The Techniques (Georgia Tech University, Atlanta, GA)


Personnel :

Buddy Harold (Lead)

Jim Tinney (First Tenor)

Jim Moore (Bass)

Jin Falin (Baritone)


Discography :

1957 - Hey! Little Girl / In A Round About Way (Stars 551 / Roulette 4030)
1958 - (Why Did I Ever) Let Her Go / Marindy (Roulette 4048)
1958 - Moon Tan / The Wisest Man in Town (Roulette 4097)

Biography :

Four Phil Sigma Kappa Fraternity brothers with time on their hands started singing "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing", slightly off keys and just for fun. Students passing by stopped to listen, and the Techniques had their first audition.  A listener suggested the boys - Jim Moore, 22, Knoxville; Jim Falin, 21, Corcoran, Calif; Jim Tinney, 22, Greenville, SC., and Buddy Harold, 21, Louisville, Ky. - sing at rush parties. The boys agreed it would be a lark. Sosing they did.

That was in fall of ’55. a few weeks later the boys tagged themselves The Techniques, and sang their lucky song, "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing »,to win local talent contests. They appeared on local TV and Radio shows, including several telethons for charity. They got star billing on a tV afternoon show for three months.In July 1957, The Techniques decided to give up their singing and concentrate on their studies. Not that their grades were suffering noticeably, but, after all, they were singing just for fun. At his home in Knoxville, Buddy took "about three minutes" our to write down a song "just to see how it would sound."

When he returned to College, a classmate asked the Techniques to sing at a party. The Boys gathered in the library to rehearse, and sang Buddy’s song. They taped the tune "Just for the heck of it." Buddy thought a record of the song would make a nice keepsake, so he took it to a local recording studio. The manager, after listening to the tune, "doctored it a bit," with echoes and sound effects.  Lowery produced a session with the techniques, with back up musicians Ray Stevens, Jerry Reed, Joe South and Chet Atkins…. "He only charged what it cost to make the records," Buddy recalled, "but it took my last ten dollars to pay for it." That investment has paid off handsomely.

  

The songs Buddy wrote and the record his last ten dollars bought was "Hey Little Girl," one of the nation’s top hit in November 1957. Although they "thought it sounded pretty good," The Techniques didn’t fully appreciate the potential selling power of the record until their friend Jerry Vandeventer of WSB heard the song, played it over the air. A local music publisher went into action, released the record nationally on Roulette. Overnight, in New York, "Hey Little Girl" jumped "from nothing" to a listing among the top 20 tunes. On the heels of their triumph on American Bandstand, The Techniques opened at the Paramount theater in New York for a week’s engagement over the thanksgiving holidays. Roulette released two others singles in 1958, but "Hey Little Girl" is the only Billboard chart entry for the group.

Songs :
 (By Hans-Joachim)

    
(Why Did I Ever) Let Her Go                        Hey! Little Girl           

    
         Marindy                                  The Wisest Man You Know

   
         Moon Tan                                In A Round About Way

...

The Del Royals (2) (New Orleans)

Personnel :

Willie Harper

Calvin Lee (Calvin Joseph LeBlanc)

Discography :

The Del Royals (2)
1960 - Who Will Be The One / She's Gone (Minit 610)
1961 - Close To You / Got You On My Mind  (Minit 620)
1961 - Always Naggin' / I Fell In Love With You  (Minit 637)

Calvin Lee
1962 - Valley Of Tears / I'll Be Home (Wait And See) (Minit 655)
1963 - You / Daddy's Going Home (Minit 663)

Biography :

The Del Royals were not a working unit but merely an in-studio combination of Calvin Lee and Willie Harper. Their line-up featured Willie Harper, who became a virtual fixure on Minit's recording sessions, providing backing vocals to innumerable acts, as well as recording several singles on his own. Their sound was jaunty and filled with robust humor--"Always Naggin'" was a good representative track.

   
         Benny Spellman                                                                                         Irma Thomas
Both Calvin Lee and Willie Harper sang on the "Mother-in-Law" session along with bass singer Benny Spellman and Irma Thomas provided background vocal on a number of the Minit recordings. In fact the artists formed a miniature repertory group, singing on each other’s sessions and grouping around Toussaints’s piano in his parent’s house.  Calvin LeBlanc cut a couple of solo 45s for the same company as Calvin Lee, including a jaunty version of Fats Domino's big hit “Valley Of Tears”.

Allen Toussaint

Minit Records was an American independent record label, originally based in New Orleans and founded by Joe Banashak in 1959. Ernie K. Doe, Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, and Benny Spellman were early artists on the label. Later artist included Bobby Womack and Ike & Tina Turner. Allen Toussaint was responsible for much of the label's early success, he wrote, produced, arranged and played piano on a number of tracks.


Songs :

The Del Royals (2)

  
    She's Gone                                  Who Will Be The One

  
  Close To You                                   Got You On My Mind

  
 Always Naggin'                              I Fell In Love With You


Calvin Lee

  
         Valley Of Tears                          I'll Be Home (Wait And See)


…

(L to R) : Steve Barnhart, Junie Green, Bobby Kline, Sandy Holly and Larry Holly  

The Melo Gents (Newark NJ.)

Personnel :

Bobby Kline (Lead)

Sandy Holly (Tenor)

Larry Holly (Second Tenor)

Steve Barnhart (Bass)

Junie Green (Baritone)

Discography :

1959 - Baby Be Mine / Git Off My Back (Warner Bros. 5056)

Biography :

The Melo Gents all hailed from Orange and East Orange, New Jersey. Larry and Sandy lived on State Street East Orange, Steve Barnhart lived on Snyder St., Orange, NJ Junnie green lived on Park St., Orange, NJ and Bobby Kleine lived on Park Street as well just off of Springdale Avenue. The Group recorded "Git Off My Back" and "Baby Be Mine" written by group members Bobby Kline and Steve Barnhardt. The single was recorded by Warner Bros). The Melo Gents also recorded many other songs but they were unreleased. Their manager's name was Joe Seneca, he was in the music industry pretty much at that time but he never paid is $.10. The Melo Gents travel to Canada all over the New York in the New England states different provinces around Canada with the 5 Satins and the late Bill Baker.
Thanks to Marv Goldberg

 

Songs :
(updated by Hans-Joachim) 

  
Baby Be Mine                            Git Off My Back

...

Clarence "Pop" Gray , Charlie "Stoney" Dimbo, Emmanuel "Doc" Robinson, Frank McRae & George "Bronx" Rivers

The Master-Tones (White Plains, New York)


Personnel :

Clarence "Pop" Gray (Tenor Lead & Guitar)

George "Bronx" Rivers (First Tenor)

Emmanuel "Doc" Robinson (Second Tenor)

Frank McRae (Baritone)

Charlie "Stoney" Dimbo (Bass)


Discography :

1954 - Tell Me / What'll You Do (Bruce 111)


Songs :

The Master-Tones formed around 1951 while attending Battle Hill Junior High School in White Plains, New York.  They were neighborhood pals who lived on Russell and Fulton Streets.The group lineup consisted of Clarence "Pop" Gray (lead), Charlie "Stoney" Dimbo (bass), Emmanuel "Doc" Robinson (2nd tenor), Frank McCray (baritone) and George "Bronx" Rivers (1st tenor). " They first started singing at school. Once the guys became serious about their singing, they needed a name for the group and chose The Hearts. Billy Barrels, became their manager and had the guys rehearsing at his house in Greenburgh, New York, almost every night.

  
Emmanuel "Doc" Robinson                                                                                                                           

By 1954, they were performing at local clubs. One of those clubs was the Red Rose located in New Rochelle, New York on North Avenue. Like dozens of other young vocal groups at the time, they knew that their path to fame and fortune started at the legendary Apollo Theatre. Record company executives and scouts looking for new talent attended the weekly amateur night shows and were ready to offer contracts on the spot to promising groups. Another friend of the group helped them secure them a contract at Bruce Records in New York City.The Hearts auditioned with four original songs but only two were to be recorded. However, a quick name change was in order due to the fact that there already was a  "Hearts " group in existence. The guys talked it over and because they were making a Master Record … they became the Master-Tones .
http://www.uncamarvy.com/MasterTones/mastertones.html


Songs :

  
   Tell Me                                             What'll You Do


...

Jerry Williams, Morris Spearmon, Roscoe Brown and Ernest Lemon 

The Swinging Hearts (Chicago)
 

Personnel :

Morris Spearmon (Lead)

Ernest Lemon

Jerry Williams

Lee Brown

Roscoe Brown (Bass)



Discography :

1961 - Please Say It Isn't So / Something Made Me Stop (Stop Shopping Around) (Lucky Four 1011 / Diamond 162)
1963 - How Can I Love You / Spanish Love (620 1002 / NRM 1002)
1963 - Something Made Me Stop (Stop Shopping Around) / Pony Rock (620 1005)
1964 - You Speak Of Love / I've Got It (Magic touch 2001/620 1009)

Biography :

The Swinging Hearts were a five-man group from Robbins, in the south Chicago suburbs, featuring the excellent lead of Morris Spearmon and the outstanding bass of Roscoe Brown. Other members were Ernest Lemon, Jerry Williams, and Lee Brown (A cousin or Brother of Roscoe). The four, minus Lee Brown, had attended Blue Island High and had sung in the Passions, a group with female lead Addie Bradley. Record entrepreneur Don Talty discovered the group but wanted only Bradley.

  
Jan Bradley & Don Talty                                                                                                          

He rechristened her Jan Bradley and she went on to fame with "Mama Didn't Lie." The remaining Passions added Lee Brown and refocused their career with Spearmon as lead under the name Swinging Hearts. Their first release, "Please Say It Isn't So, was first released later that year. The master was purchased in 1965 and was released again that year on Diamond Records for national distribution.


The Passions. (Lef to right) Ernest Lemon, Morris Spearmon, Jan Bradley , Jerry Williams and Roscoe Brown

The Swinging Hearts recorded doowops in a more traditional vein with their next release from 1963, on Six-Twenty, the Spearmon-composed "Spanish Love," a Latin-style song with a perky beat, backed with a droopy ballad, "How Can I Love You". The group's last release with the company was "You Speak of Love" backed with "I've Got It" . It is felt that if the members of this group had been single and free of other responsibilities and obligations, they might have become quite popular. As it was, family responsibilities kept them from traveling to promote their excellent discs.


Songs :

     
Please Say It Isn't So             Something Made Me......            How Can I Love You

      
Spanish Love                        I've Got It                       You Speak Of Love

...