The Billy Dawn Quartet aka The Four Dukes (1) aka The Heralds

The Billy Dawn Quartet (Brooklyn, New-York)

aka The Four Dukes (1) aka The Heralds

Personnel :

Billy Dawn Smith (Lead)

Donnie Sehested (Tenor)

Tommy Smith (Baritone)

Edward "Sonny" Benton (Bass)

Discography :

The Billy Dawn Quartet

Singles :
1953 - This Is The Real Thing Now / Crying For My Baby (Decatur 3001)
1973 - Miracle Of Love / Proud Of You (Vintage 1010)
1974 - Tonight Must Live On /Crying For My Baby (Firefly 330)
1974 - You Will Always Find Me True / This Is The Real Thing Now (Firefly 332)

Unreleased :
1953 - Tonight Must Live On (Decatur)
1953 - You Will Always Find Me True (Decatur)

The Four Dukes (1)

Singles :
1953 - Crying In The Chapel / I Done Done It (Duke 116)

Unreleased :
1953 - Can't I Have You (Duke)
1953 - No Other Love (Duke)
1953 - I Gotta Holler (Duke)
1953 - Only A Hag Could Be Such A Drag (Duke)
1953 - I Wonder Can This Be Love (Duke)
1953 - Confusion Juice (Duke)
1953 - Come On Back To Daddy (Duke)

 The Heralds

Singles :
1954 - Eternal Love / Gonna Love You Every Day (Herald 435)
Unreleased :
1954- You'll Always Find Me True (Herald)
1954 - Till My Baby Falls In Love (Herald)
1954 - Freeze (Herald)
1954 - Why Can't I Have You (Herald)
1954 - Confucius (Herald)
1954 - Confucius (Old Town)
1954 - Why Can't I Have You (Old Town)

Biography :

Billy Dawn Smith was an aspiring singer and composer who grew up on the streets of Brooklyn in a section known as Fort Green. In the early nineteen fifties Smith put together a vocal group that consisted of himself, his brother Tom, and two friends Donny Myles and Sonny Benton . Billy dropped his last name in naming the foursome and was now known as The Billy Dawn Quartette. One of the sometime members of the group was pianist and vocalist Al Browne who in later years become famous for his work for many record labels in New York, especially Hull Records.  While the vocal group worked on their harmony and presence, they also worked hard on coming up with original material. In the spring of 1952, they made their way to Harlem to see Lexy "Flap" Hanford, a well known entertainment entrepreneur in the neighborhood. He thought enough of their talent to send them to an acquaintance of his named David Levitt who owned a small independent record label called Decatur Records. After meeting with Levitt and some more work on their songs, they went into a small recording studio and the result was two songs "This Is The Real Thing Now" and "Crying For My Baby" which was released by the label on #3001. The first copies were listed as by The Dawn Quartette, but that was soon changed to The Billy Dawn Quartette.They release Three discs all under three names : Billy Dawn Quartet, Four Dukes and Heralds.

http://www.uncamarvy.com/BillyDawn/billydawn.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~v1tiger/bdawn.html

Songs :

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