The Lincolns (2) (East Harlem, NY.)

Personnel :

Harold Anderson (Lead)

Willie Williams (Tenor)

John Anderson (Baritone)

John Miro (Bass/Baritone)

Discography :

1959 - Baby Please Let Me Love You / Can't You Go For Me (Mercury 71553)

Biography :

After their only single and their uncredited backup for Chuck Willis on two singles, the Ospreys broke up. John Miro did some Atlantic backup sessions behind Clyde McPhatter and Ivory Joe Hunter. In 1959, he joined the Lincolns with Harold Anderson (lead), Willie Williams (tenor), John Anderson (baritone), and John Miro (bass and lead baritone). The Lincolns did one record for Mercury with "Baby Please Let Me Love You" and "Can't You Go For Me".
http://www.uncamarvy.com/Ospreys/ospreys.html

Songs :

  
Baby Please Let Me Love You                  Can't You Go For Me        


...

Top : William"Bill"Davis & Daniel "Sonny'"Norton - Middle : Harold Major - Bottom : Gerald Hamilton

 The Crows (Harlem, New York)
aka  The Jewels (1) aka  The Four Notes (1)

Personnel :

Daniel "Sonny'"Norton（Lead）

Mark Jackson（Tenor）

Harold Major（Tenor）

William"Bill"Davis（Baritone）

Gerald Hamilton（Bass）
 

Discography

Fat Man Humphries  (bb The Four Notes)
1952 - I Can't Get Started With You / Lulubell Blues (Jubilee 5085)

Viola Watkins (bb The Crows)
1952 - Paint A Sky For Me / Really Real (no group) (Jubilee 5095)

The Crows

Singles :
1953 - Seven Lonely Days / No Help Wanted（Rama 3)
1953 - Gee / I Love You So（Rama 5）
1954 - Perfidia / Piano Player Plays A Tune（Gee 1)
1954 - Heartbreaker / Call A Doctor* (The Jewels (1)) （Rama 10）
1954 - Baby / Untrue（Rama 29）
1955 - Mambo Shevitz / Mambo No.5（Tico 1082）
1954 - Miss You / I Really, Really Love You（Rama 30）
1955 - Baby Doll / Sweet Sue（Rama 50）
  Unreleased:
N/A - Don't Come Back (Rama)
N/A - What's The Matter With You, Woman (Rama)

The Jewels (1)
1954 -  Call A Doctor* / Heartbreaker (The Crows)（Rama 10）

Lorraine Ellis (bb The Crows)
1954 - Perfidia / [Piano Player Play A Tune - Lorraine Ellis]
1955 - Mambo Shevitz / [Mambo No. 5 - Melino & His Orchestra]（Tico 1082)

*West Coast pressings had "Call A Doctor" credited to the "Jewels"

Biography :

When The Crows started out in 1951, practicing sidewalk harmonies, the original members were Daniel "Sonny" Norton (lead), William "Bill" Davis (baritone), Harold Major (tenor), Jerry Wittick (tenor), and Gerald Hamilton (bass). In 1952, Wittick left the group and was replaced by Mark Jackson (tenor and guitarist).

  
Frank "Fat Man" Humphries                                                                  Viola Watkins

They were discovered at Apollo Theater's Wednesday night talent show by talent agent Cliff Martinez and brought to independent producer George Goldner who had just set up the tiny new Rama Records label. The Crows were the first group signed and the first to record. Their first songs they recorded were as backup Fat Man Humphries as The Four Notes and singer Viola Watkins.

The song "Gee" was the third song recorded during their first recording session, on February 10, 1953. It was put together in a few minutes by group member William Davis, with Watkins also being credited as cowriter. The song was first released as the B-side of a ballad, "I Love You So".

However, radio stations began turning it over and playing "Gee," first in Philadelphia and later in New York and Los Angeles. By January 1954 it had sold 100,000 copies, and by April it entered the national R&B and pop charts, rising to #2 R&B and #14 pop.The song was a huge hit a year after it was recorded.

In June 1953, The Crows were back in the studio recording "Heartbreaker" and "Call A Doctor."  Issued in July 1953, the disc was released on the West Coast, for unknown reasons, with "Call A Doctor" being credited to the Jewels and "Heartbreaker" to the Crows.
http://www.uncamarvy.com/Crows/crows.html

 
Songs :

Fat Man Humphries  (bb The 4 notes)

  
 Lulubell Blue                             I Can't Get Started With You

The Crows

     
Seven Lonely Days / No Help Wanted                  I Love You So                                 Gee              

     
Perfidia / Piano Player Plays A Tune                   Call A Doctor / Heartbreaker                               Baby / Untrue                 

     
     Mambo Shevitz                          Miss You / I Really, Really Love You                      Baby Doll / Sweet Sue

Viola Watkins (bb The Crows)


Paint A Sky For Me / Really Real
 

...

Cecil Gentry (Freshman year) 

The Chessmen (2) (Washington, DC)

Personnel :

Alan Johnson (Lead)

Willie Hardman (First Tenor)

Robert Brown (Second Tenor)

Cecil Gentry (Bass)


Discography :

1961 - Lola / I believe (Pac 100)


Biography :

Vocal group from Washington DC composed by Alan Johnson (Lead Tenor), Willie Hardman (First Tenor), Robert Brown (Second Tenor) and Cecil Gentry (Bass).

The Chessmen cut only one single "Lola" b/w "I believe" at a local studio (Rodel) for the local Label Pac. They are not the Chessmen on Mirasonic who was also known as The Prelude 5. Previously Willie Hardman sang with the Dippers Quintet in 1955 and recorded "Look What I Found" b/w "Almost Christmas" on the Flayr Label .




Songs :

  
lola                                    I believe




…

The Marvels (3) (Washington, DC)
aka The Marvells
aka The Senators (3)



Personnel :

Sam Gilbert (Lead)

James "Junior" Isom (Second Tenor)

Ronald Boyd (Baritone)

James Mitchell (Bass)



Discography :

The Marvels (3)
1958 - I Shed So Many Tears / So Young So Sweet (Laurie 3016)

The Marvells
1961 - For Sentimental Reasons / Come Back (Winn 1916)

The Senators (3)
1962 - Wedding Bells / I Shouldn't Care (Winn 1917)


Biography :

The Marvels emerged from the fertile Washington, D.C. doo wop scene of the 1950s. According to Marv Goldberg's profile in the December 1976 issue of Yesterday's Memories, lead Sam Gilbert, second tenor James "Junior" Isom, baritone Ronald Boyd and bass James Mitchell co-founded the group in 1954 -- after honing their harmonies on local street corners, the Marvels achieved sufficient notoriety to appear on the popular local television show Milt Grant's Record Hop, but did not actively seek a record deal until 1958, traveling to New York City to audition for the Laurie label. Laurie immediately offered a deal, and that July issued the Isom-led "I Shed So Many Tears" -- when the single went nowhere, the label terminated their contract and the Marvels returned to the Washington club circuit, waiting three years for their chance to cut a follow-up.

The Winn label issued "For Sentimental Reasons" in the fall of 1961, and when it too failed to generate much attention, the Marvels -- now facing competition from hitmakers like the Marvellos and the Marvelettes -- decided a fresh start was in order, renaming themselves the Senators in honor of the local major league baseball franchise. Winn released the Gilbert-led "Wedding Bells" in the spring of 1962, but it too fared poorly and the group soon dissolved -- Isom later resurfaced in the Gales before signing on with the Satisfactions, who in 1970 scored the R&B Top 40 hits "This Bitter Earth" and "One Light, Two Lights."



Songs :

The Marvels (3)

  
I Shed So Many Tears                            So Young So Sweet

The Marvells

  
For Sentimental Reasons                               Come Back         

The Senators (3)

  
Wedding Bells                            Shouldn't Care

...

Paul Verdi, Jackie Jacobs, Alex Balbadora, Dominick Andraccho 

The Venairs (Philadelphia)
aka Ernie & The Halos (2) aka The Four Evers (2)

Personnel :

Jackie Jacobs (Lead)

Paul Verdi (Tenor)

Alex Barbadoro (Second Tenor)

Dominick Andraccho (Baritone)

Discography :

The Venairs
1962 - Summertime / Poor Boy (AMS demo) (Unreleased)

The Four Evers (2)
1963 - Everybody South Street / One More Time (Jamie 1247)

Ernie & The Halo's (2)
1963 - Angel Marie /  Darlin!!! Don't Make Me Cry (Guyden 2085)

Biography :

This group initially formed in 1960. After a great deal of practice and patience and a demo late spring 1962 as the Venairs , the Four-Evers auditioned for the manager of deejay Jerry Blavat, who thought they were great. Fate unfortunately didn't see it that way and they had to wait until March 1963 before a recording of theirs was produced and released on Philadelphia's Jamie label. “Everybody South Street” b/w “One More Time” arranged by Bob Finizio (The Fabulous Four) came out on February 16, 1963.

  
                                                                                                                                 Bob Finizio

 Prior to the release, there was no South Street dance in existence and when the disc began to take off, a dance was invented. The Four Evers did get on television dance shows in Baltimore, where the record took off. They go down there and first appear on [Buddy] Dean’s TV show and then on Bob Kaye’s with the Flamingos.”  The Buddy Dean Show was immortalized as the tv dance show satirized in numerous John Waters productions like Hairspray, The Shag and Cry Baby. The Four Evers were signed as singers not dancers, but the nature of their single required them to try their feet at dancing.

        
                                                                                               Ernie Spano        

About six monist elapsed when Bob Finizio contacted the restless quartet for some work. a few days later, they popped up in a studio all set to support neighborhood homeboy, Ernie Spano a member of the Four Dates who also tripped with the Fabulous Four.  The Four Evers also backed Ernie Spano in the Bell-Sound –recorded release, “Angel Marie (The Girl from Across the Sea” b/w “Darling!! Don’t Let Me Cry” (Guyden 2085) which was released on March 27, 1963, soon after their own release. All of the doo-wop groups were soon overtaken by the arrival of the Beatles and the British muscial invasion that would come within the year. 

Songs :

The Venairs

  
Poor Boy                                          Summertime


The Four Evers (2)

  
Everybody South Street                        One More Time

Ernie & The Halo's (2)

  
The Girl From Across The Sea             Darlin!!! Don't Make Me Cry
 

....