The Mello-Harps aka The Levee Songsters aka The Teen-Tones (1) aka The Melloharps

The Mello-Harps  (Brooklyn, New-York)

aka The Levee Songsters
aka The Teen-Tones (1)
aka The Melloharps
aka The Teentones

Ref The Leopards (1)

Personnel :

Arnold "Johnny" Malone (Lead)

Vernon Staley (First Tenor)

Joe Gowder (Second Tenor)

Daniel Elder (Baritone)

Ossie Davis (Bass)



    


Discography :

The Mello-Harps
1955 - Love Is A Vow / Valerie (Do-Re-Mi 203)
1956 - Searchin' / Love Is A Vow (Rego 1003)
1958 - Gumma Gumma  / No Good (Casino 104)

The Melloharps
1955 - I Love Only You / Ain't Got The Money (Tin Pan Alley 145/146)
1956 - What Good Are My Dreams / Gone (Tin Pan Alley 157/158)

Teacho Wiltshire & The Melloharps
1956 - My Bleeding Heart / I Couldn't Believe (Tin Pan Alley 159/160)

The Teen-Tones (1)
1956 - Love Is A Vow / Walkie Talkie Baby (Rego 1004)

Lee and Larry & The Teentones
1956 - Have A Happy (The Dedications Song)/ Oh Yes (Rego 1005)

The Levee Songsters
1959 - Our Love Is A Vow / Walkie Talkie Baby (Karen 1004)

The Leopards (1)
1963 - Valerie / Mah Mah Chicken Pot Pie (Leopards 5006)






Biography :

Brooklyn-based R&B vocal group the Mello-Harps formed in 1955. According to Marv Goldberg's profile in the April 1990 issue of Record Collectors' Monthly, co-founders Arnold "Johnny" Malone (first tenor), second tenor Joe Gowder, baritone Daniel "Bunny" Elder, and bass Ossie Davis were longtime friends from the borough's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

After adding a fifth member, high tenor Vernon Staley, the Mello-Harps began touring the local nightclub circuit, and while performing at Brooklyn's Club Baby Grand they negotiated a management deal with musician Larry Lucy, who quickly landed them a record deal with the Do-Re-Mi label.  The Mello-Harps beautiful debut, "Love Is a Vow," followed in the autumn of 1955. One of the scarcest singles of the doo wop era, it earned little attention upon its original release but later achieved cult classic status among R&B aficionados.

   
Teacho Wiltshire                                                                                                               

By year's end Davis resigned from the lineup, and upon adding bass Bobby Hawkins (the brother of NBA Hall of Famer Connie Hawkins), the Mello-Harps signed to Tin Pan Alley Records to issue their sophomore effort, "I Love Only You." "What Good Are My Dreams" followed in early 1956, and when the group's commercial fortunes failed to improve, Elder exited in the wake of their fourth single, "My Bleeding Heart." Tenor William Brown signed on prior to cutting a re-recorded "Love Is a Vow" for the Rego label. 

   
                                                                                                              A configuration of the Mello-Harps (or The Leopards)

Credited to the Teen-Tones, the song fared no better the second time around, and Staley was the next to turn in his resignation. Tenor David "Sonny" Forte signed on for 1957's "Gumma Gumma," a novelty tune that restored the Mello-Harps moniker. Despite saxophone contributions from the great King Curtis, the single went nowhere and after an aborted session for Juggy Murray's Sue label, the group split in 1959. In the early 60s, Joe Gowder formed another group, which re-recorded "Valerie" (with Joe himself doing lead). Along with the flip, "Mah Mah Chicken Pot Pie" (also led by Joe), it was released on the Leopard label in 1963, as the "Leopards." David Forte was also in this group.
http://www.uncamarvy.com/MelloHarps/melloharps.html



 

Songs :

The Mello-Harps

  
Love Is A Vow                                             Valerie

     
 Searchin'                       Gumma Gumma                             No Good



The Melloharps

  
I Love Only You                       Ain't Got The Money

  
What Good Are My Dreams                            Gone            


Teacho Wiltshire & The Melloharps


My Bleeding Heart / I Couldn't Believe


The Teen-Tones (1) / The Levee Songsters


1959 - (Our) Love Is A Vow / Walkie Talkie Baby


The Leopards (1)

  
             Valerie                              Mah Mah Chicken Pot Pie







…