The Impaks (Ozone Park, Queens, New York)

Personnel :

Charlie Mollica (Lead)

Artie Riccio

Louie Forte

Dominic "Dickie" Agate

Dennis Bounagura

Discography :

1962 - Climb Up On Your Rockin Chair / Make Up Your Mind (Express 716)



Biography :

The Impaks originated from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. They met at a Friday night Confraternity (dance) at The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There were two singing groups that night, the Imaginations and a no name group (Louie Forte's).  Charlie left the Imaginations to become lead singer of the newly formed Impaks. Pictured above is the original five, circa late 1961/Early 1962, Top left; Artie Riccio, middle; Charlie Mollica, right; Louie Forte, Bottom left; Dominic "Dickie" Agate, bottom right; Dennis Bounagura. Singing on neighborhood street corners, and the famous Boyd Avenue train station (for the echo) with other groups, happened all the time. A number of those groups were good but never recorded. According to the guys. it was because "That's What You Did" to stay out of trouble.

Their career was launched at Leone's restaurant in Long Beach, owned by John Linde. He liked them so much, he became their manager and arranged for them to cut a record for the Express label - which was a subsidiary of Fargo. The Impaks then recorded Climb Upon Your Rockin' Chair and flip side Make Up Your Mind in 1963. They had local airplay for both sides, depending on which DJ was playing it. The disc also picked up some spins in California. The Impaks appeared at many venues with other local groups including the Earls, Johnny Maestro & the Crests, Jive Five, the Dubs, Ronettes, Vito and the Salutations, and others. The Impaks actually recorded other songs, but were never released.
http://www.colorradio.com/impaks.htm



Songs :

    
Make Up Your Mind            Climb Up On Your Rockin Chair


...

The Rockin' Chairs ( Queens Village, New York)



Personnel :


Lenny Dean (Lead Singer & Sax)

Bob Gerardi (Piano & Background Singer)

Carmine Ray (Drums)

Rick Baxter (Bass)

Joey Cary (Guitar)



Discography :

1958 - A kiss is a kiss / Rockin' Chair Boogie (Recorte 402)
1958 - Please Mary Lou / Come on Baby (Recorte 404)
1959 - Memories of love / Girl of mine (Recorte 412)



Biography :

The Rockin' Chairs all friends from Queens Village and Long Island, New York, were basically an instrumental dance group, who played at record hops. Theywere formed in 1955 and about three years later, at a dance, met Alan Fredericks, who licked them so much that he became their manager. Alan was a friend to the owner of Recorte Records and when the guys auditioned,they were signed on the Spot . The personnel was as follows : Lenny Dean (Lead Singer & Sax), Bob Gerardi (Piano & Background Singer), Carmine Ray (Drums) and Rick Baxter (Bass). The Group was rounded out by Joey Cary on guitar. The Boys had one of the few Self-contained groups of that day in addition, they also wrote, produced and arranged their own records.
Their first release was "A kiss is a kiss" which sold over 200,000 copies and made the top 20 on the New York Charts.

The distributor of Recorte Records had an associate, Johnny Holonka, who was a friend of Alan Freed's and so the group appeared on Alan's Live show and also on his television program.
"Please Mary Lou" was their second record. this disc was just starting to make some noise until one night when Alan Freed played it on his television show and said that it sounded like Paul Anka's "Diana".

This was enough to kill the record.
Their third and last record for Recorte was "Memories Of Love". Speaking of ill luck - this record was just starting to move when the Payola scandal hit and the promotion of this record (Like so many others then) was stopped.

The group really had high hopes for this side and got very discouragead at it's failure to reach the charts.
At this point, the group disbanded and Lenny & Bob became a duo. They wrote, rehearsed and did some demos and then the draft notices came for both of them.
They Joines the same reserve unit and in six months were out.

At that time, Chubby Checker was the rage and Bob and Lenny had to change their style which they did. As luck would have it, the Berlin Crisis broke and the guy were back in the army. Coming out of the Army for the second time, the two of them did club dates with back-up musicians under the name Bob Gerardi and The Classic Four.
Marcia Vance (Bim Bam Boom)



Their songs :

   
Please Mary Lou                     A kiss is a kiss


   
Memories of love                      Girl of mine


   
Come on Baby                        Rockin' Chair Boogie

The Peacemakers (Chicago)


Personnel :

?


Discography :

1954 - When I Go / I Know What I Believe (Parrot 109)

Songs :

   
I Know What I Believe                                      When I Go        

 ...

The Leisure Lads (Philadelphia)


Personnel :

Bob Aita (Lead)

Hank Orth (Tenor)

Bobby Maffei (Second Tenor)

Ralph Fabiano (Baritone)

Richie Cedrone (Bass)

Discography :

1959 - Baby I'm All alone / Teenage Memories (Delco 801)

Biography :

In 1958, follwing Danny & the Juniors' huge it "At the Hop", one of it's members, Frank Maffei, learned of his younger brother bobby's aspiration to similar celebrity status. For that and other ego-satisfying reasons, the Leisure Lads group was formed. After a great deal of practice, they began public appearances.

Pete Lauro, a local musician, brought them to reco-Arts studio, where they, along with other interested parties, financed a recording and an eventual pressing of five hundred discs on a label named after Delaware County (Delco), where they were all from.

With a record released, their schedule of appearances began to climb. This lasted for some time. When their record began to disappear from radio show playlists, their appearance bookings vanished as well. In 1962 they drifted apart.
Mitch Rosalsky (Encyclopedia of R&B and Doo-wop Vocal group)

Songs :

   
 Baby I'm All alone                        Teenage Memories

....

The Medallionaires (Chicago)



Personnel :

Willie Wright (aka Willie Dial) (Lead)

Ernest Montgomery (Tenor)

David Anderson (Baritone)

Ronald Anderson (Bass)

Discography :

Singles :
1958 - Magic Moonlight / Teen-Age Caravan (Mercury 71309)
Unreleased :
1958 - Darling Don't (Mercury)

 

Biography :

In 1958, after the Von Gayles and the Serenades Willie Wright formed another group from the Cabrini-Green neighborhood called the Medallionaires, consisting of Wright as lead, tenor Earnest Montgomery, and two brothers, baritone David Anderson and bass Ronald Anderson. They were yet another group managed by Woodtate Anderson and Eddie Thomas.33 In May 1958 the Medallionaires came out with a single that featured two Wright originals, "Magic Moonlight" backed with "Teen-age Caravan."

The ballad side was "Magic Moonlight," which opens with a "bell-tone" separation of the harmony and has the exaggerated melodramatic lead and full vocal group support of the period, with burbling bass and such. The record is highly appealing. The jump flip, on the other hand, is uninteresting and sounds like a folksong, even though it deals with the subject of rock 'n' roll. This folk aspect will surface again in association with Wright. Today's collectors of vocal group records may find it hard to believe, but it was "Teen-Age Caravan" that got played on local R&B radio - but not enough to make it a hit.

THE CHICAGO SCENE by Robert Pruter

Songs :

    
Magic Moonlight                         Teen-Age Caravan



Darling Don't

...