Ella Lee Lewis Jr.

The Ivories (2) ((Manhattan, New York)
aka The Ivoleers

Personnel :

Ella Lee Lewis Jr. (Lead)

Johnny Earl Jackson (Baritone/Bass)

Richard Lewis (First Tenor)

Moses Brown (Baritone)

"Blinky"  (SecondTenor)

Discography :

The Ivories (2)
1957 - Me And You / I'm In Love (Mercury 71239)

The Ivoleers
1959 - Lovers' Quarrel / Come With Me (Buzz 101)

Biography :

When the Ivories / Love Notes disbanded in the Summer of 1957, Johnny Earl Jackson, who was part of the original Ivories who recorded on Jaguar Records "Alone" and "Baby Send A Letter",  formed a new group. Since the Ivories were no longer in existence (having become the Love Notes), he recycled the name.  The New Ivories group consisted of his girlfriend, Ella Lee Lewis Jr. (lead), her brother, Richard Lewis (first tenor),  Moses Brown (baritone), a second tenor named "Blinky" and Johnny Earl Jackson (baritone/bass).

 They recorded "Me And You" and "I'm In Love" released by Mercury Recordsin November 1957. Moses Brown left the Ivories and was replaced by a baritone named "Chink." , They changed their name by  to the Ivoleers and  recorded "Lovers' Quarrel" and "Come With Me" for Bobby Smith's Buzz label in early 1959. http://www.uncamarvy.com/Ivories/ivories.html

Songs :

The Ivories (2)

  
Me And You                                   I'm In Love

The Ivoleers

  
Come With Me                                Lovers' Quarrel



...

The Camelots (2) (Coney Island, New-York)
aka The Harps (2)

Personnel :

David Nichols (Lead/First Tenor)

Joe Mercede (First Tenor)

Milton Pratt (Lead/Second Tenor/Baritone)

Elijah Summers (Baritone)

Julius Williams (Bass)


Discography:

The Camelots (2)

Singles:
1963 - Your Way / Don’t Leave Me Baby (AAnko 1001)
1963 - Sunday Kind Of Love / My Imagination (AAnko 1004)
1963 - Don’t Leave Me Baby / [The Letter]* (Crimson 1001)
1963 - Pocahontas / Searchin’ For My Baby (Ember 1108)
1964 - Don’t Leave Me Baby / Love call (The Ebonaires) (Cameo 334)
1964 - Dance girl / That's my baby (By the Suns) (Time Square 32/Relic 541)
1965 - Chain of Broken Hearts / Rat race (The Bootleggers) (Relic 530)
1967 - Your Way / I Wonder (Dream 1001)
*Credited to The Camelots, but the group is actually The Blue Notes (Lost Records)

Unreleased:
n/a - Music To My
n/a - Strange Love
n/a - Love Sickness
n/a - Moments Of Love
n/a - No One Can Take Your Place
n/a - Time
n/a - Farewell My Love
n/a - Peace Of Mind
n/a - Darling, How Long

The Harps (2)
1964 - Marie / Daddy's Going Away Again (Laurie 3239)


Biography :

The five teens began harmonizing at a local YMCA in the late ’50s and by 1962 had attracted the attention of producers/managers Bill and Steve Jerome, who arranged a deal with the local Aanko record label. The boys’ role models included The Heartbeats and The Miracles. They were looking for a name as they traveled to Manhattan for their first recording session. The question was solved when they stepped out of the subway station onto 42nd Street and saw a billboard right in their path advertising the new hit musical Camelot. Presto! The Camelots sounded just right to them.

Their first single (1963) was a reworking of the Heartbeats’ “Your Way” and received a degree of airplay in the New York area but was treated more like an instant oldie because of its 1950s type sound.The first real success of The Camelots was “Pocahontas” on the Ember label in 1964, telling the story of the Indian maiden in a doo wop/R&B setting and taking it to several cities’ charts. The Camelots then played Harlem’s Apollo Theatre with The Temptations and The Contours. Curiously, “Pocahontas” became their only single for Ember, though that same year they did record an excellent neo-gospel-flavored a cappella rocker called “Don’t Leave Me Baby” for Cameo. In 1964, the group recorded an original a cappella ballad, “Dance Girl,” for the Times Square label, and when Relic Records bought that company out “Dance Girl” and “Chain of Broken Hearts” were issued as singles. Both were popular with oldies and a cappella lovers in the tri-state area. In 1964, they signed a contract with Laurie records and Recorded as the Harps the two sides "Marie" and "Daddy's Going Away Again" . By the mid-’60s the group had separated, giving in to the “British invasion.”

The Cupids (6)

The Cupids: Lenny Colton (Lead), Henry Jensen, Nicky Hughes and Danny Hughes enjoyed a big Hit with "Brenda" (First Issued on Aanko and leased to KC) but their career came to a sudden halt with the death of Lenny Colton, their lead singer. This caused hardly a bother to their record company. Typical of the times, they simply took one of their other groups and gave them the name.

The Camelots, David Nicholas , Milton Pratt , Joe Mercede , Elijah Summers and Julius Williams from Coney Island got a free ride as the Cupids on the strength of "Brenda" but they were already quite popular as the Camelots and later did well as the Harps.

Songs :

The Camelots (2)

     
Your Way / Don’t Leave Me Baby      Sunday Kind Of Love        My Imagination

     
Pocahontas                              Dance girl                   Chain Of Broken Hearts

      
I Wonder                                  Music To My Ears                Strange Love

      
Love Sickness                         Moments Of Love        No One Can Take Your Place

     
Time                                 Farewell My Love             Peace Of Mind


Darling, How Long



The Harps (2)

  
Marie                            Daddy's Going Away Again

...

The Gay Tunes  (Brooklyn, New york)
aka The Gaytunes





Personnel :

Earl "Chubby" Kirton (Lead)

Waymon "Butterman" Carey

Harry Pinchback (Baritone)

Fred Davis

Harry Hutchinson (Guitar)






Discography :

The Gay Tunes
Singles :
1953 - Why-y-y Leave Me This Wa-ay-ay / Thrill Of Romance (Timely 1002)
1958 - Got You On My Mind / Don't Go (Dome 502)
Unreleased :
1953 - I'll Always Love You  (Acappella) (Timely)
1953 - I Want You To Love Me Too  (Acappella) (Timely)

The Gaytunes
Singles :
1957 - I Love You / You Left Me (Joyce 101)
1958 - Plea In The Moonlight / Pen Pal (Joyce 106)
Unreleased :
1957 - Heaven Sent You (Joyce)
1957 - Tell Me You Love Me (Joyce)
1957 - Sad Am I (Joyce)
1957 - Pen Pal (Different) (Joyce)

Biography :

 The Gay Tunes were organized in 1949 when the fad of vocal group for vocal groups had reached a peak. It seemed that in 1952 the Gay tunes were fading, but this was not so, for most of the boys in the group were being called for military duty. With their duty to their country lover, the Gaytunes were reunited with greater aspect than ever. the group was composed by Earl "Chubby" Kirton, Waymon "Butterman" Carey, Harry Pinchback, Fred Davis, and Harry Hutchinson on guitar.  The Group started out singing on Street corners adjacent to P.S. 41 and P.S. 83 then move on to Alexander Hamilton and Boys High in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

   

Herman "Hy" "Siegal announcing the start of a new label called Timely Records. Siegal was one of the original founders of Apollo in 1943. The Gay Tunes first encountered Siegal after an apollo thither amateur show in the summer of 1953. They auditioned for Timely with a few songs, still miraculously preserved on an apollo audition tape they recently located in a Chicago warehouse. The Gay Tunes only Timely Single "Why-y-y Leave Me This Wa-ay-ay" b/w "Thrill Of Romance" was probably cut on August 22, 1953 and released a month later.

     
             Al Browne                                                                              The Gaytunes on Joyce

The group had been completely revamped from their Timely days. The photo is the Gay Tunes in their Joyce days, maybe Freddy in the photo is Fred Davis, but the only other member who carried over to Joyce is Earl Kirton. Kirton's warm, expressive lead voice comes through strong on the Gaytunes 1957 ballad "I Love You" (Written for his daunter) released on Brooklyn-based Joyce Records. They worked closely with pianist-arranger Al Browne, and appeared at shows and dj hops in Boston, Baltimore and West Virginia and cut a second single for Joyce. The Gaytunes' last single was "Got You On My Mind" d/w "Don't Go" for Julie Rifkind's Dome label in 1958. It would seem that the group with many more changes recorded under the name of the Verdicts in 1961.

Songs :
(updated by Hans-Joachim) 

The Gay Tunes

  
Why-y-y Leave Me This Wa-ay-ay                 Thrill Of Romance            

  
Got You On My Mind                            Don't Go         

I Want You To Love Me Too / I'll Always Love You

 

The Gaytunes

     
       I Love You                              You Left Me                        Plea In The Moonlight

     
    Pen Pal                         Heaven Sent You                        Tell Me You Love Me


I Love You

...

  
 (L to R) : Arthur Crier, Gary Morrison, John Murray, Gene Redd Jr. 

The Five Chimes (New York)
aka The Chimes (2)

Personnel:

John Murray (First/Second Tenor & Baritone)

Gary Morrison (Second Tenor, Baritone & Bass)

Gene Redd Jr. (Lead & Baritone)

Arthur Crier (Baritone & Bass)

Discography :

The Chimes (2)
1953 - A Fool Was I / Dearest Darling (Royal Roost 577)

The Five Chimes
1953 - Rosemarie / Never Love Another (Betta 2011)

Biography :

John Murray, Gary Morrison and Gene Redd Jr.  were neighbors. Gary brought his friend, Arthur Crier  into the group and the Gay Tones were in business.  Gene Redd Sr. was a saxophone player of some note - He took the group to Teddy Reig, who owned Royal Roost Records with Jack Hook. The group was only together about two months before they went into the studio to record. They came up with the name "the Chimes." the Chimes had two singles released on Royal Roost Records and on its Betta subsidiary (as the Five Chimes), but then John Murray died of spinal meningitis at the age of only 16 and it wasn't the same without him. Crier and Morrison formed another group in early 1956, the Hummers and the Mellows.

http://www.uncamarvy.com/ArthurCrier/arthurcrier.html



Songs :

The Chimes (2)

  
A Fool Was I                                   Dearest Darling


The Five Chimes

  
Rosemarie                                        Never Love Another


...

Fred Cohen

The Mohawks (1) (Philadelphia)

Personnel :

Fred Cohen (Lead)

Richard Tabron (Lead)

Andrew “Sonny” Adams (Baritone),

Charles “Charlie Boy” Williams (Second Tenor)

Everett “Buzzy” Kilpatrick (Bass)

Discography :

1960 -     I Got A Gal / Bewitched Bothered And Bewildered (Val-ue 211)

Biography :

The Mohawks started as a street corner group in South Philly. Before recording they sang at skating rinks and local talent shows. The Mohawks were together for three or four years before recording. The group went through many personnel changes. Eventually, the personnel stabilized at Richard Tabron (lead, tenor), Fred Cohen (lead, tenor), Andrew “Sonny” Adams (baritone), Charles “Charlie Boy” Williams (second tenor) and Everett “Buzzy” Kilpatrick (bass). The Mohawks were eventually signed by organist and Philly music icon, Doc Bagby in 1960. Bagby co-owned the Val-ue label with Felix Valdera (of Paramount Record stores) and was looking for new artists to record.

  
                                                                                    Fred Cohen

The Mohawks were supposed to audition for someone else. They sang "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" , Doc Bagby liked the new arrangement they did and gave them another tune to record for the flip side. That was "I Got A Gal". They made their own arrangement and Doc Bagby  liked that better, That was supposed to be the A-side”. “I Got A Gal” was written by John Ivy and had been recorded before by Philly’s own Ivy Tones under the title “Oo Wee Baby” (Red Top #105). Since Bagby was connected to Red Top Records, it was natural he was still trying to make the song a hit. The Mohawks version was so different it was barely resembled the original version. Fred Cohen sang lead on "I Got A Gal" and  Richard Taybron sang lead on "Bewitched Bothered And Bewildered". While “Bewitched” sold locally, it never broke nationally. Within six months of the Val-ue release, Fred left the group & rejoined Teddy & The Twilights. The original Mohawks broke up. Some of the other Mohawks continued to sing.

Songs :

  
                       I Got A Gal                    Bewitched Bothered And Bewildered    



...