Wade Flemons & The Newcomers (Battle Creek, Michigan)
Personnel :
Wade Flemons (Lead)
Lou Wilson
James Kelley
Ed Horsley
Lewis Grave
Discography :
1958 - Here I Stand / My Baby likes To Rock (Vee Jay 215)
Biography :
Wade Herbert Flemons was born on September 25, 1940 in Coffeyville,
Kansas. Raised to the west in Wichita, Flemons took to singing, first in
his local church choir and later in various gospel groups. Flemons
moved with his parents to Battle Creek, Michigan in 1955. While
attending Battle Creek Central High, he formed a vocal group called The
Shifters, for whom he composed material during a series of lessons he
undertook on the piano.
Lou Wilson James Kelley Ed Horsley
The Shifters were composed of Lou Wilson, James Kelley, Ed Horsley,
and Lewis Grave. By June 1958, The Shifters were rehearsed and competent
enough to travel west to Kalamazoo and cut a demonstration record. The
tune The Shifters had elected to record was "Here I stand," a song
Flemons had authored himself. A copy was sent to James and Vivian
Carter-Bracken at Vee Jay Records. Vee Jay liked "Here I stand." Having
the group change names to the less furtive Newcomers, they signed them
up in July.
Under A & R man Calvin Carter's supervision, Wade Flemons and the
Newcomers cut "Here I stand,' backed with "The (My) baby likes to
rock ». By October 1958, "Here I stand" was ringing up large sales
alongside Jimmy Reed's "Odds & ends" with which publicist Barbara J.
Gardner plugged its potential. Vee Jay's General Manager Ewart Abner
bragged to Billboard Magazine that his man Flemons was headed for the
top.
A tour of the Eastern seaboard (Flemons' first professional
engagement) was set up to begin on Christmas Eve. Packed off to
Pittsburgh to publicize his tour, Flemons hooked up with deejays who
opened a mike and gave him a welcome spot on the air. "Here I stand"
eventually climbed to #19 on the R & B charts. Upon returning from
his Eastern tour, Flemons was rushed into Chicago's Universal Recording
Studios to cut Otis Blackwell's "Hold me close" and "You'll remain
forever." Blackwell, among reams of credentials, first recorded with Bud
Johnson on Victor in 1952 and wrote songs for Elvis Presley, among
other luminaries.
Influenced by singers like Nat Cole and Roy Hamilton, Flemons chose
to sing in a smooth, infectious way, drifting into a more dramatic style
only when the song demanded it. It seems that by now, The Newcomers, no
longer newcomers, were gone although their presence could possibly be
manifest on two songs from Flemons' album (Vee Jay 1011) released in
early 1960, "Don't be careless" and "Purposely."
1963 - The Bird's The Word / I'm Losing My Grip (Liberty 55553)
1963 - The Shaky Bird (Part 1) / The Shaky Bird (Part 2) (Liberty 55585)
1963 - Cherry / Little Sally Walker (Liberty 55610)
1964 - Wee Jee Walk / Fairy Tales (Liberty 55671)
1964 - I Tried / One Monkey (Reprise 0293)
1964 - All That Glitters / You Move Me Baby (Am I Moving You) (A. R. E. 100)
1964 - You Move Me Baby / All That Glitters (Vee Jay 634)
1964 - I Love You Always / Years Of Tears (Vee Jay 649)
1965 - The Willy / Just Got To Be More (Vee Jay 677)
1966 - A Rose Growing In The Ruins / Tend To Business (Columbia 43581)
1966 - Yadi - Yadi - Dum - Dum / Yadi - Yadi Revisited (Columbia 43772)
1967- Little Sally Walker (Columbia)
1967 - You're Gonna Pay / I Don't Want A New Baby (Quan 1379)
1969 - Pop Your Corn (Part 1) / Pop Your Corn (Part 2) (RCA 74-0301)
1973 - Papa - Oom - Mow - Mow / I Don't Want A New Baby (Wand 11253)
Liberty 55553
Lps :
1963 - Doin' the Bird(Liberty LST-3282)
Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow
/ Love Pill / Long Tall Sally / Unchain My Heart / You Are My Sunshine /
Happy Jack / Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow / Kickapoo Joy Juice / Slippin' And
Slidin' / Old Time Love / Have Mercy Mercy Baby / Standing In The Love
Line
The Ebbtides (3)
1959 - Lonesome / Love Doctor (Jan Lar 101)
The Four After Fives
1961 - Hello Schoolteacher! / I Gotta have somebody (All Time 9076)
The Sharps (1)
Singles:
1956 - Six Months, Three Weeks / Cha - Cho Hop (inst.) (Tag 2200/Chess 1690)
1957 - Come On / Sweet Sweetheart (Jamie 1040/Vik 0264)
1957 - Our Love Is Here To Stay / Lock My Heart (Lamp 2007)
1957 - What Will I Gain / Shugglin' (Aladdin 4301)
1958 - All My Love / Look What You've Done To Me (Combo 146/Dot 15806)
1958 - Look At Me / Have Love, Will Travel (Jamie 1108)
1958 - Here's A Heart / Gig - A - Lene (Jamie 1114)
Unreleased :
1958 - Honey Babe (aka Tapun, Tapun) (Combo)
1958 - Hold Me (Combo)
1958 - I’m Such A Lovin’ Man (Combo)
Thurston Harris & The Sharps (1)
1957 - Little Bitty Pretty One / I Hope You Won't Hold It Against Me (Aladdin 3398)
Thurston Harris bb The Sharps (1)
1958 - Do What You Did / I'm Asking Forgiveness (T.Harris) (Aladdin 3399)
Sammy Turner & The Twisters (2)
1959 - Sweet Annie Laurie / Thunderbolt (Big Top 3007)
The Crenshaws
Singles :
1962 - Moonlight In Vermont / He's Got The Whole World In His Hand's (W.B. 5254)
Eps :
1965 - Off Shore / Let The Good Times Roll / Wishing Star / Manana (W.B. 5505)
Dante & His Friends (3)
1961 - Are You Just My Friend / Something Happens (Imperial 5798)
1962 - Miss America / Now I've Got You (Imperial 5827)
1962 - Magic Ring / Am I The One (Imperial 5867)
Biography :
Most
people in the early 2000s are surprised to find out about the
Rivingtons -- that's primarily because people mostly discover their
existence when they hear one of the group's three hits,
"Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow," "Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow (The Bird)," and "The Bird's the
Word," which are much, much better known in their composite re-recording
by the Trashmen (as "Surfin' Bird"). And when they hear the Rivingtons'
version, they're inevitably surprised by the fine singing and superb
R&B phrasing, miles away from the Trashmen's punk stylings. Their
version of the song was just as nonsensical, but it had amazing class
and panache, and it's more than that -- it's part of a story of superb
singing, bird dances and surfin' birds, great dances and even better
times, before the world of the 1960s got all dark and serious and too
dangerous for good clean fun. The Rivingtons were a West Coast vocal
group whose lineup featured Al Frazier, Carl White, John "Sonny" Harris,
and Turner "Rocky" Wilson Jr. That lineup went through myriad
reshapings to get there, along with renamings -- they weren't even the
Rivingtons to start with.
It all started with Al Frazier, in high school in Los Angeles at the
end of the 1940s, who sang baritone and formed his own group, the
Mello-Moods, whose ranks included future Platters member Paul Robi. They
had aspirations to record, but never got that lucky -- Frazier went
into the army and served in Korea, which didn't interrupt his desire for
a music career. When he got out he formed a new outfit, a mixed
male/female quartet called Emanons (which was "No Names" backwards).
They were good enough to wrangle a TV appearance locally in 1952, but
that was as far as they ascended. Then, in 1953, Frazier crossed paths
with lead singer Thurston Harris, bass singer Matthew Nelson, baritone
Leon Hughes, and tenor Willie Ray Rockwell, at an amateur night run by
the legendary deejay Hunter Hancock -- they had a group but no moves,
and Frazier had some moves to suggest, and suddenly they were a quintet,
then went back to being a quartet when Hughes left the lineup. The
four-man outfit, called the Lamplighters, were signed to Federal
Records, part of Syd Nathan's King Records, and began making their name
all over the West Coast during the run -- up to the middle of the 1950s.
They
were doing well, young men loving their work and getting lots of it,
and then, while on the East Coast, Thurston Harris suddenly got homesick
for Indianapolis and decided to leave the act. The group was on hiatus
and might have stayed that way if Willie Ray Rockwell hadn't pointed
Frazier to a pair of singers, tenor John "Sonny" Harris and lead Carl
White, with Nelson returning to establish the lineup that would carry
them for the next few years. The only problem was that the record
company felt it was ill-advised to release a new Lamplighters single
with a new lead singer, so instead of picking up where the latter group
had left off, they were renamed the Tenderfoots and forced to rebuild
their reputation and audience. They got four records out on Federal
without any significant sales or airplay, and their bookings were
similarly slim. They tried to bring Thurston Harris back into the lineup
but that didn't last. And they spent time appearing on other artists'
records -- including a credit as "the Jacks" behind Paul Anka on
"Blau-Wile-Deveest-Fontaine," and were signed to the Jamie label as the
Sharps by producer Lester Sill (of future Phil Spector fame) in 1956.
They
bounced around some more, to Aladdin Records, where they even ended up
singing behind Thurston Harris, on records including "Little Bitty
Pretty One." Their next stop was Tag Records and then to Combo Records,
with "Look What You've Done to Me," which was later picked up by Dot
Records for national distribution. Then it was back to Jamie, where they
cut more sides of their own and sang behind Duane Eddy, among others
(they were the Rebels in that incarnation). Finally, at the very end of
the 1950s, Matthew Nelson left the fold and was replaced on bass by
Turner "Rocky" Wilson Jr., and that lineup sang behind artists including
bandleader/actor/trumpeter Ray Anthony (of Mamie Van Doren fame). There
was also a stint as the Four After Fives and another as the Crenshaws,
working with producer Kim Fowley on "Hello School Teacher," and backing
Roy Milton, and cutting sides for Warner Bros.. Their break came one day
when they were fooling around in the studio and Rocky Wilson suddenly
came up with the "papa-oom-mow-mow" vocal line, done basso, and everyone
loved it. The resulting LP was startlingly compelling record that
Fowley steered, along with the group, to a pair of producers, Jack Levy
and Adam Ross. They came up with a $1200 advance for the song and
against an eventual contract with group, and the name the Rivingtons
(derived from the two having once lived on Rivington Street on New
York's Lower East Side). They offered the recording to Capitol, who
turned it down as a little too far-out (that from a label that recorded
Yma Sumac and released the single "Tsukiaki").
Instead, it went to Capitol's younger rival, Liberty Records, who
bought it but then sat on it for six months trying to figure out how to
sell a song called "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow." The group and their managers had
no doubt how to sell it -- play it, sing it, get it heard. Which is
exactly what they did, at a performing showcase for deejays in Los
Angeles. The deejays loved what they heard, and asked for a record to
promote, and the managers duly provided them with "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow." It
spread across the Los Angeles airwaves, and out from there to
California, and suddenly there was no decision to be made about
marketing the song -- it sold itself, and all Liberty had to do was ship
them, the song did the rest. One of the reasons for its appeal was that
yes, it was a nonsense song, but the members sang it with such spirit
and élan, that it wasn't a "guilty pleasure" or an embarrassing novelty
record -- it was silly, but it was also viscerally exciting like the
very best R&B dance records, and sung that way. Like an amazing
number of other "novelty" singles -- "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer",
"Short Shorts," and "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow's distant successor, "Na Na Hey
Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)," it was cut initially as a joke, an
after-thought, at the end of a session, and worked its way into the
vernacular infectiously. An album followed, entitled Doin' the Bird, in
late 1962, that the group wasn't too happy about, and a follow-up
single, "Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow," but not before "Kickapoo Joy Juice"
interrupted their momentum.
They
followed with up with "The Bird's the Word," which capitalized on the
first two records on that theme, and then "The Shaky Bird." They rode
the crest of a wave for a year, into the second half of 1963. By that
time, a Minneapolis-based surf band called the Trashmen co-opted the
boom started by the Rivingtons, combining their first and third Liberty
singles into a composite work entitled "Surfin' Bird," pushing the beat
into warp nine and rocketing them to the Top Ten and linking the
Rivingtons forever to the tail-end of the surf music craze and also, to
an extent, displacing the originals -- by the time the Ramones began
playing it a decade or so later, it was already a standard piece of punk
band repertory. The Rivingtons kept making good records but never found
a replacement for the "bird" craze around which to wrap their work.
"Cherry" was a straight R&B ballad, and "Weejee Walk," which closed
out their Liberty career, was an attempt at another dance piece. The
group bounced around some more, between Reprise Records and Adam Ross's
own label, and Columbia Records, before forming their own label, Quan,
in 1967. They were Carlos & the Rivingtons at one point, and in
1973, amid the oldies craze, they did an updated version of
"Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow." Carl White, who passed away at the end of the
decade, was succeeded by Andrew Butler, and as of the early 1990s, a
version of the Rivingtons was still performing. In 1991, EMI Records,
which had acquired the Liberty library, issued Liberty Years, a 23-song
compilation of the group's Liberty sides. It's glorious, a magnificent
collection of stunning vocals, and as priceless and essential a body of
music as the best work of Bo Diddley, Johnny Otis, or any other
foundation rockers you care to name.
1962 - I Think Of You / Our Love (Will Never Grow Cold) (Don-El 114)
Lady Fox bb The Foxettes
Single:
1962 - It Must Be Love / How Are You (Comment allez-vous) (Don-El 118)
Unreleased :
1962 - Adios, Goodbye to Love (Don-El)
1962 - Our Love Will Never Grow Cold (Don-El)
Biography :
Producer Wally Osborne is not a household name, even to students of
Philadelphia soul, but he did involve himself in numerous Philly soul
records, as producer, songwriter, and musician. In 1962, he Produced
Lady Fox & The Foxettes. Lady Fox’s name was really Betty Fox. Her
husband’s name was Hubert Fox.
The Jaynetts : Lezli Valentine, Yvonne Bushnell & Ethel Davis
The
other two girls were Yvonne Bushnell and Liz Grant. Yvonne Bushnell
came out of the Jaynetts “Sally Go ‘Round The Roses”. She lived in
Philly then but had come from the Jaynetts. She later married (well
known music columnist) Masco Young. Their two singles Was released on
Don El records in 1962 . Don El records Founded by C. Percy White [aka
Don White] . Their songs went nowhere and the group disbanded in 1962.
1960 - Tell Tale Kisses / I Found True Love (Shad 5020)
Dougie & The Dolphins (1)
1961 - Yesterday's Dreams / Double Date (Angle Tone 542)
Unreleased :
1960 - Exactly Like You (Demo)
1964 - Isle of Capri (Acap) (Practice Session)
1964 - Rags To Riches (Acap) (Practice Session)
1966 - People Are Talking (Demo)
1966 - What Did Daddy Do (Acap) (Demo)
1966 - There Goes my love (Acap) (Demo)
Biography :
A
group of neighborhood friends came together in the Red Hook-South
Brooklyn section of Brooklyn in New York City to form the Dolphins in
1959. The Members are Douglas Rivera (Lead), Al Preta (First tenor), Joe
Lentinello (Second Tenor), Noel Musccianesi (Baritone), Richie Cuffe
(Bass).
They
made a connection with the Shad Label through their manager Paul
Cappolino. he was the uncle of the famous guitar duo Santo & Johnny
Farina who scored several slide guitar instrumental hits for the
Canadian American Label.
Bobby Shad put Mickey "Guitar" Baker in charge of the arrangements
and production of their session, recorded at Capitol Studios in New York
on 19 April 1960. A 32 piece orchestra, that included 16 violins, was
used for the songs "Tell Tale Kisses" and "I Found True Love", which
were issued as Shad 5020 on 11 August 1960.
When this release just missed charting, the group went to the Angle
Tone label where they recorded under the name Dougie & The Dolphins
in 1961.
(Paste up picture) Clarence Bassett, Ronald Cuffey
The Videos (Jamaica, NY)
Personnel :
Ronald Cuffey (Lead)
Clarence Bassett (First Tenor)
Charles Baskerville (Second Tenor)
Johnny Jackson (Baritone)
Ron Woodhall (Bass)
Discography :
1958 - Trickle, Trickle / Moonglow, You Know (Casino 102)
1958 - Love Or Infatuation / Shoo Bee Doo Bee Cha Cha Cha (Casino 105)
Biography :
A native of Jamaica, Queens, New York, Ronald Cuffey was a member of the 1950s Rhythm and Blues musical group, The Five Sharps,
along with tenor Robert 'Bobby' Ward, pianist Thomas 'Tommy Duckett,
Mickey Owens, and Clarence Bassett. The group which formed in the early
1950s, is best remembered for there 1952 single, "Stormy Weather." The
song which was recorded on the Jubilee Record Label is considered one of
the most collectible doo-wop singles ever released. In 1953, a couple
of the band members left to join the military, and shortly afterwards
the group disbanded, and went there separate ways.
Clarence Bassett & Charles
Baskerville
In 1958, Clarence Bassett and Ronald Cuffey joined forces and created
another musical group, The Videos with Charles Baskerville, Johnny
Jackson and Ron Woodhall. They signed with the Casino Record Label and
recorded the song, "Trickle Trickle", which was a minor success for
them. Before they were able to record a follow-up to their second
release for Casino, "Love Or Infatuation," two members had died: Ron
Woodhall and Ronald Cussey. This marked the end of the Videos' Singing
career.Two years after the Heartbeats' demise, James Sheppard met Clarence Bassett and Charles Baskerville of the Videos and formed Shep & the Limelites.
After two flops on Apt. Records, Shep returned to Hull Records and
Caslin signed them on the spot. "Daddy's Home" was Shep & the
Limelites' first Hull release and it nearly aced the pop chart, stopping
at number two.
1964 - Don't Worry About Me Baby / You're So Fine (Etiquette 13)
Lp :
1963 - The Wailers and Company (Etiquette 022)
Shoo Fly Pie
Biography :
The
Wailers wanted to expand their stage show into a review by adding other
performers. With two flips and a beehive ala 1962, and the departure of
Rock' in Robin from the Wailers, they began auditioning several girl
singers and formed their own girl singing group…. The MARSHANS. The
original members consisted of Marilyn Lodge, Kay Rogers, and Penny
Anderson. Later on Mary Ellen Hanson replaced Marilyn Lodge and Nickie
Morrill (Kent's wife at the time) had a short run with the group.
The Marshans were a colorful and audience pleasing addition to The
Wailers' show during the early sixties backing up Kent Morrill and Gail
Harris performances, and doing their own thing singing 'girl trio' R
& B songs popular in the early '60's. They were the voices on the
Wailers' "We're Goin' Surfin" ET45-06, and had their own single "I
Remember" b/w "It's Almost Tomorrow" ET45-08 in 1962. The Marshans were
also included on the compilation "WAILERS & COMPANY" ETLP 022
released in 1963 with "Shoo Fly Pie" .
The girls performed with The Wailers until the end of 1964 throughout
the Greater Northwest with an occasional tour to Utah, Nevada and
California. The changing times and more emphasis on bands, the Wailers
"downsized" the "review" and began concentrating on developing the band
with the addition of Ron Gardner, Dave Roland and Neil Anderson. The
Marshans began doing performances by themselves with an occasional
reunion with the Wailers. They were recently featured on the Wailers
40th anniversary shows in Tacoma and Seattle, March 1999. The group
disbanded near the end of 1964. Marilyn Lodge had a solo Etiquette
single recording shot with "You're So Fine" b/w"Don't Worry About Me
Baby" under the stage name of Mayalta Page.
The Twilights Pete Reyes, Joe Durant, Claude "Indio" Chenet, Cal Washington and Robert Perryman
The Embers (9) (Bronx, New York)
aka The Twilights (2) aka The Four Embers
ref : The Juveniles
Personnel :
Robert "Bobby" Perryman (Lead)
Claude "Indio" Chenet (Second Tenor)
Joseph Durant (Baritone)
Cal Washington (First Tenor)
Peter Reyes (Bass)
Discography :
The Twilights (2)
Single :
1959 - My Heart Belongs To Only You / Oh Baby Love (Finesse 1717)
Demo :
1958 - Soda Pop (acapella)
1958 - My Heart Belongs To Only You (acapella)
Maria Elena & The Twilights (2)
1962 - I Was Too Careful / Temptation (Countess 113)
The Embers (9)
Singles :
1961 - Solitaire / I’m Feeling All Right Again (Empress 101)
1961 - I Won’t Cry Anymore / I Was Too Careful (Empress 104)
1962 - Abigail / I Was Too Careful (Empress 107)
Unreleased :
1961 - What A Surprise (Empress)
1961 - I Wish I Didn’t Love You So (Empress)
The Four Embers
1963 - But Beautiful / You’ve Been Away Too Long (Smash 1846)
Biography :
In 1957, Marilyn Bishop Marilyn gave birth to a baby girl, Michelle, and left The Juveniles.
Larry Peters will make even some time after. At this time, the group
has only three members. Robert Perryman stepped up to become the new
lead singer and Cal Washington was recruited by Claude Chenet to become
the new first tenor. Cal had sung with a local street group, had a
background in gospel and blues and also hung out with the Chords. Pete
Reyes was recruited by Bobby to replace Larry Peters as the bass singer.
The Twilights now consisted of Robert Perryman (lead) Cal Washington
(first tenor) Claude “Indio” Chenet (second tenor) Joseph Durant
(baritone) and Peter Reyes (bass).
The Juveniles "Bobby" Perryman , Claude "Indio" Chenet, Marilyn Durant, Larry Peters and Joe Durant
The Twilights recorded “My Heart Belongs To Only You” and “Oh Baby
Love,” with Bobby Perryman singing both leads, which came out on Finesse
Records in November of 1959. The Twilights also backed up Maria Elena
on “I Was Too Careful” and “Temptation,” both of which weren’t released
until 1962 on Countess Records. They appeared at one of Clay Cole’s
shows in Palisades Park, New Jersey also starring the Drifters,
Moonglows, Skyliners, Belmonts, Bobby Rydell and Neil Sedaka.
The Twilights sang “My Heart Belongs To Only You” as well as “Oh Baby
Love” and this performance was broadcast live on television. The
Twilights also appeared at the RKO Franklin Theatre on Prospect Avenue
in the Bronx where they also backed up Maria Elena. The Twilights
changed their name to the Embers and signed with Empress Records, owned
by Gene and Jody Malis, which was a subsidiary label (as was Valmor)
under Countess International.
The Embers : Pete Reyes, Joe Durant, Claude "Indio" Chenet, Robert Perryman and Cal Washington
The Embers had been rehearsing an old
standard ballad that Tony Bennett recorded named “Solitaire,” a song
that Jody wanted them to record because she felt it had hit potential.
The Embers recorded “Solitaire” with Bobby Perryman singing lead. On
the week of August 22, 1961, “Solitaire” reached number 9 on WABC’s
radio survey. It was also doing extremely well on Billboard’s charts.
By mid 1963, the Embers were down to four members as Pete Reyes had left
the group. The Embers were still under contract with Empress, which
wasn’t doing well at the time so Gene and Jody Malis sent them to writer
and record producer Wally Zober in order to see what he could do for
them.
Wally took them down to Odo Recording Studios on West 54th Street in
Manhattan on August 1, 1963 where they recorded “But Beautiful” and
“You’ve Been Away Too Long.” A bass player, George Butcher, arranged the
orchestra and the group arranged the vocals. “But Beautiful” was
recorded first, with Robert Perryman singing lead. “You’ve Been Away Too
Long” was a fast number that Jody had given to them but they did not
care for. They recorded it with Cal singing lead. The session lasted for
most of the day and the songs were released on Smash Records, a
subsidiary of Mercury Records, in December of 1963 as by the “Four
Embers.” By 1964, with the British Invasion underway, the Embers
(without a hit record since 1961) broke up and decided to get on with
their personal lives.
Songs :
The Twilights (2)
My Heart Belongs To Only You Oh Baby Love
Maria Elena & The Twilights (2)
Temptation I Was Too Careful
The Embers (9)
Solitaire I’m Feeling All Right Again I Won’t Cry Anymore
1959 - You're The Right One / Gift Of Love (PL 1015)
Unreleased :
1959 - What Is Love
1959 - Cindy Lou
Biography :
Kenny Chandler, born Kenneth Bolognese, was originally from. “The
Hill” section of Harrisburg,Pa. and was a member of John Harris High
School Class of 1959. Interested in music at an early age, Kenny got
together with four classmates 1n senior high school to form a group
called the Montclaires (later changed to the Clairmonts). This first
group consisted of Micky Liddick. (drums), Junie Brown (
congas),Nathanial Edmonds (piano), with. Lee Bradshaw, Ray Carlisle,
George Campbell, and Kenny doing vocals. They split up after only a
short time but Ken stayed together with Ray Carlisle, in hopes of
forming another group. it was after football practice, while singing in
the showers, that. Ray got word that teammate Frankie Cacapardo was
interested in joining the group. Thus, the trio was formed, calling
them- selves Kenny, Frank, and Ray. Kenny remembers that, at the time they were singing a lot of
street-corner harmony, and became practiced enough to win second place
in a talent show at the Senate Theater, Harrisburg. This little bit of
notoriety brought the trio to the attention of WHGB disc-jockey Paul
Landersman,who was, at the time, doing a live radio show from the
Colonial.
The boys came down to the theater during one of these live
broadcasts and actually auditioned for him on the fire escape during a
break. Paul had already established good connections in the music
business as manager of the Quintones. (York, Pa), and was impressed
enough with the trio's talents that he asked to manage them on the spot.
The first big local show that Kenny, Frank, and Ray performed at was at
the Zembo Mosque, Harrisburg, featuring Danny and the Juniors and
Connie Francis . During rehearsals, one of the members of Danny & The Juniors
became very impressed with the trio's vocal stylings, and inquired
whether they had a record out. This connection soon got them to an
office in Philadelphia where they auditioned for Bernie Lowe. They
presented 4 orignal songs at the audition, but Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe
were more impressed with the talent than the songs and arranged a
recording session at Reco-Arts Studios which produced 2 sides:
“Everybody Loves Saturday" and "I'm Going Away." Bernie Lowe was the
piano player on the session, and Paul played the folding slat chairs (a
low-budget version of the drums). Lowe issued it on his own label as
Cameo #144. ”Everybody” was written by Cameo staffer Tony Mamerella
under the pseudonym. Anthony September. Cameo was one of the new ”hot”
labels when the song was released in the summer of 1958. Unfortunately,
although “Everybody Loves Saturday" received good local play, it never
went national.
Reco-Arts was again used to record “If You Love Me” and “Why Was I
Born” (a Ray Carlisle original). Issued as PL #13 in late 1958, the
record received only limited regional exposure. By 1959,. Ray had become
disillusioned and dropped out of the group, ending their string of
near-hits at two. Kenny, however, had been writing some original
material, and formed a new group in 1959 called The Beaus. This group
consisted of Dick Donmoyer, Bob Napotonia, Frank Desendi, and Ralph
Stevens. Kenny took on the stage name “ Kenny Beau,” and returned to
Reco-Arts to cut “You're the Right One” and “Gift of Love". The Session
produced a solid 2-sides doo-wop records, released as PL 1015. The
Whirlwinds, which is the group credited on the label, were really the
studio musicians used on the session, as the name of the group was
officially “Kenny and The Beaus".
The good looking Harrisburg resident hijacked the surname of movie
star Jeff Chandler, finally attracting some notice in 1961 with 'Drums',
written and produced by Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller, then creative
geniuses in residence at United Artists. Chandler subsequently signed
with Laurie about the time Dion was leaving the label for Columbia.
1964 - You Pulled A Fast One / Flashback (Bigtop 518)
1964 - I'm On To You Baby / If He Wants Me (Bigtop 521)
1965 - Don't Pass Me By / You Ain't Good For Nothing (Bigtop 100)
French Ep
Biography :
From Doo woo To Soul : When Sammy Strain left The Fantastics in 1960,
Larry Lawrence, Fred Warner, William Forrest and Billy Sutton acquired a
new first tenor named Nick Nicholson. They continued singing as the
Fantastics for the next couple years and finally as the Keynoters they
recorded “I Wanna Know Who” B/w “Come Back Home” for Keynote Records.
In
1964, Larry Lawrence, Fred Warner and Nick Nicholson formed the
V.I.P.’s, along with Horace Brooks from the Impacts and Blue Chips and a
female singer, Jackie Carter. Paul Fulton of the Chips and Blue Chips
also reported being in the group. They used to rehearse at the Brill
Building on Broadway and the producer’s name was Bill Giant who lived in
Matawan, New Jersey. The V.I.P.’s recorded three records for Bigtop
Records, the best selling one being “You Pulled A Fast One”.
The V.I.P.'s had a good lead with Jackie Carter, But they never
charted. They always had regional hits. In Baltimore they did a show at
the Royal Theater with Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions. After
being together for about a year, the V.I.P.’s broke up and some time
shortly after that, Jackie Carter was found dead.
