The Kool Gents aka The Delegates (1)

   John McCall, John Carter, Dee Clark, Teddy Long, Doug Brown with a Fan.

The Delegates (1)  (Chicago)
aka  The Kool Gents

Personnel :

Delecta "Dee" Clark (Lead Tenor)

John McCall (Lead Tenor)

Doug Brown (Second Tenor)

Teddy Long (Second Tenor / Baritone)

John Carter (Bass)

Discography :

The Kool Gents
 Singles :
1956 - This Is The Night  / Do Ya Do (Vee-Jay 173) 

1956 - You Know / I Just Can't Help Myself (Vee-Jay 207)
Unreleased :
N/A - Crazy Over You (Vee-Jay)
N/A - When I Call On You (Vee-Jay)
N/A - Just Like A Fool (Vee-Jay) 
     

The Delegates (1)
Singles :
1956 - The Convention / Jay's Rock (Big Jay McNeely) (Vee-Jay 212) 

1957 - Mother's Son / I'm Gonna Be Glad (Vee-Jay 243)
Unreleased :
1956- June  (Vee-Jay)

Dee Clark (bb The Kool Gents)
1957 - Gloria / Kangaroo Hop (Falcon 1002)

Biography :

One of the most interesting groups to emerge from Chicago in the '50s was the Kool Gents. An early incarnation called the Golden Tones consisted of Cicero Blake, James Harper, Howard McClain, Teddy Long, and John Carter. Delecta "Dee" Clark, John McCall, and Doug Brown replaced Harper, McClain, and Blake.


 The Hambone Kids : Sammy McGrier, Dee Clark and Ronnie Strong

 McCall, not Clark originally sung lead until Vee Jay's A&R man Calvin Carter recommended that Clark sing lead. Long served as the groups' main songwriter. Clark, from Arkansas, had previously recorded "Hambone" with the Red Saunders Orchestra as a member of the Hambone Kids. They renamed themselves after disk jockey Herb "Kool Gent" Kent, who introduced them to Calvin Carter and Vee Jay Records.

  
                                                                                                          Delecta "Dee" Clark

Their first release, "This Is the Night" b/w "Do Ya Do" sold locally in 1956. A second release, "I Just Can't Help Myself" b/w "You Know" did fine in Chicago also, but failed to make any inroads outside the city. The Kool Gents didn't burn up the charts, but they sounded good, so Calvin Carter and Ewart Abner decided to spoof the Democratic National Convention by releasing "The Convention" as "the Delegates" .

John McCall, John Carter, Teddy Long & Doug Brown

It received a tremendous amount of airplay, which unfortunately didn't transform into a tremendous amount of sales. A second Delegates single, "Mother's Son" b/w Teddy Long's "I'm Gonna Be Glad" didn't even excite Chicagoans. In 1957, Dee Clark decided to go solo (with Calvin Carter's OK), and the Kool Gents and the Delegates recording activity ended. Some members of labelmates the El Dorados ("At My Front Door") left the group, leaving only lead Pirkle Lee Moses, so Calvin crowned the Kool Gents the New El Dorados and they backed Moses for two fruitless years.
http://www.uncamarvy.com/KoolGents/koolgents.html
http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/dclark.htm


Songs :

The Kool Gents

  
This Is The Night / Do Ya Do             You Know / I Just Can't Help Myself

     
Crazy Over You                  When I Call On You                  Just Like A Fool

The Delegates (1)

      
Mother's Son                      I'm Gonna Be Glad                    The Convention

Dee Clark (bb The Delegates)

Gloria / Kangaroo Hop

...