THREE VALES

 

(L to R) Richard Blair, Ronnie Blair & Dick Sedlock

 The Three Vales (McKeesport, Pa)

Personnel :

Richard Blair

Ronnie Blair

Dick Sedlock

Discography :

Dick Vale The Three Vales

1957 - Sure Nuff / Rock A Billy Blues (Coral 61844) 

The Three Vales

1957 - Blue Lights Down Low / Aye Aye Aye (Cindy 3007) 

Unreleased :

1958 - Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered / Aye Aye Aye

Biography :

This group formed in 1956. After many hours of daily practice, they obtained their first job performing at local club. They led to many other local appearances. Pittsburgh Deejay Jay Michael helped them get an audition with Gale records. They recorded masters for gale, but nothing was ever released on that label. Moe Gale had sold their masters to Coral Records, which eventually released a three Vales disc with "Sure Nuff" b/w "Rock A Billy Blues".  

(L to R) Dick Sedlock, Ronnie Blair & Richard Blair

The artist designation of their coral release was either an error or promotional "gimmick", they were identified as Dick Vale & The Three Vales instead of Three Vales.The Coral recording did quite well and they appeared with many of the names Rhythm and Blues and Rock'n'Roll stars at the dance hall. The success of "Sure Nuff" earned them a spot on Jay Michael's August 23, 1957 Top Ten Revue at the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh. The program was billed as "A Shower Of Stars"and included Sal Mineo, Jill Corey, the Four Coins, the clovers, the Bobbettes, Huey Smith, the Velours and others.

(L to R) Richard Blair, Ronnie Blair & Dick Sedlock

The fall of 1957, Richard Blair collaborated with Sonny Gilmer of the Premiers in penning a ditty called "Blue Lights Down Low". Jay Michael heard the three Vales do it at one of his hop. He was so impressed, Michael contacted his friend, George Goldner, who owned Roulette Records. Without delay, a recording session was shelled for the group. Sonny & the Premiers accompanied the Three Vales to New York and provided instrumentation for "Blue Lights Down Low" and "Aye Aye Aye". Following the release of "Blue Lights Down Low" on Roulette's subsidiary Cindy label, the Three Vales continued performing  throughout the Pittsburgh vicinity. Ron Blair was drafted in June 1958 and the Three Vales parted. At this time brother Richard Blair moved on to California.

 

After his service obligation ended, Ron returned to Pittsburgh in 1960. He and Sedlock re-formed the Three Vales, getting Mike Salvi to replace Richard Blair. Additionally, the group included Rudy Salvi on guitar and Mike Cinna on drums. The Three Vales were once again on the scene. On June 21, 1961, the Three Vales went into the recording studios at united recording service in Pittsburgh. With Sonny & the Premiers backing, the group recorded "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" b/w an updated " Aye Aye Aye". Their effort was splendid but no attempt to find a label ensued. Although there was no recording, they toured and entertained at clubs. They remained together for more than a year and finally broke up for good.

Songs :

Dick Vale & The Three Vales

   

Sure Nuff                                         Rock A Billy Blues

The Three Vales

 Blue Lights Down Low / Aye Aye Aye

 

 

 

LAURELS (4) (KENNY LORAN & THE)

 

Kenny Loran 

Kenny Loran & The Laurels (4) (Lawndale, CA)  

Personnel :

Kenneth Albert Loranger "Kenny Loran" (Lead)

LaVerne Loranger

Jim Logue

Danny Hinzo

John Wells (Bass)

 

Discography :

1958 - Lonely Boy / Change Of Love (Challenge 59010)

Biography :

Kenny Loranger "Kenny Loran" started out singing with friend Danny Hinzo in 1957. They called themselves "The Jamaica Jerks".  They eventually became a five man group with the addition of John Wells, LaVerne Loranger (Kenny’s Brother) and Jim Logue, all from Leuzinger High School, in Lawndale, CA.  

         

           Jim Logue                         Danny Hinzo                           John Wells                     LaVerne Loranger

A neighbor by the name of Bill Peppers heard them sing, and approached them to do a record. Bill changed the group's name to 'Kenny Loran & The Laurels'.  Challenge Records cut their recording. "Lonely Boy" and a B-side titled  "Change of Love".  Both were written by Kenny.  

   

The group was hired as back up singers for Gene Vincent  & The Blue Caps. The manager for Kenny Loran & The Laurels died of a heart attack. The group disbanded in 1959. Mr Peppers rented the Red Wagon , and started a program on KFWB called 'Hawthorne Night of Stars' with headliners Fats Domino, Sam Cooke, and The Crickets.

Songs :

(updated by Hans-Joachim) 

 

   

Change Of Love                                    Lonely Boy     

 

...

DREAM GIRLS (BOBBIE SMITH & THE)

Bobbie Smith & The Dream Girls (Detroit, Michigan)

 

Personnel :

Bobbie Smith (Elma Holman) (Lead)

Sheena Carson (Genever Holman)

Kay Green (Kay Hemphill)

Tina LaGora (Tina Green)

Louvain Demps (temporarily)

 

Discography :

The Dream Girls

1959 - Oh This Is Why / Don't Break My Heart (first version) (Twirl 1002)

1959 - Don't Break My Heart / Oh, This Is Why (Cameo 165)

1960 - Don't Break My Heart (second version) / I Could Write A Book (Big Top 3059)

Bobbie Smith & The Dream Girls

1959 - Crying In The Night / I'm In Love With You (Metro 20029)

1960 - Love Him / Heartaches (Metro 20034)

1961 - Wanted / Mr. Fine (Big Top 3085)

1962 - The Duchess of Earl / Mine All Mine (Big Top 3100)

1962 - Here Comes Baby / I Get A Feeling My Love  (Big Top 3111)

1962 - Now He's Gone / Your Lovey Dovey Ways (Big Top 3129) 

Bobbie Smith

Singles:

1964 - Walk On Into My Heart / Miss Stronghearted (American Arts 2)

1965 - (You Know) I'll Be Around / Wait (Bell 628)

Unreleased:

1966 - I Can't Say No To You

 

Biography:

The Dream Girls are probably one of Detroit’s best kept secrets when it comes to girl groups of the 50’s and 60’s. While they cranked out 10 singles between 1959 and 1965, they stood in the shadows of hit-makers like the Supremes, the Shirelles, the Marvelettes, and the plethora of girl groups that hit the scene during this early era of Doo Wop, R&B, and Soul.  Discovered by Irving Micahnik and Harry Balk of Artists, Inc. based in Detroit, the group was made up of four young girls that included Bobbie Smith (Elma Holman), her sister Sheena Carson (Genever Holman), Kay Green (Kay Hemphill), and Tina LaGora (Tina Green). Bobbie and Kay were 18 years old when the group started, and Sheena and Tina were 21. Bobbie sang lead as she had the best voice and the most versatility in the group. Balk and Micahnik wasted no time recording the girls. At the time, Balk managed Little Willie John and Kenny Martin, and created the Twirl Records label in order to get 1000 singles pressed and distributed locally in a hurry.

     

Bobbie Smith at the Apollo (1960)                                                                                                               

The session yielded: The Dream Girls’ songs “Don’t Break My Heart” / “Oh This Is Why.” Micahnik and Balk released “Don’t Break My Heart” on Twirl #1002. The single got almost immediate airplay in Detroit and surrounding areas. Harry and Irving initially pressed 1,000 copies, and found themselves reordering another 1,000 singles of the Dream Girls.“Don’t Break My Heart” did pretty well, and Balk and Micahnik managed to lease that single out to Cameo Records.  Artists, Inc. and the newly formed Twirl label were off to a good start with the single climbing the charts. At the next session The Dream Girls recorded “I’m In Love With You” and “Crying In The Night. The recordings were released on MGM Records’ Metro label, which helped twofold in that these records were manufactured “in house” by MGM and distributed nationally through MGM’s distribution network, allowing for better exposure than the Twirl label could ever hope for.

  

In early 1960, Harry Balk brought the Dream Girls over to Berry Gordy’s Motown Studio on Grand Boulevard in Detroit, where the group recorded “Love Him” (written by stable artist Shirley Jackson) and “Heartaches” (written by Royal Jokers’ Ted Green). While “Love Him” was a good effort, it proved unsuccessful as a single, but did make a little noise in the Midwest. Then the girls recorded “I Could Write A Book,” There wasn’t a B-side, so Balk had the girls re-record “Don’t Break My Heart” for the bottom side and they released it on New York’s Bigtop Records.  It was at this time that Tina from the group got pregnant, and temporarily had to leave the group to give birth, and so an ad was placed in the Detroit newspapers to fill her spot in the Dream Girls.  Louvain Demps auditioned and filled that spot in the group. With “Wanted” and “Mr. Fine” as a double-sided hit single in the Midwest, the Dream Girls started getting some good gigs booked with Motown artists like Smokey Robinson, Martha & the Vandellas, the Temptations, and the Four Tops.

When Gene Chandler had a hit with “Duke of Earl,” Maron McKenzie wrote an answer to the Duke, with “The Duchess of Earl.” “The Duchess of Earl” was soulful with R & B flavor and the flipside “Mine All Mine” was more in the Doo Wop vein. After the “Duchess,” Tina rejoined the group and Louvain left to find work as a background singer at Motown. In the summer of ’62, Bobbie Smith & the Dream Girls recorded “Here Comes Baby” and “I Get A Feeling My Love.” As with their previous three singles, this Dream Girls’ 45rpm was released on Bigtop. Jones’s, however, was issued on Mr. Peacock Records, a somewhat obscure label that included acts like Nino & the Ebb Tides and the Viscounts.  “Now He’s Gone” b/w “Your Lovey Dovey Ways” was another promising single for the Dream Girls. Years later, the Detroit Cobras would go on to cover “Now He’s Gone.”  In 1963 the girls were in their 20’s, some of the girls had a baby or were getting pregnant, or they didn’t want to sing anymore, and the group broke up.

Brian C. Young

 

Songs :

(updated by Hans-Joachim) 

The Dream Girls

  

Oh This Is Why / Don’t Break My Heart (first version)     Don't Break My Heart (second version) / I Could Write A Book

Bobbie Smith & The Dream Girls

      

Crying In The Night                       Wanted                                    Mr. Fine       

     

The Duchess of Earl             Mine All Mine                  Here Comes Baby

  

Now He's Gone            Your Lovey Dovey Ways

 

Bobbie Smith

     

Walk On Into My Heart          Miss Stronghearted              (You Know) I'll Be Around

Wait

MOONBEEMS

 

Billy Tircuit

The Moonbeems (New Orleans, LA)

Personnel :

Simon Washington (Lead Tenor)

Vontell Lane (Tenor)

Johnny Meyers (Tenor)

Elaine Edwards (Contralto)

Billy Tircuit (Bass / Baritone)


Discography :

The Moonbeems

Singles :

1958 - Cryin' The Blues / Teen Age Baby (Sapphire 1003 / Checker 912)

1959 - Cryin’ The Blues / Mardi Gras Mambo (The Hawketts) (Sapphire 2250)


Unreleased :

1959 - The Way You'll Always Be (Sapphire)

1959 - Maria (Sapphire)

Billy Tircuit

1958 - Face The Facts / Crazy Green Lizard (Pontchartrain 400)

Biography :

In 1958, a local New Orleans group was to have a release on Sapphire, it was to be their only release. They were working with Johnny Russell and a Disc Jockey on WJBW known as the "Hound Dog". The Moonbeems were a versatile group and could switch parts. the group consisted of Simon Washington (Lead Tenor), Vontell Lane (Tenor), Johnny Meyers (Tenor), Elaine Edwards (Contralto) and Billy Tircuit (Bass / Baritone). Billy Tircuit and Vontell Lane have been part of the recording   Monitors (Aladdin & Speciality Records). The group had some songs including "Cryin' The Blues", and would rehearse usually about three times a week. It took eight months of rehearsals before everyone was satisfied with the song.

 

Snookum Russell                                                                                          

The group finally have a recording session at Cosmos studios with Snookum Russell, pianist and arranger for Sapphire records. At this session the group recorded four sides. "Cryin' The Blues", "Teen Age Baby", "The Way You'll Always Be" and "Maria". "Cryin' The Blues" was then released first on Sapphire and it broke in the New Orleans area. Paul Gaytin of Chess records liked it and it was sent to Leonard Chess. The record was then released on the Checker Label. The Moonbeems did a lot of entertaining around New Orleans, including a 2-week stint at the big Natal's nite club. Once again, however, there were disagreements in the group, and they broke up in 1959. In 1961, many of the Monitors original members  got together and renamed themselves again to the Senors. The group members were Billy Tircuit, Adolph Smith, Vontell Lane, and Clarence Phoenix. Their new lead singer was Adolph's brother, Milton Smith.

Songs :

The Moonbeems

   

 Teen Age Baby / Cryin’ The Blues

Billy Tircuit

   

Face The Facts                     Crazy Green Lizard 

SILVER SLIPPERS (BARBARA J. & THE) - SWEETHEARTS (3) - LOVABLES

  

(L to R) Kim Lewis, Barbara Sullivan and Shirley Sullivan

The Sweethearts (3)  (New York)

aka Barbara J. & The Silver Slippers aka The Lovables

Personnel :

Barbara Sullivan

Shirley Sullivan

Kim Lewis

Discography :

Barbara J. & The Silver Slippers

1961 - Laughing At Me / Love Is The Thing (Lescay 3001)

The Sweethearts (3)

1962 - In Between Kisses / (He's My) Superman (Brunswick 55237)

1963 - What Did I Do? (What Did I Say?) / He's A Yankee (Brunswick 55240)

1963 - What Will Mother Say / Everybody I Know  (Brunswick 55255)

1964 - Have You Ever Fell In Love / No No (I Won't Break My Lover's Heart) (Brunswick 55265)

The Lovables

1967 - We Got A Need For Each Other / You Can’t Dress Up A Broken Heart (Toot 600)

1967 - Just Beyond My Fingertips / Anyman (Toot 604)

1967 - You’re The Cause Of It / Beautiful Idea (Toot 605)

1968 - Take Me For A Little While / You Know That I Love You (Toot 608)

 

Biography :

Barbara J. & The Silver Slippers were Barbara Sullivan, her younger sister Shirley and Kim Lewis. Barbara  were originally from Augusta, GA, but moved to New York when she was two. As the Sullivans they sang in church, including Shirley Sullivan and four brothers. Kim Lewis, a close friend of the Sullivan sisters sang in her church's choir, and spent a year singing with the The Gospel Twilights, who included her sister and cousin. In junior high school she sang with The Ronettes for two years before the group became famous. In 1961 Barbera, Shirley and Kim cut 'Laughing At Me' / 'Love Is The Thing' on Lescay 3001 as Barbara J & The Silver Slippers.

 

   

                                                                                                                                  The Lovables (1967)

Now renamed The Sweethearts in 1963 they turned up on Brunswick 55237 for 'In Between Kisses' b/w 'Superman' and followed up with the Barbara Sullivan /William Leo McCorkle penned song 'What Did I Do (What Did I Say) ' b /w ' He's a Yankee' on Brunswick 55240. The follow up released in December 1963 on Brunswick 55255 is 'Everybody I Know'  b/w 'What Will Mother Say' and their fourth and final Brunswick release from 1964 is 'Have You Ever Fell In Love' b/w 'No, No, I Won't Break Your Heart'. In 1967, as the Loveables, the girls cut four singles on Toot Records. Shirley went on to marry Cuba Gooding Sr (singer from The Main Ingredient) and their son is Cuba Gooding Jr (The actor).

http://www.sirshambling.com/artists_2012/L/lovables/index.php

 

Songs :

(updated by Hans-Joachim) 

Barbara J. & The Silver Slippers

   

Love Is The Thing / Laughing At Me

The Sweethearts (3)

     

In Between Kisses                (He's My) Superman                 He's A Yankee

     

What Did I Do? (What Did I Say?)      Everybody I Know        Have You Ever Fell In Love

  

No No (I Won't Break My Lover's Heart)         What Will Mother Say