• The Fabulous Flames (1)  aka The Fabulous Five Flames

    The Big Five (Cleveland, Ohio)
    aka The Fabulous Five Flames aka The Fabulous Five aka The Fabulous Flames (1)

     

    Personnel :

    Otis Carter

    Harvey Hall

    David McPhatter

    Richard Fisher

    Ernest Smith

     

    Discography:

    The Big Five
    1958 - Wob-Ding-A-Ling / Baby, I Need You So (Junior 5000)
    1960 - Blue Eyes / Stardust In Her Eyes (Shad 5019)

    The Fabulous Flames  (1)
    1958 - Josephine / My Joan (Rex 3000)

    The Fabulous Five
    1960 - Janie Made A Monster / Gettin' Old (King 45-5220)

    The Fabulous Five Flames
    1960 - Lonely Lover / No More Tears (Time 1023)

     

    Biography :

    This Vocal group from Cleveland was known locally as The Fabulous Flames. The group included  J. C. Tatum, Otis Carter, David McFadden, Ernest Smith, and Harvey Hall. The group started while some of the members were students at East Technical High School. The group performed at local clubs, and in Detroit. Their first single "Wop Ding A Ling" (also Known as "Wab Ding A Ling") plus the flip "Baby, I Need You So" was issued on the Shad predecessor Junior label (Junior 5000) on 29 October 1958. Bobby Shad renamed The Fabulous Flames by The Big Five. Their second single "Josephine" b/w "My Joan " released as their original name (The Fabulous Flames) was a local production, done for the short lived Rex label. Bill Jacocks, a local entrepreneur, wrote the songs and helped get the record released. Jacocks later became known as Cleveland's first African-American TV news anchor, along with producting some records in the mid 1970s.

    The Big Five aka The Fabulous Five Flames aka The Fabulous Five aka The Fabulous Flames (1)    The Big Five aka The Fabulous Five Flames aka The Fabulous Five aka The Fabulous Flames (1)
    Bobby Shad                                                                                                                        

    The group was known as the Fabulous Flames, but changed for The Fabulous Five for their third record for the King label to prevent confusion with other groups with that name. The song "Janie Made A Monster" is a classic R&B Halloween record. Richard Fisher replaced J. C. Tatum. Four sides were recorded at Capitol Studios in New York on 4 December 1959, "Lonely Lover", "No More Tears", "Blue Eyes" and "Stardust In Her Eyes". The first two will be released on the Time (/Shad) Label on April 1960 as The Fabulous Five Flames, and the next two were released on 10 June 1960 on Shad 5019 as The Big Five.  Richard Fisher was the brother of Jesse Fisher. He wasn't with the group for long as he left for New York where he ended up joining the Jive Five. Art Blakey replaced him, not long before the group disbanded. Harvey Hall - later known as Harvey Nickerson-Hall - went on to lead Harvey and the Phenomenals. https://www.buckeyebeat.com/

     

    Songs :

    The Big Five

      
    Wob-Ding-A-Ling                               Baby, I Need You So

      
          Blue Eyes                                     Stardust In Her Eyes


    The Fabulous Flames  (1)

      
    Josephine                                             My Joan

    The Fabulous Five

      
    Janie Made A Monster                            Gettin' Old       

    The Fabulous Five Flames

      
    Lonely Lover                                    No More Tears

    ...


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