Shirley, Kay, Lou and Kenny

The Classics (4) (Coraopolis, PA)




Personnel :

Kenny Krease (Lead)

Lou Christie (Lead)

Kay Chick

Shirley Herbert

Discography :

The Classics (4)
1960 - Close Your Eyes / Funny Thing (Starr 508)

Lou Christie & The Classics (4)
1966 - Close Your Eyes / Funny Thing (Alcar 207)
1966 - Tomorrow Will Come / You're With It (Alcar 208)

Biography :

Lou Christie was born as Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco in Glen Willard, PA in 1943.  He studied music and voice at Moon Township High School., where he was the student conductor of the choir. At age 15 Lugee, as a member of the singing group the Crewnecks with future Lions’ Bill Fabec , auditioned for pianist Twyla Herbert.  She offered the Crewnecks a place to rehearse. He sang solos with the choir at the holiday concerts.  His teacher and mentor Frank Cummings wanted him to pursue a career in classical music, but Lugee wanted to cut a record to get on American Bandstand.

Twyla Herbert, Kay, Lou, Shirley and Kenny

He performed with several vocal groups, worked as a session singer, and recorded songs on small Pittsburgh labels between 1959 and 1962. In 1960, Lou Christie with Kenny Krease, Kay Chick & Shirley Herbert (Twyla Herbert's daughter) recorded four sides as the Classics and later re-issued on the Alcar label, in-house label of Rite Records.  Almost certainly recorded by Fee Bee Records owner Joe Averbach in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1960. Two were issued on the Starr label, one of the Fee Bee Records subsidiary label. The two others are likely from the same session(s) and were not issued at the time.

  
                                                                                         Twyla Herbert & Lou Christie

Twyla Herbert was the song writing partner of Lou Christie for 30 years and wrote the four songs. Together they wrote hundreds of songs yielding a dozen hits including the no 1 song "Lightin' Strikes" and the hits "The Gypsy Cried", Two Faces of I", and "Rhapsody in the Rain," and "She Sold Me Magic. Lou Christie call her a genious. Herbert and Christie also composed songs for the girl group the Tammys, including the single "Egyptian Shumba,".In 1961, with Kay Chick, his sister Amy Sacco, and Bill Fabec , he released "The Jury" as "Lugee & The Lions" on Robbee with local airplay and sales.

Songs :

  
Close Your Eyes                        Funny Thing       

  
Tomorrow Will Come                               You're With It      







...

The Dulcetones (New York)

Personnel :

Bob Gist

Discography :

?

...

The Clintonian Cubs (Harlem, New York)

Personnel :

Leon Johnson

Donald Sturkley

Alfonzo Johnson

Vernon Smith

Jimmy Sturkley

Discography :

1960 - Confusion / She's Just My Size (My brother's 508/7)


Biography :

By the early 1960’s Jimmy Castor and Johnny Pruitt were getting quite proficient at song writing. One of their first writing assignments was for a very young vocal group called the Clintonian Cubs. The Clintonian Cubs were just some kids, eight and nine years of age from the Lincoln Projects (135th St. and 5th Avenue in Harlem) managed by the astute James Warren Jr. and by a guy named Mr. Johnson (father of two of the kids) .

The Clintonian Cubs needed a song and Castor and Pruitt wrote ‘She’s Just My Size’ for them. They were Leon Johnson, Donald Sturkley, Alfonzo Johnson, Vernon Smith and Jimmy Sturkley. The song was issued on the tiny My Brother’s label. Just how many copies the record sold is unknown.

  
Clintonian Cubs on stage at the Apollo (1959)                                                                                           

The Clintonians appeared on several talent show and on August 4, they appeared at the Apollo, as part of a Dr. Jive show. Others on the show were Larry Williams, the Cadillacs, Little Anthony & the Imperials, the Skyliners, Frankie Lymon, the Hollywood Flames, and Eugene Church.
 

Songs :


Confusion / She's Just My Size

...

The Adventurers (1) (Newark, New Jersey)




Personnel :

Gerald Perry (Tenor)

Walter Simmons (Tenor)

Eddie Johnson (Tenors)

Jay Jackson (Baritone)

Mack Willliams (Bass)

James Wickers (Bass/Guitar)

Discography :

Singles :
1961 - My Mama Done Tole Me / Rock And Roll Uprising (Columbia 42227)
1965 - I've Caught You Cheatin'    / Darlin' (You Said You Loved Me) (Music World 110)
1967 - (These Days) A Good Girl Is So Hard To Find / Easy Baby ( Compass 7010)
1968 - Something Bad (Is Happening) / Nobody Can Save Me (Blue Rock 4071)

Lp :
1961 - Can't Stop Twistin' (Columbia 8547)
The Twist / Shame, Shame, Shame / Peppermint Stick / Another Bachelor / Can't Stop Twistin' / You're A Teenager Now / Rock And Roll Uprising / My Mama Done Tole Me / The Slide / Do It / Bill's Place / Wallflower

Biography :

vocal group from Newark composed by  Gerald Perry (Tenor), Walter Simmons (Tenor), Eddie Johnson (Tenors), Jay Jackson (Baritone), Mack Willliams (Bass) and James Wickers (Bass/Guitar) . In 1961, The Adventurers cut an album "Can't Stop Twisting" on the Columbia label. Only one 45 was taken from it, "Rock And Roll Uprising" (Columbia 42227, 1961).  The top side was penned by group member Gerald Perry  (with Rose Marie McCoy and Dorian Burton - names we recognise from more tunes co-penned by Joe Simmons, as Davie's discography clearly shows).

When the Adventurers left Columbia Records, Johnny Brantley produced the group on Music World and Compass. The Adventurers recorded for the great Music World label, the very fine "I've Caught You Cheating" (Music World 110, 1965), penned by Gerald Perry with "Darlin'"and "(These Days) A Good Girl Is So Hard To Find" with "Easy Baby " on Compass. The Adventurers  have a last single on Blue Rock. The Adventurers released 4 singles over 8 years .

The Adventurers (or some variation of the group) also recorded as the Crown Four (much like the Diplomats moonlighted as the Four Puzzles for Fat Back. In any case, Crown Four's "Birth Of A Playboy" (Lee John 619, 1964) written by Gerald Perry (by himself, according to BMI; with another group member, Eddie Johnson, according to the label credits), and its falsetto-led flip (Eddie Johnson), are also included on the Chosen Few album.




Songs :

     
Rock And Roll Uprising           My Mama Done Tole Me                    The Twist            

     
Peppermint Stick             Another Bachelor                   Can't Stop Twistin'

     
 You're A Teenager Now                  Bill's Place                                 Wallflower          

     
I've Caught You Cheatin'        A Good Girl Is So Hard To Find           Easy Baby               


Nobody Can Save Me (Blue Rock 4071)



...

The Bop-Chords (Harlem, New York)




Personnel :

Ernest Harriston (Lead)

William Dailey (First Tenor)

Ken Hamilton (Second Tenor)

Morris Smarr (Baritone)

Leon Ivey (Bass)




Discography :

1956 - When I Woke Up This Morning / I Really Love Her So (Holiday 2603)
1956 - Castle In The Sky / My Darling To You (Holiday 2601)
1957 - So Why / Baby (Holiday 2608)




Biography :

Harlem's the Bop Chords formed in 1955 in the same building where the Ladders, Channels, and Willows got their start. Lead vocalist Ernest Harriston, William Dailey, Ken Hamilton, Leon Ivey, and Morris Smarr had all sung with other neighborhood groups, and Hamilton had recorded with the Five Wings earlier in the year on a tribute to Johnny Ace that was issued by King. The Bop Chords recorded for Holiday in 1956, and the mid-tempo "Castle in the Sky" was a local and regional hit. Their second single, "When I Woke Up This Morning," also did well on the East Coast, but internal clashes over song content and wardrobe soon caused lineup defections and changes.

Dailey and Smarr left and were replaced by Skip Boyd and Peggy Jones, their first female vocalist. They recorded "Why" in 1957, then disbanded. Harriston did background vocals for Shep & the Limelites and recorded "We Need Love" for Asnes in 1962 as Ernie Johnson. A new edition of the Bop Chords resurfaced in 1971, with lead vocalist Johnson, Hamilton, Boyd, and Ivey. They never recorded, but were a popular attraction at various New York locations and oldies shows in the '70s.




Songs :

  
When I Woke Up This Morning               I Really Love Her So      

  
Castle In The Sky                          My Darling To You

  
So Why                                          Baby








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