The Savoys (3)  (New York)
aka  The Pretenders (1) aka The Jones Boys

Personnel :

Jimmy Jones（Lead）

William Walker（Tenor）

Bobby Moore（Tenor）

Melvin Walton（Baritone）

Kerry Saxton（Bass）

Discography :

The Savoys (3)
Singles :
1956 - You / Say You're Mine（Savoy 1188）
1960 - With All My Heart / Please Say You're Mine（Savoy 1586）
Unreleased :
1956 - We Made A Vow (Savoy)

The Pretenders (1)
1956 - Possessive Love / I've Got To Have You Baby（Rama 198）
1956 - Lover / Plain Old Love（Rama 207）
1957 - Close Your Eyes (Sleep And Dream) / Part Time Sweetheart（Whirlin' Disc 106）
1958 - Tonight / I Love You So（Holiday 2610）
1958 - Blue And Lonely / Daddy Needs Baby（Central 2605/Apt 25026）

Jimmy Jones & The Pretenders (1)
1956 - Lover / Plain Old Love（Rama 210/Roulette 4243）
1960 - Blue And Lonely / Daddy Needs Baby（ABC Paramount 10094）
1964 -  Close Your Eyes (Sleep And Dream) / Part Time Sweethear（Port 70040）

Barbara Gorman And Sister Viv bb The Jones Boys
1957 - Was It Just For Fun / 8 O'Clock（Arrow 714）

Jimmy Jones & The Jones Boys
1957 - The Whistlin' Man / Heaven In Your Eyes（Arrow 717）

Biography :

Jimmy Jones, who had spent a long apprenticeship singing in R&B vocal harmony groups, became a rock 'n' roll star in the early 1960s singing "Handy Man" and other hits with a dramatic and piercingly high falsetto. When Jimmy was around twelve years old he moved from his native Birmingham, Alabama, to New York City.

The Sparks of Rhythm

At that time he was already an accomplished tap dancer, but singing was equally important to him. Role models were Louis Jordan and the Ink Spots and later especially Clyde McPhatter and Jackie Wilson. Early in 1955 he joined a vocal group, the Sparks of Rhythm (originally the Berliners), who landed a recording contract with Apollo Records in July 1955.

Four songs were recorded at their first session, three of them led by Jimmy. When the two resulting singles went nowhere, Jones left the Sparks of Rhythm to form his own group, the Savoys, soon renamed the Pretenders. Their first session was for Herman Lubinsky's Savoy label (for which they were named), on February 2, 1956 and yielded the single "Say You're Mine"/"You" (Savoy 1188).

 
Jimmy Jones - Bottom LtoR : Lee"Moe" Gail, William Walker, Bobby Moore & Melvin Walton

By coincidence, this was one day after the Sparks Of Rhythm, now without Jimmy, recorded four - then unissued - songs for Apollo, among them Jones's composition "Handy Man" (with bass Andrew Barksdale on lead). In 1957, the Pretenders hooked up with Arrow Records and for some reason, though, there were no records by the "Pretenders"; they were called the "Jones Boys."

Their first task at Arrow was doing the backup on "Was It Just For Fun"/"Eight O'Clock Date" by "Barbara Gorman and Sister Viv. The Jones Boys themselves recorded "The Whistlin' Man" and "Heaven In Your Eyes," which were released in September 1957. "Whistlin' Man".

  
Jimmy Jones                                                              Gorman Sisters

Jimmy led the Pretenders on a series of doowop sides for a number of New York based labels : Savoy, Rama, Whirlin' Disc, Arrow, Holiday, Central and Apt, but nothing came close to denting the charts. In 1959 he was getting tired of groups ("too much responsibility") and decided to go it alone.
http://www.uncamarvy.com/JimmyJones/jimmyjones.html

Songs :
pdated by Hans-Joachim

 
The Savoys (3)

     
Say You're Mine                    With All My Heart                       You

  
Please Say You're Mine               We Made A Vow

The Pretenders (1)

   
I've Got To Have You Baby / Possessive Love                     Lover / Plain Old Love

   
Close Your Eyes / Part Time Sweetheart             Blue And Lonely / Daddy Needs Baby

       
Tonight                               Lover / Plain Old Love             I Love You So


The Jones Boys

  
Heaven In Your Eyes               The Whistlin' Man

Barbara Gorman And Sister Viv (bb The Jones Boys)

8 O'Clock / Was It Just For Fun

...

The Pyramids (1) (Los Angeles, CA.)
aka The Tempo-Mentals

 

Personnel :

Sidney Correia (Lead)

Joe Dandy

Lionel Cobbs

Melvin White

Kenneth Perdue

Tom Williams


Discography :

The Pyramids (1)
1955 - Deep in My Heart for You / And I Need You (Federal 12233)

The Tempo-Mentals
1957 - Dearest / Burning Desire (Ebb 112)



Biography :

The group was formed under the leadership of Sidney  Correia. The rest of the group includes Joe Dandy, Lionel Cobbs, Melvin White, Kenneth Perdue and Tom Williams. It didn't take Federal A&R man Ralph Bass long to decide that he had a great potential recording act when he first heard the Pyramids sing in a Los Angeles night club. He got the group together in between shows and signed them to a recording contract and immediately made plans for their first recording session. The two sides of the session were "Deep in My Heart for You" and "And I Need You". With this disc the band will perform all over the region. in 1957, with almost the same members, the group changed its name and became The Tempo-Mentals. The group signs a recording contract with Ebb records and recorded two song /"Deep in My Heart for You" was reworked into "Burning Desire" and "Dearest". In, 1959 Melvin White join The Cyclones on Forward Records.




Songs :

The Pyramids (1)

  
Deep in My Heart for You                            And I Need You    


The Tempo-Mentals

  
Burning Desire                                 Dearest


...

Bobby Sanders

The Extremes (2)  (Los Angeles)

Personnel :

Bobby Sanders

Charles Ingersol

Robert Rozelle (Bass)

Maurice Clark

Discography :

The Extremes (2)
1962 - That's All I Want / The Bells (Paro 733)
1964 - Sad Sam / How I Need Your Love (4J-514)

Charles Lamont & The Extremes (2)
1965 - I've Got To Keep Movin' / Doin' Mickey's Jerk (Challenge 59290)

Bobby Sanders
1961 - I'm On My Way / It Was You (Kaybo 618)
1962 - Maybe I'm Wrong / You've Forgotten Me (Kent 382)
1963 - Cleopatra / Dead Pigeon (Sor 117)

Biography :

The Extremes were formed in 1961 by Bobby Sanders and Charles Ingersoll (Van Clayton). Other members were Maurice Clark and Robert Rozel (Bass).  They all attended Dorsey High School in Los Angeles. Dorsey High School's impressive alumni included Mike Love (Beach Boys), Marilyn McCoo (Fifth Demension), Sparkey Anderson (MLB Manager) and many other sports figures and personalities. Bobby Sanders wrote "The Bells", their first recording. During this period, Bobby Sanders also recorded a few singles as a single artist. When they had little success as The Extremes, the four members went their separate ways. At the same time Bobby Sanders with Ralph Chestnut and Clotelle King Backed Linda Carr as the Impossibles and recruited Andrew Bayone & Joe Lawson for a release on Infinity  billed as The Cheerios and for Sue Record as The Chandeliers.

Extremes' Bobby Sanders and Charles Ingersoll did studio session work with the female vocal group The Blossoms and performed background vocals for various artists including Charles Lamont, Dobie Gray  and Phil Spector's groups. In 1967 Bobby Sanders formed the R & B/Soul group The Young Hearts and went on to manage, write and produce them with various members through the 60's and 70's. Their biggest hit was "I've Got Love For My Baby" which charted Nationally on Billboard in November, 1968 for 3 weeks and reached #94.

Songs :

The Extremes (2)

  
     The Bells                                         That's All I Want

Charles Lamont & The Extremes (2)

  
I've Got To Keep Movin'                         Doin' Mickey's Jerk    
 
Bobby Sanders

  
I'm On My Way                                It Was You

  
Maybe I'm Wrong                             You've Forgotten Me


...

Janis Cox, Left, Donna Crunk,  top, Pam Crunk

The Threeteens (Phoenix, Arizona)
aka The Dreams (4)
aka The Cupcakes (2) 


Personnel :

Donna Crunk

Pam Crunk

Janis Cox

Discography :

The Threeteens
1958 - Dear 53310761 / Doowaddie (Rev 3516)
1959 - For The Love Of Mike / X + Y = Z (Rev 3522/Todd 1021)

The Cupcakes (2)
1959 - It's Willy / Deutsche Rock und Roll (Time 1011)

The Dreams (4)
Singles :
1962 - Too Late / Inexperience (Smash 1748)
Unreleased :
1962 - No Love Lost
1962 - I Forgot About You

Denny Reed bb Donna & Pam Crunk (Uncredited)
1960 -  A Teenager Feels It Too / Hot Water  (Trey 3007)


Biography :

The Threeteens were a Phoenix girl group consisting of Donna and Pam Crunk (daughters of Connie Conway, whose real name is Connie Crunk) and their friend Jan Cox. Connie Conway, a noted musician, singer, songwriter, producer, and music teacher worked with songwriter/producer Lee Hazelwood (writer of “These Boots Are Made of for Walking”(Nancy Sinatra), and producer of Wayne Newton) . The Three girls were from Washington High School in Phoenix and in 1958 Donna, Jan & Pam signed a recording contract with Lester Sill and Lee Hazlewood to record at the Audio Recorders studio in Phoenix.

Donna Crunk & Janis Cox

As the Threeteens, they cut four songs released by Rev Records in Phoenix owned by Bill Thorne & Frank Porter . "Dear 53310761"  b/w "Doowaddie" on Rev 3516 and "For The Love Of Mike" b/w  "X + Y = Z" on Rev 3522, This Rev 45 was also released on Todd label. "Dear 53310761" On Rev Records #3516 had Duane Eddy on Guitar (The number "53310761", of course, refers to Elvis' U.S. Army serial number). The girls did most of the girl backgrounds at Audio Recorders.

   
Donna Crunk                                               Janis Cox                                                              Pam Crunk

In 1959 They changed their name as the Cupcakes and cut "It's Willy" b/w "Deutsche Rock und Roll" for Time records. In 1961, Pam & Donna, renamed the Dreams,  drove to L.A. to work with Lee Hazlewood and cut 4 sides for smash Records.  Only the single "Too Late" b/w "Inexperience" was released on Smash 1748 .

Songs :
(updated by Hans-Joachim) 
 

The Threeteens

  
Doowaddie                                      Dear 53310761

   
X + Y = Z                                  For The Love Of Mike

The Cupcakes (2)

 It's Willy / Deutsche Rock und Roll
 

The Dreams (4)

  
Too Late                                        Inexperience


Denny Reed bb Donna & Pam Crunk (Uncredited)

   
A Teenager Feels It Too                               Hot Water



...

   The Ivy Tones : Terry, Robert "Bird" Parks, Lenny brook,James "Pee Wee" Thomas & John Ivey

The Ivy Tones  (Philadelphia, PA)
aka The Corvets (2) aka The Corvettes (4)

Personnel :

John Ivey (Lead)

James Green (Tenor & Second Lead)

James "Pee Wee" Thomas (Tenor)

Joseph Moody  (Bass)

Discography :

The Ivy Tones
  Singles :
1958 - Oo-Wee Baby / Each Time (Red Top 105)
 Unreleased :
1958 - My Confession (Red Top)
1958 - Rock & Roll Daddy (Red Top)

The Corvets (2)  
Singles :
1959 - I'm pleading / Let's Do The Pony (Sure 1003)
1959 - Voodoo Baby / I Want To Know Why (Tone Craft 1009)
Unreleased :
1959 - I'll Get You Yet (Sure )

The Corvettes (4)
1960 - When You're In Love / Pointed Toe Shoes (Val-Ue 212)

Biography :

John Ivey & James "Pee Wee" Thomas lived in the same neighborhood, 15th & Jefferson Streets, in North Phillly. The Ivy Tones consisted of James "Pee Wee" Thomas, John Ivey, James Green, William  Brown & Robert "Bird" Parks (recruited by early member Lenny Brock). Thomas, Ivey & Green started out as a gospel group know as the Joylands with two other guys : Howard Tate & Willima Bright.  The Ivy Tones traipsed to the Reco-Art Studio on 12th Street in Center City Waxing "Oo-Wee Baby", "Rock & Roll Daddy", "Each Time" and "My Confession".  Founded in 1957, Red Top and its related labels gave Philadelphia another outlet for RnB and Vocal Group recordings.

  The Ivy Tones : John Ivey, Terry, Robert "Bird" Parks, Lenny brook & James "Pee Wee" Thomas

 Philadelphia in 1957 was the hotbed city for music. With recordings on Red Top, Hunt and later Jalynne and other labels for National and local releases, Red Top became a haven for local talent to cut wax and seek the National Hit. In 1958, "Each Time" b/w  Oo-Wee Baby was released on Red Top 105. The record, the group's only release, picked up some play in Philadelphia and Pittsburg, and garnered a distribution deal for Red Top with Liberty. With William Brown & Robert "Bird" Parks departed, and with new member, The Ivy Tones Changed their name to the Corvets and released "I'm pleading" b/w "Let's Do The Pony" for a new company, Sure Records owned by Len Rosen.


The Corvettes (4) : Joe Moody, Robert "Bird" Parks, James "Pee Wee" Thomas & John Ivey

Their Next Waxing "Voodoo Baby" and "I Want To Know Why " was released on Tone-Craft Records. "Voodoo Baby" was a splendid Rockballad penned by James Green. The Corvets crooned "Voodoo Baby" At the Cotton Club opening for the DreamLovers.  In 1960, a last singles was released for Val-Ue Records under the name of the Corvettes.

Songs :

The Ivy Tones

  
Oo-Wee Baby                                         Each Time

The Corvettes (4)

When You're In Love

The Corvets (2)

  
I Want To Know Why                            Let's Do The Pony


….