The Dreamers (16) aka The Accents (3)

Shelly Weiss, Al Senzon, Mike Lasman, Ian Kay 

The Dreamers (16)  (Brooklyn, New-York)


aka The Accents (3)

Personnel :

Mike Lasman (Lead)

Shelly Weiss (First Tenor)

Alan Senzon (Second Tenor)

Ian Kay (Baritone)

Discography :

 The Dreamers (16)
Single :
1960 - Mary Mary / Canadian Sunset (Guaranteed 219)
Unreleased :
1960- Zing  (Guaranteed)

The Accents (3)
1963 - Where Can I Go / Rags To Riches (Sultan 5500)

Scott English & The Accents (3)
1963 - High On A Hill / When (By the Dedications) (Sultan 4003 / Spokane 4003)
1964 - Here Comes The Pain / All I Want Is You  (Spokane 4007)

Biography :

This doo wop quartet in this segment met on the boardwalk of Brighton Beach and formed a group in 1960. They were Shelly Weiss (first tenor), Ian Kaye (baritone), Allan Senzan (second tenor), and Mike Lasman (lead). They were students at Erasmus and Lincoln high schools. Ian Kay sang with several Doo Wop groups from 1957 - 1963.  His first group was the Vocal Kings from Flatbush.

The Vocal Kings  

Lasman had previously recorded as lead singer of Mike and the Utopians on the Ceejay label. Weiss had recorded for JDS Records in early 1960 as a member of the Bobby Roy and the Chord-a-roys, who also backed Barry Mann on various demo records that reportedly included “Who Put the Bomp (In the Bomp Bomp Bomp)” The four boardwalk vocalists originally called themselves the Dreams and practiced regularly on the corner of Church and Flatbush Avenues. They met Jerry Halperin, owner of Halperin Music on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, who liked their intricate pop harmonies and became their manager.

Henceforth the group practiced right in Halperin’s record store.
The boys’ polished pop sound soon earned them a deal with Guaranteed Records of New York, a subsidiary of Carlton Records. The first release was the old standard “Canadian Sunset,” but the bland production and lack of promotion doomed it almost from inception.

Dropped after only one release, the group changed its name to the Accents and its style to doo-wop, putting together a reworking of the old ballad “Rags to Riches.” They also began practicing an old Jewish ballad entitled “Where Can I Go,” complete with middle section sung in Hebrew, and it was this song they performed in an audition for Sultan Records. The audition was successful, and “Rags to Riches” backed with “Where Can I Go” became their first single release as the Accents. “Rags” became a Brooklyn favorite among doo-wop enthusiasts but never hit the charts. It did, however, give them enough exposure to land them a spot in an Allan Freed Show at the Ambassador Hotel in the Catskill Mountains.

The Castaways

Between the group’s local engagements Kaye and Senzan sang backup with the Del Satins on Dion’s hit “Ruby Baby” in late 1962.  Weiss began singing with Jay and the Americans and became that group’s road manager for a period in 1965.The group back up to Scott English on his 1963 Spokane’s sides : "High on A Hill", "Heres Comes The Pain" and "All I Want Is You". And finally broke up.  Mike Lasman  then joined a short lived group called the Castaways with Bobby Kutner, Shelly Weiss and Larry Kasman, who was the lead singer of the Quotations.

Songs :

(Update By Hans-Joachim)

 The Dreamers (16)

    
Canadian Sunset                                  Mary Mary

The Accents (3)

       
Rags To Riches                       Where Can I Go
                     

Scott English & The Accents (3)

       
High On A Hill                  Here Comes The Pain                All I Want Is You

...