The Four Winds - L to R : Pat Lacroix, Teddy Morris, Gordon Lightfoot & ?

Johnny Stark & The Four Winds (2) (Hollywood, Calif.)




Personnel :

Gordon Lightfoot

Pat Lacroix

Teddy Morris

?




Discography :

Johnny Stark bb The Four Winds (2) (uncredited)
1957 - Feeling Like A Fool / Cold Coffee (Crystalette 713)

Johnny Stark & The Four Winds (2)
1957 - Rockin' Billy / Drivin' Me Out Of My Mind (Crystalette 715)




Biography :

Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr.(born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s.He is often referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter and is known internationally as a folk-rock legend. In 1954, He Forms a group called the Teen Timers with Terry Whelan.

The Teen Timers

 Lightfoot moved to California in 1957 to study jazz composition and orchestration for two years at Hollywood's Westlake College of Music, which had many Canadian students. To support himself, he sang on demonstration records and wrote, arranged, and produced commercial jingles. In 1957, With fellow students, Pat LaCroix, Teddy Morris and another , Gordon Lightfoot formed a singing group called the Four Winds. The Four Winds landed a couple of cool gigs through Westlake connections. They were hired to sing backup vocals for a rockabilly-style artist named  Johnny Stark, Real name John. G. Sticco.

  
Johnny Stark                                                                                

They recorded four songs with him including  “Cold Coffee“, “Feeling Like A Fool“, “Rockin' Billy“ and “Drivin' Me Out Of My Mind“ released on the Crystalette record label. Then the Four Winds were asked to appear on a local TV show hosted by Bobby Troup, a musician and actor who later starred in Emergency! with his wife Julie London. They sang on several tunes performed on the show, including Troup's own “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66. The group separates some time later and In the fall of 1958 Lightfoot moves to Toronto. Pat Lacroix then formed yet another band, this time with Denny Doherty, Richard Byrne and Zal Yanovsky called The Halifax III.





Songs :

Johnny Stark & The Four Winds (2)

  
Drivin' Me Out Of My Mind                          Rockin' Billy           

Johnny Stark bb The Four Winds (2)

  
Feeling Like A Fool                                   Cold Coffee    



…

The Four Temptations  (Flushing, new York)
ref : The Temptations (3)


Personnel :

Artie Ripp

Mario "Skippy" Scarpa

Stu Silverman

Joe Tedesca


Discography :

Singles :
1958 - Cathy / Rock and Roll Baby (ABC 9920)
Unreleased:
1958 - Dreams Money Can't Buy
1958 - The Boy Who Cried Love

Biography :

Artie Ripp began his career as a singer, initially informally harmonizing rock and roll songs with friends from high school. In 1957, Ripp formed an official singing group with neighborhood friends; the group was signed by ABC-Paramount Records as backup singers for ABC solo artists. The singers sang backup for Paul Anka on his 1957 hit "Diana" and broke up shortly thereafter.

Ripp rejoined with some of his informal singing partners (Mario "Skippy" Scarpa, Stu Silverman, and Joe Tedesco) to form "The Four Temptations". The quartet wrote its own songs and was signed by ABC-Paramount Records, which released the group's first single in 1958. The A-side, "Cathy" (named after Scarpa's newly born niece), was written by Scarpa and Ripp; the B-side was "Rock & Roll Baby", written by Scarpa, Ripp, and Silverman. When the group rejected opportunities offered by the record company to record others' songs, the record company withheld further recording opportunities, and the group disbanded.

In 1958, Artie Ripp targeted George Goldner to be a potential mentor. Goldner, based in New York City, was a music industry entrepreneur who owned copyrights, produced records, and owned record companies. Goldner was, in the words of American blues singer and songwriter Jerome "Doc" Pomus, a "very hip, New York kind of tough guy." After Ripp spent weeks informally observing Goldner at work, Goldner formally hired Ripp to be a go-fer.

  
Artie Ripp with Phil Spector                                                                                      The Temptations (3)

 Ripp worked with songwriter and producer Richard Barrett within Goldner's organization, where Ripp got a "street education in the record business equal to none".[Ripp learned how Goldner worked a studio, structured a record contract, and got records played on the radio. Functioning as manager instead of performer, Ripp put together the New York vocal group "The Temptations", (formed at least a year before the name was used by the different Motown group). Ripp's Temptations recorded for Goldner's Goldisc Records; its three singles were released in 1960 and 1961. The song "Barbara" charted nationally, reaching number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1960.


Songs :
(updated by Hans-Joachim) 

  
       Cathy                                        Rock and Roll Baby

  
Dreams Money Can't Buy              The Boy Who Cried Love


….

L to R : Jimmy Bacon, Dick Beach, Paul Guinzel, Mickey Forney, Joe Ashford 

The Majestics (6) (Spring,TX.)

Personnel :

Joe Ashford (Lead)

Jimmy Bacon

Paul Guenzel

Dickie Beach

Joe Lincoln

Discography :

1958 - Boom Da Da / Pennies For A Beggar (Knight 105)

 

Biography :

Vocal group from Spring, TX. composed by Joe Ashford, Joe Lincoln, Jimmy Bacon, Paul Guenzel & Dickie Beach. The instrumental group that accompanied them was composed by Al Rogers (guitar), Michael Forney (piano), John Selvig (bass), John King (sax) & Phil Brickley (drums).

 
L to R : Joe Lincoln,Joe Ashford,Jimmy Bacon,Paul Guenzel & Dickie Beach

The Majestics recorded in 1958 "Boom Da Da" and "Pennies For A Beggar" with Al Rogers and His Combo, San Antonio legend Danny Ezba was in the Al Rogers combo and is on the record. The record was recorded and pressed on San Antonio's TNT music. The Single was released by Knight records in Corpus Christi, Texas.

"Pennies For A Beggar" was number one on KANN radio station's "People's Choice" Hit Parade for September 6, 1958 . This group only released this 45-RPM record but they played hundreds of stage gigs throughout Texas in the late fifties.


Songs :

  
   Boom Da Da                                   Pennies For A Beggar



…

The Jades (3) [Toronto, Canada]

Personnel :

Joseph Henry (Lead)

Paul Gendron

Less Chomolock

Danny Kussel

Discography :

1958 - Beverly / I’m Pretending (Reo 8254/Dot 15822)
1958 – I Sit Alone / I Wonder (Reo 8314)

Biography :

Vocal group formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1958 and composed by Joseph Henry (Lead), Paul Gendron, Less Chomolock and Danny Kussel. In early 1958, The Jades recorded "Beverly" b/w "I’m Pretending" released by Reo records and later by Dot in America. "Beverly" Reached # 1 on Toronto radio station CHUM during the summer of 1958.

Joseph Henry stepped down as lead singer after Beverly was released and his brother Frank Henry sang lead on their second and last release also from 1958 titled "I Sit Alone" b/w "I Wonder" on Reo 8314, there was no American release of the single.

Songs :

  
    Beverly                                        I’m Pretending

  
I Sit Alone                                           I Wonder     


…