-type jump tune,
"Boom De De Boom." The latter song was originally intended for the El
Dorados to record (on Vee-Jay), but the group was out of town when the
person who brought it arrived from New York, so he took it to United.
"Boom De De Boom" got the original airplay on local station WHFC, but
then listener requests pushed "Put Your Arms around Me" onto the
playlist. After about a year, Buckley was replaced on Lead by Julius
Collins. The Pastels continued on a few more years and they broke up in
1958.
(L to R) Richard Travis, Dee Ervin, Tony Thomas and Johnny B. Willingham
The Pastels (2) (Air Force, Washington, DC)
Personnel :
DiFosco 'Dee' Ervin (Lead)
Richard Travis (Tenor)
Tony Thomas (Tenor)
Johnny B. Willingham (Baritone)
Discography :
Singles :
1957 - Been So Long / My One And Only Dream (Mascot 123/Argo 5287)
1958 - You Don't Love Me Anymore / Let's Go To The Rock & Roll Ball (Argo 5297)
1958 - So Far Away / Don't Knock (Argo- 5314)
Unreleased :
1958 - How Can I Thank You
1958 - I Wish I Had A Money Tree
1958 - Oh Me Oh My
Biography :
Doo wop group the Pastels formed in 1954. At the time, lead DiFosco
"Dee" Erwin, first tenor Richard Travis, second tenor Tony Thomas, and
baritone Jimmy Willingham were all stationed at a U.S. Air Force base in
Narsarssuak, Greenland, and their first live appearances were in
conjunction with military showcases.
According to Marv Goldberg's profile in the December 1977 edition of
Yesterday's Memories, all four Pastels were eventually transferred to
Washington, D.C., and following a well-received performance at the
USAF's annual "Tops in Blue" talent show, the group decided to pursue a
record contract, eventually landing with the small Hull label.
(L to R) Richard Travis, Johnny B. Willingham, Tony Thomas and Dee Ervin,
Their debut, "Been So Long," hit retail in November 1957, and when it
seemed poised for breakout success, Chess Records licensed the disc for
national distribution, reissuing the single on its Argo subsidiary a
month later. In early 1958, "Been So Long" reached the R&B Top Five,
also crossing over to number 24 on the Billboard pop chart. After extensive touring as part of DJ Alan Freed's Big Beat Show, the
Pastels returned to the studio to cut a follow-up, "You Don't Love Me
Anymore." The record failed to match the success of its predecessor,
however, and when their third Argo release, "So Far Away," met the same
fate, the group dissolved in early 1959. Dee Ervin returned to his
native New York City and mounted a solo career, scoring a 1963 hit with
his cover of the World War II-era favorite "Swinging on a Star."
http://www.uncamarvy.com/Pastels/pastels.html
Songs :
Been So Long My One And Only Dream
You Don't Love Me Anymore Let's Go To The Rock & Roll Ball
In the late 1950s, Jordan Zankoff and pals Gene Blackford, Phil
DiMascio and Darrel McDonald formed a doo-wop group called the
Fascinations. The boys performed at sock hops and appeared on WEWS-TV's
One O'Clock Club. In 1960, the Fascinations cut a 45 RPM record for the
Sure label in Philadelphia.
The Fascinations (1)
The featured song was It's Midnight, a romantic serenade with soaring
vocals, while the calypso-tinged Doom Bada Doom was the flip side.
Although it wasn't a hit, Zankoff had found his niche. Things happened
quickly after that.
Jordan & The (new) Fascinations (2)
Zankoff married an Akron woman, Mary, in 1961 and welcomed a
daughter, Jodi, a year later, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1964.
The singer changed his name to Jordan Christopher, eliminated his
mustache and moved to New York. With a new lineup and new name, Jordan & the Fascinations recorded songs for Carol, Dapt, Crystal Ball and Josie labels.
1959 - Delores / Chop Chop In The Wall (Everest 19316)
Unreleased:
1959 - A Place In Your Heart
1959 - Angel
1959 - Don't Cry
1959 - You Better Admit It
1959 - Jezebel
1959 - Heavenly Father
1959 - Glory Of Love
Biography :
The Boulevards were produced by Bayside, Queens, New York record
entrepreneur Jerry Love. Jerry owned a record store in Bayside, and
produced/managed a number of vocal groups. The Boulevards, were local
boys, Frankie Zazzo, Lou Adessa, Jim Alessandria, Bobby Thomas and Ralph
Lasher.
Jerry Love placed their only released effort with the Everest label
in 1958. The Fascinations, from Akron, Ohio, came to Jerry Love in 1960
with their tape of Midnight and Doom Bada Doom, which Jerry "polished"
with some strings and gave to Eddie Rasbaum for release on his Sure
label.
Jordan and The Fascinations
Lack of success caused the group to return to Ohio, but Jerry matched
up their lead singer, Jordan Christopher, with the Boulevards to form a
new group - Jordan and The Fascinations.
1961 - My Imagination / I'll Be Forever Loving You (Dapt 203)
1961 - Love Will Make Your Mind Go Wild / My Baby Doesn't Smile Anymore (Dapt 207)
1961 - Give Me Your Love / Once Upon A Time (Carol 4116)
1962 - I'm Goin' Home / If You Love Me, Really Love Me (Josie 895)
Unreleased :
1962 - She's Gone
1962 - Loving Fool
1962 - Baby I Need You
1962 - One-Two-Three
1962 - Goodnight
Biography :
In
the late 1950s, Jordan Zankoff and pals Gene Blackford, Phil DiMascio
and Darrel McDonald formed a doo-wop group called the Fascinations. The
boys performed at sock hops and appeared on WEWS-TV's One O'Clock Club.
In 1960, the Fascinations cut a 45 RPM record for the Sure label in
Philadelphia. The featured song was It's Midnight, a romantic serenade
with soaring vocals, while the calypso-tinged Doom Bada Doom was the
flip side. Although it wasn't a hit, Zankoff had found his niche. Things
happened quickly after that.
Zankoff married an Akron woman, Mary, in 1961 and welcomed a
daughter, Jodi, a year later, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1964.
In 1961, the singer changed his name to Jordan Christopher, eliminated
his mustache and moved to New York. The Boulevards were produced by
Bayside, Queens, New York record entrepreneur Jerry Love. The
Boulevards, were local boys from Queens, Frankie Zazzo, Lou Adessa, Jim
Alessandria, Bobby Thomas and Ralph Lasher. Jerry matched up Jordan
Christopher with some members of the Boulevards to form a new group -
Jordan and The Fascinations. Jordan & the Fascinations recorded
songs for Carol, Dapt, Crystal Ball and Josie labels.
Christopher's break came when he joined The Wild Ones, the house band
at New York's Peppermint Lounge, as singer and guitarist. After a
residency at the Peppermint Lounge of eight months, The Wild Ones were
hired to play at "Arthur", the Manhattan discothèque operated by Sybil
Williams, then recently divorced from Richard Burton. Within a month of
meeting, Christopher and Williams—eleven years his senior—began dating,
marrying in 1966
