The Cardigans (1) (Chattanooga, TN)
(Updated by Hans-Joachim)

Personnel :

Mike Alday  (Lead)

Jack Bookout

Ted Schreiner, Jr

Curtis Harmon

Discography :

1957 - Your Graduation Means Goodbye / Bo Weevil On The Mountain (Mercury 71251)
1958 - Wacky Wacky / It's Better That You Love (Mercury 71349)
1959 - Each Other / Poor Boy (Mercury 71367)
1959 - Make Up Your Mind / Half Breed (Spann 431)

Biography :

Dabbling in poetry writing his high school day, Young Joe Hopper wrote "Your Graduation" as a poem early fall 1957 while he was attending the University of Chattanooga. It Was set to music by Mike Alday, a member of a male quartet who called themselves "The Cardigans". The Cardigans were from City High School in Chattanooga, TN. Mike Alday was the lead singer along with Jack Bookout, Ted Shriner and Curtis Harmon. Curtis Harmon left the group in 1958 to return to college and was replaced with Bob Brandon.

Seated, Jay Michael (WCAE Deejay) with Curtis Harmon, Ted Schreiner, Mike Alday and Jack Bookout

The Group sang "Your Graduation Means Goodbye " at several campus functions where it always made such a hit that the boys decided to tape record it. They took the tape to the National Disc Jockeys Convention in Nashville, Teen; in November 1957 and contrived to play it for Al Talmadge, the vice president of Mercury Recording Co. He signed The Cardigans and "Your Graduation" on the spotted the song was put on Wax Dec. 17, 1957.

    

The Tuneful ballad with a gentle rocking beats doing very well in record shops and on the radios around the country. Billboard and Cashbox Magazines each have picked it to be spotlighted as hit of the week.  "Your Graduation Means Goodbye " received some airplay in several parts of the country around this time in 1958, but not enough to reach the top 100 nationally.  

Songs :

    
Your Graduation Means Goodbye          Bo Weevil On The Mountain 

  
         Wacky Wacky                            It's Better That You Love

  
   Poor Boy / Each Other                  Make Up Your Mind / Half Breed

  ....

The Velquins (St. Paul, Minn.)
aka The Vel-Quin Singers

Personnel :

John Stafford (Lead)

Eddie Ballard (Tenor)

Sylvester "Peachy" Eaves (Baritone)

Clarence "Huffy" Wright (Bass)

Allan Jones

Discography :

The Velquins (Valquins)
1959 - My Dear / Falling Star (Gaity 161/162)

Bobby Wharton & The Little Green Men  with The Vel-Quin Singers
1962 - I'll Cry / You Don't Believe Me (no group) (Golden Wing 3284)

George Davo bb the Velquins (Uncredited)
1958 - All Through With You / Candy Man (no group)  (North Star-2073)

Biography :

The Same St. Paul, Minnesota scene that brought us the Wisdoms also gave us Gaity labelmates the Velquins, who had started out in 1956 as the Cranes, then the Jades, and ultimately settling on the Velquins as their group name.

(L to R : John Stafford, Clarence "Huffy" Wright, Allan Jones, Eddie Ballard & Sylvester "Peachy" Eaves. Kneeling: Buzz Ransom

The Velquins used local rockers the Teen Kings as their backing band.  The Twin cities had fierce territorial rivalries amongst vocal groups but the Velquins were always welcome behind enemy lines. A University of Minnesota frat once asked them to sing a boiling pot at a jungle theme party! The Velquins unsuccessfully auditioned for both Chess and Vee-Jay in Chicago.

They did back George davo on his single "All through with you" on North Star, and recorded their own lone Gaity release "My Dear" / "Falling Star", bringing in Henry Jones of the Five Blind Boys to beef up their sound. All copies misspelled the group name as the Valquins. The Group sang also on "I'll Cry" by Bobby Wharton & The Little Green Men under the name of The Vel-Quin Singers.



Songs :

The Velquins

    
Falling Star                                       My Dear


Bobby Wharton & The Little Green Men  with The Vel-Quin Singers


I'll Cry

...

1953 - Kenny McMillan, Alfred Gaitwood, Joe Martin, Enoch Hale, Walter Lowry
Thanks to Liam

The Smoothtones (1) (Pittsburgh)

Personnel :

Alfred Gaitwood (Lead)

Enoch Hale (First Tenor)

Joe Martin (Second Tenor)

Walter Lowry (Baritone)

Kenny McMillan (Bass)

Discography :

1955 - Bring Back Your Love / No Doubt About It (Jem 412)

Biography :

The Smoothtones surfaced in 1953 in Pittsburgh. The lead, Alfred Gaitwood, was from Alabama and found himself in Pittsburgh with a U.S. Air Force unit. Gaitwood rounded up  Enoche Hale (First Tenor), Joe Martin (Second Tenor), Walter Lowry (Baritone), and Kenny McMillian (Bass). Gaitwood named the group the Smoothtones. Paul Ruffin was their manager.

L to R : Alfred Gaitwood,  Walter Lowry, Paul Ruffin (Manager), Bill powel (DJ), Kenny McMillan, Jud Hunter & Joe Martin

Hale was drafted in 1954 and was replaced by Jud Hunter at First Tenor. Through networking, Gaitwood met Lennie Martin, who ran the operations at Jem Records . (Martin would later be instrumental in forming Calico Records [Skyliners] and Robbie Records.) The Smoothtones recorded two sides for Jem in June 1955. Interestingly, these were the first black vocal group releases out of Pittsburgh. Early in 1956, Gaitwood was transferred to another air force base. Jud Hunter then brought Sylvester Brooks into the group at lead.

This altered group went back to Jem to record two more sides. Supposedly, they recorded the Gaitwood-penned "It's Too Late Now."  A pressing of this disc has never been seen. Jud Hunter, in an interview by Carl and Nancy Janusek, swore that this was released and that he saw the recording on wax. (This cannot be confirmed — perhaps it was never released.) It was later done by the Cufflinks on Dootone. Gaitwood was with the group at that time. With Gaitwood gone, the cohesiveness that once held the group together disappeared, and they disbanded in September 1956.
http://www.uncamarvy.com/Cufflinks/cufflinks.html



Songs :

  
Bring Back Your Love                         No Doubt About It




…

(L to R) Lany Ross, Leon Garrison, Andrew Sims, Billy Foster and Ronald Booker

Ronnie Booker & The Boardwalkers (Atlantic City, New Jersey)

Personnel :

Billy Foster (Tenor/Guitar)

Ronald Booker (Lead)

Leon Garrison (Tenor)

Lany Ross (Bass)

Andrew Sims (Baritone)

Discography :

Single :
1957- She Won't Go Steady / What'll I Do? (Rex 103)

Unreleased :
1957 - She's the Girl in My Dreams (Rex)

Biography :

Ronnie Booker & The Boardwalkers were a Vocal group from Atlantic City, N.J. composed by five singer  Ronnie Booker, William Foster, Andrew Sims, Leon Garrison and Lanny Ross. With their truly "resortish” monicker, and with not one member of the group over 23, the localites have cut a recording acclaimed by professional musicians and critics in March 1957.   The disc, "She Won't Go Steady" and “What Will I Do" demonstrates that talent of the versatile vocalists. "Steady" is a ballad involving trials and tribulations of a youth whose best girl won't go steady with him, and "What Will I Do," an up-tempo with a hard driving beat.

Booker is the lyricist and Foster writes the music, Garrison has also penned one of his own, "She's the Girl in My Dreams.” Booker sings lead, and Foster croons tenor and plays guitar. Though voung in years, "The Boardwalkers" have all had ample previous experience in the singing profession, Each boy got his start vocalizing in church choirs.

Songs :

  
She Won't Go Steady                                What'll I Do?     

...

(L to R) Millicent "Millie" Fitzgerald, Annette Chimento & Madeline "Maddy" Stone

The Melodears (Belmore, New York)

Personnel :

Annette Chimento

Madeline "Maddy" Stone

Millicent "Millie" Fitzgerald

Discography :

1958 - Charock  / Summer Romance  (Gone 5033)
1958 - It's Love Because / They Don't Say (Gone 5040)

Biography :

In 1958, Ed Portnoy and Stan Feldman, Ivy records, just overhead in love with their newest group, The Melodears. The Trio consists of Millicent "Millie" Fitzgerald, Annette Chimento  and Madeline "Maddy" Stone , Seniors at Wellington C. Mephan High school in Belmore. Though busy with school work and extra curricular activities, they still find time to practise every day and stay on the top of their class scholastically.

Their first on Gone, "Chamrock" was written and a & r’d by writer of "Wheel Of Fortune" and many other hits, George Weiss and produced by Portnoy and Feldman. Ivy Records was set up in Sept 57 by Stan Feldman & Ed Portnoy. It was based out of 1697 Broadway, New York. The label's 1st release was "it's Only You Dear" by the Deltairs.

   
The Melodears : Millie, Annette and Maddy

The pair didn't have too much success distributing their product so signed lease deals for it to come out on APT, Gone & Felsted . A second single was released by Gone in 1958 with "It's Love Because" b/w "They Don't Say".

Songs :

  
Charock                                          Summer Romance

…