Neville Taylor & The Cutters (England)

Personnel :

Neville Taylor "Hal Munro" (Lead)

Shane Keane

Al timoyhy

Sonny McKenzie

Discography :

Singles :

Neville Taylor bb The Cutters
1958 - Mercy Mercy, Percy / House of Bamboo (Parlophone 4447)
1958 - I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire / Tears On My Pillow (Parlophone 4476)   
1958 - The Miracle Of Christmas / A Baby Lay Sleeping (Parlophone 4493)
1959 - Crazy Little Daisy / The First Words Of Love (Parlophone 4524)

The Cutters
1959 - I've Had It / Rockaroo (Decca 11110)

Lps :
1958 - Oh Boy!(Parlophone PMC 1072)
Good Good /  Little Miss Ruby / Leroy (Neville Taylor The Dallas Boys)

Biography :

Neville Taylor and his band, the Cutters, were among the handful of black rock & roll acts working in England during the late '50s. The West Indian-born Taylor had an excellent ballad style, but on the hard-rocking numbers he was heavily influenced by Little Richard's vocal style.

The group was signed to EMI's Parlophone label, where their first release included the excellent "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" as a B-side -- as an A-side it could have charted, but it was too rich for Parlophone's blood in 1958, and "House of Bamboo" ended up as the play side.

Their three follow-up singles were "I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire" b/w "Tears on My Pillow," "The Miracle of Christmas" b/w "A Baby Lay Sleeping," and "Crazy Little Daisy" b/w "The First Words of Love," the latter released in 1959.  The group, which was heavy with horns and saxes as well as guitar, typical of British bands of this period, got regular exposure on the British television series Oh Boy!. Despite this edge and their appearance on the accompanying EMI tie-in LP (Oh Boy!, Parlophone PMC 1072), they never charted a single, but were influential as a television phenomenon. Their sound was already considered out of date by the turn of the 1950s into the 1960s.
Bruce Eder, Rovi


Videos :

   
Good Cats                                           Charlie Brown

Songs :

   
Little Miss Ruby                                 I've Had It

   
Rockaroo                                          Tears on my pillow


...

The Galaxies (2)  (Los Angeles, California)
aka The Royal Galaxies 

Personnel :

Hal Hazan

Pat

Judy

Discography :

The Galaxies (2)
1960 - The big triangle / Until the next time (Capitol 4427)

The Royal Galaxies
1960 - Trouble on a Double Date / Over and Done With (Capitol 4488)
1960 - Zoom Golly Golly (Capitol) (Unreleased)
1960 - Cinderella Blue (Capitol) (Unreleased)

Biography :

Just months after returning from military duty, Capitol Records contacted Al Hazan to see if he knew any group that might be worth recording. Al said he did - that he had such a group already, along with some material. 

Actually, Al had no group ready - he literally ran across the street where two female friends lived. He asked if they wanted to record some of his songs and the girls were all for it.  Al wrote "The Big Triangle" and made a demonstration record with the girls.

They took the demo to the people at Capitol, who loved the idea and signed Al and the girls to a recording contract, naming the group "The Galaxies." "The Big Triangle" did well enough on the charts to warrant a follow-up record.

Al and the girls returned in November, 1960 to Capitol Records' with Tom Morgan, Al's producer, to record four more songs (three of them written by Hazan), although only two were released.  "Zoom Golly Golly," and the song "Cinderella Blue" were not released.

Because of a conflict with another singing group, Capitol changed the name of the group from "The Galaxies" to "The Royal Galaxies, featuring Al Hazan." The group continued appearing in various cities around the U.S., doing TV interviews and special concert appearances to promote their two records.
http://alhazan.com/galaxies.html

Songs :

The Galaxies (2)

    
The Big Triangle                                Until The Next Time

 The Royal Galaxies

   
Over and Done With                        Trouble on a Double Date

...

The Vibes (3) (Chicago)
aka The Jayhawks aka The Vibrations aka The Marathons (2) aka The Cleeshays



Personnel :

Richard Owens (High Tenor)

James Johnson (First Tenor)

Carl Fisher (Second Tenor)

Dave Govan (Baritone)

Don Bradley (Bass)



Discography :

1958 - What's Her Name / You Are (Allied 10006 )
1959 - Misunderstood / Let The Old Folks Talk (Allied 10007)


Biography :

When their last singles ("Everyone Should Know"/"The Creature") failed to take off, the Jayhawks hooked up with promoter C.E. Tebbets. They decided to change their image, because they felt they were being typecast as a "novelty" act. The first thing was to get a new name.

They changed their name to the Vibes for two singles on the Allied label, but in 1959 they were again credited as the Jayhawks for a further two singles on Eastman Records. Then, in 1960, they changed their name - almost for the last time - to the Vibrations.
http://www.uncamarvy.com/Jayhawks/jayhawks.html


Songs :

      
What's Her Name                       You Are                       

   
  Misunderstood                Let The Old Folks Talk

CDs :

The Dynamics (2) (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

Personnel :

George Winesburgh (lead)

Jimmy Shoup (First Tenor)

Earl Viney (Second Tenor)

Dock Johns (Baritone)

Donny Fuchs (Bass)

Discography

Singles :
1957 - When The Saints Come Marching In / Gone Is My Love (Cindy 3005)
1958 - Someone / Moonlight (Impala 501/Seeco 6008)
1962 - Christmas Plea / Dream Girl (Dynamic sound 578/9)
1961 - Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams / I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Lavere 186)

Unreleased :
N/A - Angel Of Love
N/A - Newly Weds
N/A - Wedding Bells
N/A - Too Young (Acappela)
N/A - Pigeon Prance (Acappela)
N/A - Too Young (Acappela)
N/A - Pigeon Prance (Acappela)

Biography :

Hey, North Side is famous for its singers. In the fifties, a group of guys from the Shadeland Avenue neighborhood discovered they made a pretty good sound together and became the Dynamics.They were George Winesburgh (lead), Jimmy Shoup (first tenor), Earl Viney (second tenor), Dick Johns (baritone), and Donny Fuchs (bass).  They released their first wax on the George Goldner/Jay Michael's Cindy label in 1957, "When The Saints Come Marching In" b/w "Gone Is My Love." The flip got a lot of air time locally.  Looking to break out of the Pittsburgh market, they approached Brighton Height's George Bodnar, who organized area hops, managed West View Park's Danceland , and was the founder of a then-new local label, Impala Records.

Bodnar was impressed with the act, and took them to Nashville to tape two songs at the Bradley Film and Recording Studios. On May 4, 1958, the Dynamics had a tape of "Someone" penned by Dick Johns and "Moonlight," written by Donnie Fuchs.  It was reissued as Seeco 6008; they even sold European rights to the song. But we all know how the industry worked then - Seeco didn't push the record, and the Pittsburgh connection didn't receive a red penny for the work.  Winesburgh and Viney split, and Ron Barnett and Dick Spracier replaced them. But the new Dynamics didn't have much more luck than the originals. They released a couple of more singles - "Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams" b/w "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" on Laverve Records in 1961, and "Christmas Plea' b/w "Dream Girl" for Jules Kruspar's Dynamic Sound Records in 1962.

Neither took off, and the group faded into the mists of musical history. One problem was that no one took proper care of the business end for them. Another drawback was the group's name itself - it was estimated that up to a dozen groups went under the Dynamics tag during the fifties and sixties, and it's hard to break from the pack without a strong brand.
http://oldmonmusic.blogspot.com/2010/07/dynamics.html



Songs :

   
Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams                         Someone                   
 
   
Gone Is My Love                                     Moonlight     

   
Dream Girl                                           Newly Weds

   
Christmas Plea                                    Wedding Bells

   
Pigeon Prance                                            Too Young

...

Ron & Bill (Detroit)

Personnel :

Ronnie White

William 'Smoky' Robinson

Discography :

1959 -  - It / Don't Say Bye Bye (Argo 5350/Tamla 54025)

Biography :

Ron & Bill was a short-lived incarnation of Ronnie White and Smokey Robinson from the early days of the Motown organization -- the credit appeared on one record, the single "It" b/w "Don't Say Bye Bye," released on the Tamla label, which was the label's attempt at charting with a novelty tune.

Actually, the A-side is very pretty, with superb singing and exquisite choruses, and if the effort here was to imitate "The Purple People Eater" or "The Flying Saucer," as suggested by Bill Dahl in his notes for The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 1 1959-1961, then the label ended up with something smoother and more sophisticated than either of those sides, and one well worth hearing as straight R&B. The record constitutes an understandably obscure event in the life of the singer and the history of the Miracles.Bruce Eder, Rovi

Song :


it

...