The Kokomos (New York)
aka The Four Seasons

Personnel :

Frankie Valli

Thomas DeVito

Nick Massi

Bob Gaudio

Discography :

1962 - Mama's Boy / Yours Truly (Gone 5134)
1963 - No Lies / Open House Party (Josie 906)

Biography :

The Four Seasons released their first single in 1961 ("Bermuda"/"Spanish Lace" on Gone Records). The single did not chart. The group began working with producer Bob Crewe as background vocalists, and sometimes leads under different group names like the Kokomos.  Both singles by the Kokomos on Gone and Josie records are the 4 Seasons with a different lead singer added in there. Frankie Valli is also in there, as he can be clearly heard on all 4 songs.

Possible lead singers are: Bob Crewe / Matthew Reid / Kevin McQuinn or John Corey (aka: Johnny Saber) or yet another anonymous voice - no one seems to know. But positively it is the 4 Seasons with a Bob Crewe production.

Songs :

     
No Lies                                Yours Truly                               Mama's Boy

Open House Party

...

The Cashmeres (2) (Brooklyn, New York)

Personnel:

Windsor King

Jean Reeves

William Jordan

Anita Arnold

Bobby Bowers

Discography :

Singles :
1960 - Everything's Gonna Be Alright / Four Lonely Nights (Lake 703)
1960 - Satisfied - Part I / Satisfied - Part II (Lake 705)
1960 - A Very Special Birthday / I Believe In St. Nick (Laurie 3078)
1961 - I Gotta Go / Singing Waters (Laurie 3088)
1961 - Baby Come On Home / Poppa Said  (Laurie 3105)
1962 - Life Line / Where Have You Been (Josie 45 894)

Unreleased :
1960 - Yes, It's True (Lake)
1960 - Dancing Man (Lake)

Biography :

This group was of mixed gender and all were neighbors living in or near St. John’s Place in Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1959. The quartet consisted of Jean Reeves, Arnita Arnold, William Jordon and Bobby Bowers. They practiced their combination of street-corner harmony and church gospel anywhere they could.

Word spread of the foursome until a young bartender at Queenie’s Bar in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn got wind of them. The barkeep, Windsor King, had been a first tenor with the ‘40s gospel group the Royal Sons of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who came to New York in 1948 and became The 5 Royales R&B group in the ‘50s.  King emerged as both their writer and their new lead singer. With their smooth sound, they agreed on the name The Cashmeres. To Lake Records, the group  recorded their first disc. This did nothing. Their second Lake disc, "Satisfied," did so well that it had to be leased out for better distribution. The Cashmeres were eventually brought to Laurie by Lake management. This turned out to be a poor decision, as none of their Laurie discs did anything. They were next brought to Josie. Again nothing doing. Lake management took them all over but realized no success anywhere.

Songs :

     
Everything's Gonna Be Alright       Four Lonely Nights          Satisfied - Part 1 & 2

     
A Very Special Birthday        I Believe In St. Nick              Singing Waters

     
 Baby Come On Home                  Life Line                   Where Have You Been

  
Yes, It's True                        Dancing Man

...

The New Yorker's Five (New York City)

Personnel :

Rocky Smith (Lead)

Shelly Dupont (Baritone)

Johnny Darren (Second Tenor)

Freddy Barksdale (Bass)

J.R. Bailey (First Tenor)

Discography :

Single:
1955 - Cha Cha Baby / Gloria My Darling (Danice 801)
Unreleased:
1955 - To Be (Danice)

Biography :

After The third Crickets group broke up, Freddy Barksdale and J.R. Bailey formed the The New Yorker's Five with lead Rocky Smith, baritone Shelly Dupont and second tenor Johnny Darren.

Later 1955, their lone single, "Cha Cha Baby'/"Gloria My Darling", was issued on Danice Records based; Flap's Record Shop on 125th Street. Bobby Spencer, also sang with The New Yorker's Five .

By the summer of 1956, The New Yorker's Five had broken up.
http://lulusko.www7.50megs.com/oldtown/solitaires.html


Songs :


Gloria My Darling / Cha Cha Baby


..

(Clockwise from top) Joan Paulin, Betty Lloyd, Gail Houston, Jean Marie Johnson.

The Percells (Long Island, NY)




Personnel:

Gail Jones (Lead)

Jean Marie Johnson

Joan Paulin

Betty Lloyd




Discography :

1963 - What Are Boys Made Of / Cheek To Cheek (ABC 10401)
1963 - Look At That Guy / Hully Gully Guitar (ABC 10449)
1963 - My Guy / Boyfriends (ABC 10476)
1964 - The Greatest / I Stand Alone (ABC 10516)

Biography :

The Percells formed in Long Island, NY by singer Gail Jones (while still in high school) and Jean Marie Johnson, then added Joan Paulin and Betty Lloyd to the group. When Pete Antell and his songwriting partner John Linde heard the Percells at Ultra-Sonic Studios in Long Island, they sensed they had found an act they could mould into the new Crystals or Shirelles.

 
The Percells seated Joan Paulin, Jean Marie Johnson, Gail Jones and Betty Lloyd.
Standing : John Lindle, Stoney Jackson and Pete Antell

After months of practise they began to make a name for themselves singing at local venues, opening for Lenny Welch on one notable occasion. Sorties into Manhattan to record demos resulted in them taping a radio promo for DJ the Magnificent Montague. On seeing the group's first release 'What Are Boys Made Of' sitting pretty near the Top 50 in the spring of 1963, they must have felt that their instincts had been right    

The success of their debut 45 earned the Percells a spot on American Bandstand, plus bookings at Shea Stadium and the Apollo in Harlem, where they shared the bill with Ruby & the Romantics, the Chiffons, the Chantels and Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans... None of the Percells four records made any inroads commercially. Gail Jones has been active as a gospel singer since the 1980's, and while the others have fond memories of their time as Percells, their professional singing days ended in 1964.

Songs :
(updated by Hans-Joachim) 

     
What Are Boys Made Of              Cheek To Cheek           Hully Gully Guitar

      
My Guy                                Boyfriends                      I Stand Alone

  
The Greatest            Look At That Guy

.

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

...