Wade Flemons ‬&‪ ‬T‪he Newcomer‬s

‪Wade Flemons ‬&‪ ‬T‪he Newcomer‬s (Battle Creek, Michigan)

Personnel :

Wade Flemons (Lead)

Lou Wilson

James Kelley

Ed Horsley

Lewis Grave

Discography :

1958 -  Here I Stand / ‪My Baby likes ‬T‪o Rock‬ (Vee Jay 215) 

Biography :

Wade Herbert Flemons was born on September 25, 1940 in Coffeyville, Kansas. Raised to the west in Wichita, Flemons took to singing, first in his local church choir and later in various gospel groups. Flemons moved with his parents to Battle Creek, Michigan in 1955. While attending Battle Creek Central High, he formed a vocal group called The Shifters, for whom he composed material during a series of lessons he undertook on the piano.

Lou Wilson                                                James Kelley                                         Ed Horsley

The Shifters were composed of Lou Wilson, James Kelley, Ed Horsley, and Lewis Grave. By June 1958, The Shifters were rehearsed and competent enough to travel west to Kalamazoo and cut a demonstration record. The tune The Shifters had elected to record was "Here I stand," a song Flemons had authored himself. A copy was sent to James and Vivian Carter-Bracken at Vee Jay Records. Vee Jay liked "Here I stand." Having the group change names to the less furtive Newcomers, they signed them up in July.

Under A & R man Calvin Carter's supervision, Wade Flemons and the Newcomers cut "Here I stand,' backed with "The (My) baby likes to rock ». By October 1958, "Here I stand" was ringing up large sales alongside Jimmy Reed's "Odds & ends" with which publicist Barbara J. Gardner plugged its potential. Vee Jay's General Manager Ewart Abner bragged to Billboard Magazine that his man Flemons was headed for the top.

A tour of the Eastern seaboard (Flemons' first professional engagement) was set up to begin on Christmas Eve. Packed off to Pittsburgh to publicize his tour, Flemons hooked up with deejays who opened a mike and gave him a welcome spot on the air. "Here I stand" eventually climbed to #19 on the R & B charts. Upon returning from his Eastern tour, Flemons was rushed into Chicago's Universal Recording Studios to cut Otis Blackwell's "Hold me close" and "You'll remain forever." Blackwell, among reams of credentials, first recorded with Bud Johnson on Victor in 1952 and wrote songs for Elvis Presley, among other luminaries.

Influenced by singers like Nat Cole and Roy Hamilton, Flemons chose to sing in a smooth, infectious way, drifting into a more dramatic style only when the song demanded it. It seems that by now, The Newcomers, no longer newcomers, were gone although their presence could possibly be manifest on two songs from Flemons' album (Vee Jay 1011) released in early 1960, "Don't be careless" and "Purposely."
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Songs :

Wade Flemons ‬&‪ ‬T‪he Newcomer‬s

  
Here I Stand                    My Baby likes To Rock

Wade Flemons ‬bb‪ ‬T‪he Newcomer‬s ???

  
Don't Be Careless                             Purposely



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