The Dolphins (3) Port Chester, New York)
aka The Dual Tones

Personnel :

James Cascio

Anthony Fotia

Discography :

The Dual Tones
1959 - Bubble-Gum Bop! / I'll Belong To You (Sabre 203)

The Dolphins (3)
1961 -  Rainbow's End / One More For The Road (Empress 102)


Biography :

The Dolphins were were James Cascio and Anthony Fotia. They were from Port Chester, New York. In 1959, James and Anthony  recorded two songs : "Bubble-Gum Bop!" b/w "I'll Belong To You". The single was released on the tiny Sabre records in New York. they were billed as the Dual Tones. They had the pleasure of appearing on the stage of an Allan Freed show in the Catskills back in 1959 were and they backed up Johnny Maestro on "16 Candles".

At the end of the year 1960, James Cascio and Anthony Fotia sign a recording contract with Empress and change their name to the Dolphins . Empress was a subsidiary of Valmor Records. The Valmor Company was started in the fall of 1960 in New York city. It was a division of Countess, international, and owned and run by Gene and Jody Malis (Jody often used her maiden name, Cameron).

In 1961, Valmor opened the subsidiary label, Empress. The Empress label lasted about a year and only released 8 singles. The new renamed Dolphins recorded two ballads : "Rainbow's End" and "One More For The Road" released on Empress 102. After the empress release, Anthony Fotia moved to the Bronx.

 

Songs :

The Dolphins (3)

  
One More For The Road                   Rainbow's End         


The Dual Tones

  
I'll Belong To You                            Bubble-Gum Bop!

...

 The Ramblers (2)  (Detroit)
aka The Fabulous Playboys aka The Falcons (5)


Personnel :

Carlis "Sonny" Monroe (Lead)

James "Ooh Wee" Gibson (First Tenor)

Johnny Alvin (Second Tenor/ Baritone)

Frank Holt (Bass)


Discography :

Singles :
1956 - The Heaven And Earth / Don't You Know (Federal 12286)

Unreleased :
 N/A - Shame On Me (Federal)
 N/A - Days A Week (Federal)


Biography :

Since there were other Playboys groups at the time (one on Rainbow and another on Tetra), Federal asked them to use a different name and James Gibson suggested the "Ramblers" (after the car). "The Heaven And Earth"/"Don't You Know" were released in December 1956.

  
The Falcons (5)/Fabulous Playboys with Hollowell                                                                                                                        

Probably during the summer of 1957, Frank Holt was replaced by second tenor/baritone Alton "Bart" Hollowell, who had been in the Enchanters on Coral. They later became The Falcons (5). The group, fronted by Carl 'Sonny' Monroe would later become The Fabulous Playboys and from there evolve into The Falcons after the original group of the same name had disbanded.
http://www.uncamarvy.com/Falcons/falcons.html


Songs :

   
The Heaven And Earth                        Don't You Know


Shame On Me

...

The Carmelettes (Jersey City, NJ)
aka The Kittens (2)

Personnel :

Angela LaPrete "Angela Murphy"

Vickie Cevetello

Virginia Verga

Discography :

The Carmelettes
1959 - My Foolish Heart / Promise Me A Rose (Alpine 53)
1960 - Aching For You / Something Tells Me I'm In Love (Alpine 61)

Neil Sedaka  (bb The Carmelettes)
1959 - Oh! Carol / One Way Ticket (RCA 47-7595)   

Carole King (bb The Carmelettes)
1960 - Oh, Neil / A Very Special Boy (Alpine 57)   

The Kittens
1960 - Dark, Dark Sunglasses /Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini (Alpine 64)
1960 - A Letter On His Sweater / Broken Dreams    (Alpine 67)

Biography :

Trio named after Our Lady of St. Carmel Church composed by Angela LaPrete (Angela Murphy), Vickie Cevetello and Virginia Verga.  The Carmelettes were a group of Italian-American teenage girls from Jersey City, NJ -- a working class city just across the Hudson River from Manhattan -- in the late 50's.

Beatrice Verdi was their songwriter, arranger, and mentor, and she is the songwriter credited on Aching for You and Ding Dong. The group was signed to Alpine, a subsidiary of Epic Records, in about 1958 and recorded their own songs as well as background vocals for Neil Sedaka's Oh Carol.

When Carole King, for whom the song was written, recorded the answer song, Oh Neil, the girls were hired again to recreate the sound of the original song. This began a long collaboration with Carole King, although the girls were no longer called the Carmelettes.

  
The Kittens

Virginia Verga left the group, and  Angela and Vickie became the Kittens. They continued to record with Carole and for Alpine until they fazed themselves out of the business at age 18.

Songs :

The Carmelettes

   
Aching For You                                 My Foolish Heart

   
Something Tells Me I'm In Love              Promise Me A Rose

 
Neil Sedaka                                             Carole King

   
Oh! Carol                                        Oh, Neil

 ....

The Four Kings (3) (Menphis, Tenesee)
aka The Canes

Personnel :

Don Bryant (Lead)

James "Jamie" Bryant (Tenor)

Elvin Lee Jones (Second Tenor)

Lionel Byrd (Baritone)

Discography :

Willie Mitchell & The Four Kings (3)
1958 - Tell It To Me Baby / Walking At Your Will (Stomper Time 1160)
1958 - Walkin' Alone / Rag Mop (Stomper Time 1163)

The Four Kings (3)
1963 - Farmer John / Round And Round (Moc 651)
1963 - Early In The Morning / I Want To Be There (Moc 655)

The Canes
1962 - Why Should I Suffer With The Blues / I'll Never Give Her Up (My Friend) (Stax 123)

Biography :

1942, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. A significant songwriter for Joe Cuoghi"s (and then Willie Mitchell"s) Hi Records, especially for (and sometimes with) his wife, Ann Peebles, Bryant was also a superb soul stylist, although most of his own recordings for Hi were cut long before Al Green, in particular, gave the label the commercial soul base it needed for continued survival. One of 10 children, Bryant"s father (Donald Snr.) featured in the gospel quartet the Four Stars Of Harmony, and in 1955, Don Jnr. and four of his brothers formed their own gospel group, the Five Bryant Brothers, which soon became "secularized" as the doo-wopping Quails.

Four Stars Of Harmony

 At Booker T. Washington High School, Bryant joined a group variously called the Canes and the Four Canes, named after their "manager", local Radio WLOK DJ, D. Cane Cole. or their live gigs the Canes dressed in striped jackets and straw hats and carried walking canes. Don"s brother James was also in the group, along with Lee Jones and William Walker, reputed to be the later Goldwax, Checker and Pawn soulman, (Wee) Willie Walker. A group called the Canes were taken to Stax Records by D. Cane Cole in early 1962 where they cut "Why Should I Suffer With The Blues", but they have since been identified as probably being the Largoes, led by Lorece Thompson.

   
Willie Mitchell                                                                                                                                           

FEventually, Bryant split from Cole and changed the group"s name to the Four Kings. The new quartet became Willie Mitchell"s singing group at the band leader"s live gigs at Memphis clubs. Bryant himself was still underage, and, to enable him to work, Mitchell became his legal guardian. Mitchell was also producer for the Home of The Blues label, whose featured artists included the ex-King group the Five Royales. They recorded Bryant"s first commercial composition, "Is There Someone Else On Your Mind". Meanwhile, the Four Kings cut "Crawl Parts 1 & 2" with the Willie Mitchell Band for Hi, before the group dissolved. Bryant went solo in 1964, making his debut with a storming version of Chris Kenner"s "I Like It Like That".

http://www.uncamarvy.com/4Kings/4kings.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/don-bryant-1
http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/dbryant.htm
http://redkelly.blogspot.com/2007/09/don-bryant-ill-do-rest-hi-2104.html

Songs :

     
Walking At Your Will                      Walkin' Alone                          Rag Mop

 ...

The Four Tops (1) (Detroit)
aka The Four Aims

(The Doo wop years)

Personnel :

Levi Stubbs

Abdul "Duke" Fakir

Renaldo "Obie" Benson

Lawrence Peyton

Discography :

The Four Aims
1956 - If Only I Had Known / She Gave Me Love (Grady 012)

The Four Tops (1)
1956 - Could it be you / Kiss me baby (Chess 1623)
1956 - Woke Up This Morning (Chess) (Unreleased)
1956 - All my life (Chess) (Unreleased)
1956 - I'm My Baby's Sitter (Chess) (Unreleased)
1960 - Ain't That love / Lonely Summer (Columbia 41755)
1962 - Pennies from heaven / Where you are (Riverside 4534)

Biography :

The Four Tops began life in 1953 (some accounts say 1954), when all of the members were attending Detroit-area high schools. Levi Stubbs and Abdul "Duke" Fakir went to Pershing, and met Northern students Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton at a friend's birthday party, where the quartet members first sang together.

Sensing an immediate chemistry, they began rehearsing together and dubbed themselves the Four Aims. Payton's cousin Roquel Davis, a budding songwriter who sometimes sang with the group during its early days, helped them get an audition with Chess Records in 1956. Although Chess was more interested in Davis, who went on to become Berry Gordy's songwriting partner, they also signed the Four Aims, who became the Four Tops to avoid confusion with the Ames Brothers.

The Four Tops' lone Chess single, "Kiss Me Baby," was an unequivocal flop, and the group moved on to similarly brief stints at Red Top and Riverside. They signed with Columbia in 1960 and were steered in a more upscale supper-club direction, singing jazz and pop standards. This too failed to break them, although they did tour with Billy Eckstine during this period.

http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Four_Tops,_The/Biography/
http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/fourtops.htm
http://www.vocalgroup.org/inductees/the_four_tops.html
http://www.history-of-rock.com/four_tops.htm
http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/four%20tops.html
http://www.thefourtopsoriginal.com

Songs :

  
Kiss me baby                          I'm My Baby's Sitter

     
All my life                               Could it be you                    Woke Up This Morning

...