Les Ledo & The Consorts

Les Ledo & The Consorts (1) (Manhattan, New York)
aka Nick Marco & The Venetians

Personnel :

Les Ledo (Lead)

Nick Marco (Lou Bonini)

Joe Walsh

Bobby Fava

Danny Conboy

Discography :

Nick Marco & The Venetians
1960 - Little Boy Lost / Would It Hurt You (Dwain 813)

Les Ledo & The Consorts (1)
1959 - Nina /  I Got Me A Sweetheart (Nina 1601)

Biography :

Joe Walsh wound up with four other guys in a group called Les Ledo and his Consorts, a name that particularly vexed the rest of the guys. The group would hang out at local recording studios and get side work as background singers.

Nick Marco & The Venetians

The group even recorded its own 45 rpm on the small Nina studio label. It was at a session for Dion and the Belmonts in 1959 that Walsh had a fleeting brush with fame. One of the Belmonts was unable to attend the scheduled recording session at the famous Brill Building. Walsh was at the studio that day looking for work when he was asked if he could sing second tenor.

Nick Marco & The Venetians

The song, "A Teenager in Love," immediately began to climb the charts, and soon sold over 1 million copies. That same year, Jim Gribble, who managed a number of successful groups, including Jay and the Americans, The Passions, the Fiestas and The Mystics, heard Les Ledo and his Consorts at a studio session. The record companies liked the Consorts but didn't care much for Les Ledo's voice. Gribble offered to manage the Consorts if Ledo wasn't in the group. So at the next rehearsalthe Consorts walked out and went back to Gribble.

Gribble took the boys on, made member Louis Bonini the lead singer, and renamed him Nick Marco. He also changed the name of the group to Nick Marco and the Venetians. Gribble got the group a recording contract in 1959, but unlike some of the other acts he managed, this contract was on Dwain records, a small company with hardly any budget for distribution.

 
Nick Marco & The Venetians 

 The 45 rpm recording of "Little Boy Lost," with "Would It Hurt You" on the flip side, got some regional East Coast air play. But when fans went to the record stores to purchase a copy, it was difficult to find. About the same time, disc jockey Alan Freed of WINS-AM, the premier doo-wop and rock station in New York, was indicted for taking bribes in what became known as the "payola" scandal. 

Songs :

Nick Marco & The Venetians 

   
 Little Boy Lost                                 Would It Hurt You

Les Ledo & The Consorts (1)

   
Nina                                         I Got Me A Sweetheart

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