• The Emotions (1) (Brooklyn, New York)
    aka The Runarounds (1) aka The Moments aka Four Dreams

    (updated by Hans-Joachim)  

     

    Personnel :

    Joe Favale (Lead)

    Tony Maltese (Tenor)

    Larry Cusimano (Second Tenor)

    Joe Nigro (Baritone)

    Dom Collura (Bass)


     

    Discography :

    The Four Dreams
    N/A - You Were There  (Unreleased)

    The Moments
    N/A - Teenage Baby (Unreleased)
    N/A - Oh My Elaine (Unreleased)
    N/A - L-O-V-E (Unreleased)

    The Runarounds (1)
    1961 -  The Nearest Thing To Heaven / Lovers Lane (Pio 107)

    The Emotions (1)
    Singles:
    1962 - Echo / Come Dance Baby (Kapp 490)
    1963 - L-O-V-E (Love) / A Million Reasons (Kapp 513)
    1963 - Starlit Night / Fools Paradise  (Laurie 3167)
    1963 - A Story Untold / One Life, One love, One You (20th Fox 430)
    1963 - Rainbow / Little miss Blue (20th Fox 452)
    1964 - Boomerang / I love you Madly (20th Fox 478)
    1964 - I wonder / Hey Baby (Karate 506)
    1966 - She's My Baby (I Just Can’t Let Her Go) / Baby, I Need Your Lovin’ (Calla 122)
    1966 - Heartstrings / Everytime (20th Century-Fox 623)
    1990 - Echo ’90 / You Were There (Crystal Ball 155)
    Uneleased :
    1964 - (She Said) No No No
    1966 - Heart Strings (alt. take 7)
    n/a - Down Lovers Lane (demo)
    n/a - Here I Stand
    n/a - Movin’ On
    n/a - The Nearest Thing To Heaven (demo)
    n/a - When You Dance
    n/a - When You Were Just A Little Girl 

    Litte Fay bb The Emotions (1)
    1966 - Joey, Won't You Ask Me / I Don't Care What The People Say (Top Pop 260)

     

    Biography :

    In 1956-7 Tony Maltese formed "The Runarounds". Hailing from the Brooklyn area,the group consisted of Frank Chevilianno (First Tenor), Joe Nigro (Baritone), Tony Maltese (Second Tenor) and Jr. Villa (Lead). Jr is the brother of Joey Villa who sang lead with "The Three Friends" and "The Royal Teens". The boys were all 16 and 17 years of age when they received their name from Teddy Randazzo who had just written and released a song titled "Runaround" with his group the "Three Chuckles".


    The Runarounds

    Tony had penned an original tune "You Were There" for "the Runarounds", but the group broke up to go college before they were able to pursue their dreams.Tony deceided in the field of music and formed a new group with the help of his friend. Tony Rao, who worked as a butcher.


    The Moments

    Tony Rao Brought a friend, Rick Cori, into the group who was also a butcher. Rick in turn persuaded his friend Joe Favale to depart from his group "The Moments" and Became the lead singer of the newly formed group which became know as "The Four Dreams". The Dream's sang everything from the Hilo's and 4 Freshman to street corner Doo-wop.


    The Four Dreams

    They recorded a demo of Tony's original "You Were There" but when Rick left the group to get married, the guy decided to disband. Joe Favale was a proficient song writer who penned many tunes for "The Moments". His love for Doo-Wop along with  Tony's (Maltesse) led the fellows to form still another group. Taking the name "The Runarounds" once again, and past members Joe Nigro, the trio added Larry Cusimano and Don Collura who was a friend of Joe's.

    Joe's other friend and writing partner Henry Boye was brought into the picture as the group's manager. Henry was responsible for the group's first recording contract with Pio records. In August 1961 their first record of the aforementioned songs was released — and promptly flopped.

    Later in the year, they changed their name to the Emotions since they felt they sang with a lot of feeling. They cut a few new songs on demos in 1962 and played them for every label they could find that would listen. Finally Kapp Records, known mostly for pop instrumentalist Roger Williams, signed them.

    In September 1962, they released “Echo,” their chime harmony ode to car crashes similar in theme to Mark Dinning’s “Teen Angel” (1959) and Ray Peterson’s “Tell Laura I Love Her” (1960). It immediately hit airwaves across the nation. New York’s famous disc jockey Murray the K made it a co-pick hit of the week with the Four Seasons’ “Big Girls Don’t Cry” when the Emotions, their friends, and their relatives “stuffed the ballot box” by flooding the station with phone calls.

      

    The record rose to Number 76 in December of that year, but Kapp was unfamiliar with promoting that kind of record by a white doo wop group. Kapp lost it after it had sold over 250,000 copies in New York. Kapp then signed Ruby and the Romantics, and when Ruby’s “Our Day Will Come” charged on Feb. 9, 1963, the Emotions’ new single, “A Million Reasons,” was ignored.

    A change came in the quintet when Tony Maltese left to get married and was replaced by Sal Covals, formerly with the Hytones. The Emotions signed for a one-shot with Gene and Bob Schwartz’s Laurie Records, creating a light rocker in a Crests/Mystic/Passions style called “Starlit Night.”

    When that failed they moved again, this time to 20th Century Fox to redo The Nutmegs’ 1955 classic “Story Untold” in an up-tempo Four Seasons style. The record became popular in New York during the summer of 1963 but created little interest elsewhere.  Many releases followed on 20th Fox and eventually Sal was replaced by a female Vocalist.

    After a few more singles for labels 20th, Karate, and Calla with minimal radio response, the group decided to call it quits in 1970. Not long ago, Tony Maltesse and Joe Favale re-formed the group calling themselves the "Blue Emotions" due to legal technicalities.

    The "Blue Emotions" recorded an album for "Ambient Sound" .
    Some pictures update by Joe Favale

     

     


    Songs :

     

    The Emotions (1)

         
    Echo / Come Dance Baby                   A Story Untold / One Life, One love....                      A Million Reasons        

          
       Starlit Night / Fools Paradise                                Little Miss Blue                                          Rainbow                        

          
    Boomerang                                                  I Love You Madly                                  I Wonder

         
    L-O-V-E (Love)                           Heartstrings                                          Everytime

      
                                       Hey Baby            Baby, I Need Your Lovin' / She's My Baby (I Just Can’t Let Her Go)

         
    Echo ‘90                       You Were There (1990)                        (She Said) No No No

         
    Heartstrings (alt.)                 Down Lovers Lane (demo)                    Here I Stand

         
    Movin’ On                   The Nearest Thing To Heaven (demo)                  When You Dance


    When You Were Just A Little Girl
     

    The Runarounds (1)

    The Nearest Thing To Heaven / Lovers Lane

     

     

    The Four Dreams


    You Were There

     

    The Moments

       
    Teenage Baby                                  L-O-V-E

     

    Litte Fay (bb The Emotions 1)

        
    Joey, Won't You Ask Me                 I Don't Care What The People Say

     

     

     

     ...


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