Donald Radford, Jim Haden, David Barber, and Tommy Padgham

The Montereys (1) (Stillwater, OK)

Personnel :

Tommy Padgham (Lead)

Dave Barber (Tenor)

Jim Hadden (Baritone)

Don Radford (Bass)


Discography :

1957 - Ape Shape / You're The Girl For Me  (Rose 109)


Biography :

The Montereys have been singing together since they were in the eight grade. They started it as a Joke, impersonating another vocal group, but they stuck together. They began to polish their harmony as freshmen in high-school with public appearances at assemblies and civic club.

  
Tommy Padgham                                                                                                                             

The Montereys really slipped into high gear with appearances at Teen Town during the Oklahoma Semi-Centennial Exposition and at local theater Rock and Roll shows. Their repertoire includes about 80 numbers, including at least two Padgham originals : "Ape Shape" and "You're The Girl For Me"

  

They have appeared on variety shows all over the state and in 1957 they signing a recording contract with Bill Burden owner or Rose Records in Stillwater. The Montereys recorded the two Padgham songs "Ape Shape" and "You're The Girl For Me". The single does not have the expected success and By the end of 1958, the Montereys had split up.


Songs :


You're The Girl For Me / Ape Shape

...

Dicky Dell & The Bing Bongs (Brooklyn, New York)
aka The Troys

Personnel :

Richard Owens "Dicky Dell" (Lead of The Bing Bongs)

Lou DeMarco (Lead of The Troys)

Michael John Rampino (Baritone)

Discography :

Dicky Dell & The Bing Bongs
1958 - Ding-A-Ling-Ding-Dong / Cling (The Bing Bongs) (Dragon 10205)

The Troys
1959 - Cling / Ding-A-Ling-Ding-Dong (Okeh 7120)

--------------?????---------------

Lou Demarco
1956 - Careless Love / My Lady Fair (Ferris 903)
1957 - Your Kind Of Love / You Tell Me Your Dream (Ferris 909)

The Four Chimes
19?? - It Grows, It Grows, It Grows / Chitarra, Bring Her Back To Me (Primos 1003)

Biography :

In 1958 Lou Demarco, Michael John Rampino and two neighbourhood friends formed a singing group named The Troys. Their name derived from The street corner they first started to sing on in Brooklyn NY. The corner of Troy ave. and Schenectady boulevard. The Troys recorded two songs "Ding-A-Ling-Ding-Dong" and "Cling". Dragon Records likes "Ding-A-Ling-Ding-Dong" but would prefer another vocal lead. Dragon Records forced them to take a singer named Richard Owens to record and forced them to change their name as The Bing Bongs and renames Richard Owens "Dicky Dell". The single of Dicky Dell & The Bing Bongs is released at the end of 1959. Manager of the group sold the demos of the two songs originally recorded by The Troys to the Okeh label who released the Single in the summer of 1959. The Lead Singer of the Troys, Lou DeMarco is probably the same artist who recorded two singles in 1956 and 1957 on The Ferris Label and with The Four Chimes on "It Grows, It Grows, It Grows."

Songs :

Dicky Dell & The Bing Bongs

  
            Cling                                      Ding-A-Ling-Ding-Dong

The Troys

  
         Cling                                     Ding-A-Ling-Ding-Dong

Lou Demarco

  
Careless Love                                  My Lady Fair

...

 

Rick & The Rockers (3) (L to R) Bobby Brown, Pete Shultz and Rick Randell.
 

Rick & The Rockers (3)  (Newark, NJ)
aka Rick & The Randells






Personnel :

Rocco Gaeta "Rick Randell" (Lead)

Pete Shultz

Bobby Brown

Matty Ferrara






Discography :

Rick & The Rockers (3)
1959 - That Day / I'm Hurt (Arc 4445)

Rick Randle & The Rockers (3)
1959 - That Day / I'm Hurt (Arc 4445)

Rick & The Randells
1960 - Let It Be You / Honey Doll (ABC 10055)

Biography :

Rick Randell's real name is Rocco Gaeta and he was born and raised in Newark, NJ, in the Ironbound neighborhood. Still a thriving, vibrant area of Newark. The radio in their home was always on. His mother loved Country/Western music. He loved the sound of the steel guitars. His parents bought him a guitar when he was 9 years old. In the 8th grade his family moved to the suburb of Bloomfield, NJ where he attended Jr. High and High School.

  
Rick Randell                                                                                                          
 

In Jr. High He started a band called “The Rockers”. This group lasted into High School where they would play for the HS dances. They also did Rock n Roll Sock Hops at Daley’s Meadowbrook, Cedar Grove, NJ every Saturday for 2000 attending teens. The owners of ARC Records (Ed Danback/Joe DiMaggio) heard ,liked and signed The Group. They recorded “That Day” b/w “I’m Hurt” in 1959. They managed to be on the “Alan Freed” radio show, THE Rock n Roll number one show at that time. This is when “The Rockers’ became known as “Rick and the Rockers”.

People from ABC Paramount were interested  from this first recording with ARC. So ARC let them out of the contract and wished them well as they signed with ABC Paramount. They recorded “Honey Doll” in 1959. That same year They recorded “Let It Be You” for ABC. Since they were still in HS, permission from Parents and school district had to be obtained for Rick and the Rockers to go on a 2 month leave in order to tour the US and Canada.

 Rick & The Randells (L to R) Matty Ferrara, Pete Shultz, Bobby Brown and Rick Randell. 

At this time they did an appearance on Dennis James’ Cerebral Palsy Telethon in NYC with such headliners as Connie Francis, Dwayne Eddie, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell etc… they were supposed to do 1-2 songs but the phones began to ring off the hook. They were the only performers to stay on live TV and continue playing for 45 minutes! The Rockers were Pete Schultz and Bobby Brown. They added Matty Ferrara and the four became “Rick and the Randells”. In 1960, ABC Paramount dropped the group, kept Rick Randell (Rocco Gaeta was too ethnic a name for the times) where He recorded for APT Records, a subsidiary of ABC Paramount. Rick Randell recorded for several other major labels: Decca, United Artists, Reprise.

Songs :

Rick & The Rockers (3)

   
That Day                             I'm Hurt


Rick & The Randells

   
Let It Be You                         Honey Doll


Rick Randell

   
Dining And Dancing               More Of The Same

...

The Meridians : Roger Bruno, Felix DeMasi, Bill Adair & Tommy Brown 

The Meridians (1) (Tarrytown, Westchester,NY)
aka The Ideals

Personnel :

Roger Bruno (Lead)

Felix DeMasi

Bill Adair

Tommy Brown

Discography :

The Ideals
Unreleased :
1962 - New Love

The Meridians (1)
1965 - Blue Victory / Have You Forgotten (Parnaso 102)

Biography :

In Tarrytown, in the early nineteen sixties, there lived a young Brazilian musician named Tim Maia, who was destined for greatness, although few who knew him at the time would have guessed it.  Tim sang in a vocal-harmony group called the Ideals with Roger Bruno, Felix DeMasi, Paul Mitranga and Bill Adair, and wrote the words to the group's only recorded song, "New Love," whose rhythm reflected Maia's world-music aspirations; somehow, he had persuaded the great Brazilian drummer Milton Banana to play on the demo.

The Ideals : Roger Bruno, Bill Adair, Felix DeMasi, Paul Mitranga & Tim Maia

The song was never released commercially. The Ideals were planning on shopping it around to different labels, but the group's career was derailed when Maia was busted in Daytona Beach, Florida, for smoking pot in a stolen car, and after six months in jail he was deported to Brazil.

The Ideals : Roger Bruno, Felix DeMasi, Tim Maia, Paul Mitranga & Bill Adair

Not long after, Roger Bruno, Felix De Masi & Bill Adair replaced him with Tommy Brown, and the Ideals became the Meridians. The group was mixed - 2 African-Americans (Tommy Brown and Bill Adair) and 2 whites (Roger Bruno and Felix DeMasi) . They recorded a couple of sides, "Blue Victory" b/w "Have You Forgotten", which got them some radio play and a small tour, opening for the Duprees. But by then vocal-harmony groups were giving way to rock bands. Bruno went out to Hollywood, where he and Ellen had some success as songwriters.

  

Tim Maia  contributed to Brazilian music within a wide variety of musical genres, including soul, funk, bossa nova, disco, romantic ballads, pop, rock, jazz, baião and MPB. He introduced the soul style on the Brazilian musical scene. Tim Maia is internationally recognised as one of the biggest icons of the Brazilian music. He recorded numerous albums and toured extensively in a long career.


Songs :

The Meridians (1)

  
Have You Forgotten                              Blue Victory      


…

The Webtones with deejay Jack Lacey 

The Webtones  (Brooklyn, New York)

Personnel :

Louis Williams (Lead)

Terry Wilson (Baritone)

Frankie Clemens (Bass)

Duke Ebron (Second Tenor)

Bruce Cooke (First Tenor)


Discography :

1958 - My Lost Love / Walk, Talk And Kiss (MGM 12724)


Biography :

Like the Danleers, The Webtones were named after their manager and songwriter Danny Webb. The group consisted of Louis Williams (Lead), Terry Wilson (Baritone), Frankie Clemens (Bass), Duke Ebron (Second Tenor) and Bruce Cooke (First Tenor). Their manager wrote the Danleers’s only hit and charting single, “One Summer Night,” which was also the group’s debut single in April 1958.

By late fall, Danny Webb had placed The Webtones, with MGM for one quick unheralded release, "My Lost Love" b/w "Walk, Talk And Kiss". unfortunately, Despite the promising and beautiful "My Lost Love" the single never charted and this will be their only recordings as The Webtoones... After their last single on Mercury, The danleers broke up. Danny Webb put Lead singer' Jimmy Weston together with three members of the Webtones, to form a new Danleers group : Louis Williams, Terry Wilson and Frankie Clemens.

   
                                                                        Louis Williams, Terry Wilson, Frankie Clemons

Webb then proceeded to get the reorganized Danleers a contract with Columbia's Epic subsidiary. The New Danleers  recorded some singles on Epic, Everest Le Mans and Smash. With no hits since 1958, the Danleers were history by the mid-60s.

http://www.uncamarvy.com/Danleers/danleers.html



Songs:

  
        My Lost Love                                Walk, Talk And Kiss      

...