• The Pollyannas
     

    The Pollyannas (Oklahoma City)




    Personnel :

    Diana Johnson

    Jan Dye

    Betty




    Discography :

    1958 - Satisfied / Bermuda (Kings-X 3363)





    Biography :

    Female vocal group from Oklahoma City, composed of Diana Johnson, Jan Dye & Betty. In 1958, The Pollyannas recorded “Satisfied” and “Bermuda” in an Oklahoma City studio. The single was released on the tiny Kings-X Records In Oklahoma City.

    The Pollyannas    The Pollyannas

    With this disc, the group occurs locally and appears at Oklahoma Bandstand on Koco-TV.  Eventually Diana Johnson will leave the group for a solo career as Diana Allen Johnson.




    Songs :

      
    Bermuda                                                 Satisfied   





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  • Freddie & The Parliaments (3)
    Freddy Kelley 

    Freddie & The Parliaments (3) (Detroit, Mi.)

     

    Personnel :

    Freddy Kelley

    Fred Kutzke

    Harold "Hal" Hedges

    Raymond E Hunt

     

    Discography :

    1959 - Darlene / That Girl (Twirl 1003)

     

    Biography :

    Freddy Kelley (true spelling) was born in Mount Hope West Virginia in 1937, his family moved to Toledo's East Side in 1946 when he was 9 years old, he went to Navarre grade school and graduated from there in 1953 at which time his family moved to Toledo's South End where he attended and graduated from Libbey high school in 1957. As Kelley told me in 1992, at Libbey he got together with some "colored" fellows and claims to have had the first mixed or integrated group in Toledo, they were a vocal group and they called themselves the 5 lyrics, it was Kelley and 3 other guys from Libbey and 1 guy from Scott high school, they did a show at school and did some pretty nice gigs from here to Akron, they were together about a year.

    Freddie & The Parliaments (3)
    The Five Lyrics 1957/58 (LtoR) George Boykin, "Wardy" Ward, Freddy Kelley, Gene Boykin, Freddy Marshal

    
Kelley did not play an instrument but music was a part of him and he sang and wrote songs and was always around the early Rock and Roll and R&B scene in Toledo from the late 50's to the mid 1960's. His first recording was around 1959 with all Toledo fellows, Freddie and the Parliaments, he sang one side and Fred Kutzke sang the other. Johnny (Paris) & the Hurricanes were taking their very first steps into the recording studio to provide back-up for Freddie & the Parliaments . Next Kelley recorded for the MGM subsidiary Metro, two songs that he wrote.

    Freddie & The Parliaments (3)     Freddie & The Parliaments (3)

    
Around 1961 sometime, Kelley was in T-Bones, a club on Main St. on the East Side that later became Kato's, when he first heard the Raging Storms. He started to work with them and got them a recording deal and wrote the tunes that they were to record, one of which was The Dribble Twist. It became a decent regional hit in 1962 and reached the billboard top 100 for a bit, it was well received in Toledo and got good airplay. He also got the B. G. Ramblers recorded and produced their record on Sparkel. He also wrote and produced a record on Connie Little with the Raging Storms as back up.


    Songs :

      
    Darlene                                                That Girl



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  • (l to r) Prentiss Anderson, Lee Moore & George Miller Ross


    Lee & The Leopards (1) (Toledo, Ohio)




    Personnel :

    Lee Moore (Lead)

    George Miller Ross

    Prentiss Anderson

    James Porter



    Discography :

    Lee & The Leopards (1)
    Singles:
    1962 - Come Into My Palace / Trying To Make It (Gordy 7002/Laurie 3197)
    1964 - What About Me / Don't Press Your Luck (Fortune 867)
    Unreleased :
    1964 - The Beatle Slide (Fortune)

    The Rivieres (Lee & The Leopards backed by The Rivieres)
    1964 - The Gypsy Said / Knock On Wood (K-Zee 811K-5218)




    Biography :

    Lee and the Leopards, like many Toledo groups, were swept up in the explosion of the Motown powered Detroit  R&B/soul explosion of the early 1960s. The group started around 1961, and included Lee Moore as the namesake and lead singer, George Miller Ross, Prentiss Anderson, and James Porter. Anderson had been in the Del-Rios (with William Bell) who recorded for the early Stax records. but had moved to Toledo, where he performed with a self-contrained group called the Gayhawks.. He was recruited to join the group and after a few weeks, they auditioned for Berry Gordy at Motown, who Anderson had met when he was touring with the Del-Rios.

    Lee & The leopards (1)

    The group had brought some of their own songs, but Gordy wanted them to sing some of the in-house songs. The group went back to Toledo and they reworked one of the songs "Come Into My Palace". The group returned to Detroit a few days later and within a day, they had the song recorded at Motown. James Porter was not able to make the session, so Prentiss Anderson sang Porter's part, with Eddie Kendricks singing Anderson's tenor part. The 45 was the first chronological release on Gordy, although it was the second assigned catalog number. Porter was not included on the contract.

    Lee & The leopards (1)    Lee & The leopards (1)

    The record was a big hit on WOHO and WTOD in Toledo and also on Detroit stations. The group did some promotonial shows with WTOD. The record was picked up by Laurie records because the Motown operation did not have a full scale national promotional system. The group recorded a second 45 at Fortune, and a final 45 for K-Lee label from Adrian, MI. For the last record, the group recorded their own song "The Gypsy Said" backed by a band called the Rivieres from Adrian. When the record came out, the label credited the Rivieres instead of Lee and the Leopards. Some of the copies had stickers for Lee and the Leopards.  After the group ended, Prentiss Anderson spent many years backing up various Motown related groups.





    Songs :
    (updated by Hans-Joachim) 


    Lee & The Leopards (1)

      
    Come Into My Palace                   Trying To Make It

      
    Don't Press Your Luck                          The Beatle Slide     

      
                     What About Me               Don't Press Your Luck (alternate take)


    The Rivieres

      
    The Gypsy Said                               Knock On Wood









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  • The Nu-Tones (1) aka The Nutones (1)
    The Nu-Tones (1) (Los Angeles, CA)
    aka The Nutones (1)




    Personnel :

    Don Ballard (Lead Tenor)

    Joe Green (Lead vocals)

    Lionel Dawson (Tenor)

    George Webster McNeil (Baritone)

    Ed Turner (Bass)




    Discography :

    The Nu-Tones (1)
    1955 - Goddess of Love / Niki Niki Mambo (Cutie Girl) (Hollywood Star 797)
    1955 - Annie Kicked The Bucket / Believe (Hollywood Star 798)
    1955 - Believe / You’re No Barking Dog (Johnny Dragnet Hill) (Hollywood Star 798)

    The Nutones (1)
    1956 - At Midnite / Beans ‘N’ Greens (Combo 127)

     




    Biography :

    In 1951, Jake Vernon Haven Porter (Jake Porter), a jazz trumpeter founded the label Combo Records, which was active until 1961 and released R&B and doo wop releases in addition to some jazz. Much of the material released on the label was recorded in Porter's basement, and he did a fair bit of songwriting for the releases in addition to recording duties.

    The Nu-Tones (1) aka The Nutones (1)   The Nu-Tones (1) aka The Nutones (1)
                                                                                                                                  Jake Porter

    The Nutones came from West Los Angeles and local distributor Sid Talmadge did pretty well with their only Combo platter "At Midnite" b/w "Beans ‘N’ Greens". The single sold well in the immediate Los Angeles area but was not too much to talk about elsewhere. Before their Combo recordings,the Nutones under the name of Nu-Tones also recorded for the elusive Cholly Williams, their legendary "Annie Kicked The Bucket" on Hollywood Star recently reportedly fetched the highest price ever for a rock and roll group.





    Songs :

    The Nu-Tones (1)


    Goddess of Love / Niki Niki Mambo

      
               Believe                                 Annie Kicked The Bucket


    The Nutones (1)

      
    Beans 'N' Greens                                       At Midnite     







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  •  

    The Del-Tones (?) (Pittsburgh, PA)




    Personnel :

    William "Billy" Cox (Second Tenor / Baritone)

    Tommy

    Winston

    Bobby

    "Boo Boo"

     

    The Del-Tones from Pittsburgh in 1959. Have they recorded ???  William "Billy" Cox (born October 18, 1941) is an American bassist, best known for performing with Jimi Hendrix.

     

    Discography  ?????

    1959 - Best Wishes / Walkin Out The Back Door (Ro-Ann 1001)

     

    ...

     


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