The Utations (Trumbull, Connecticut)

Personnel :

Carl Demore (First Tenor)

Jim Petrino (Second Tenor / Lead)

Roland Bousquet (Second Tenor / Lead)

Paul Timpanelli (Bass)

George Kovachi (Baritone)

Discography :

No Recording

Biography :

In early 1960, two teenagers began harmonizing to the tunes of the Everly Brothers, Don & Juan and Robert & Johnny singing mostly for their own enjoyment in the Trumbull High School bathrooms and hallways. They were George Kovachi and Wesley Twelves, two teens who met in their first year of high school. Chris Costeines also occasionally joined in. Soon after, Paul Timpanelli joined the group as baritone and later Stanley Goldman as 2nd tenor and sometimes lead.

Later in 1960 we chose a name for the group and officially became "The Sophisticats" performing locally at record hops, dances and more bathrooms. For a short while, The Sophisticats worked with guitarist Fred Stern and a drummer whose name can no longer be remembered. We practiced and performed through much of 1960 with the same members. Late in 1961, Wes's girlfriend, Shirley Clark, decided that Wes should spend less time rehearsing and more time with her. Roland Bousquet, a Bridgeport native stepped up to replace Wes and Jim Petrino also from Bridgeport joined to replace Stan. Carl Demore also joined to handle the 1st tenor duties ... suddenly we had a whole new sound!

In early 1962 we renamed the group "The Salutations." This lasted a few months until Vito and the Salutations released their hit "Unchained Melody." We then decided to just shorten the name to "The Utations." No need to go into the iterations of the name "Utations" our peers managed to come up with and call us! The next changes came late in 1962 as Carl graduated and went to college and Roland moved to Maine. In 1963, we recruited Tony Sciarappa who had recently moved from our Bridgeport, CT Parrott Avenue neighborhood to Trumbull. Jerry Bourdeau from Trumbull also joined in 1963. This allowed "the Utations" to continue to rehearse and play out occasionally for the next year or two. Meanwhile, Jim Petrino married Shirley Clark and began raising a family. By the end of 1964, George Kovachi had joined the Marine Corps, Tony enlisted in the Air Force, Carl was still at UCONN, Paul was off to college and Jerry enlisted in the Army.

 ....

The Cleftones (Queens, New York)



Personnel :

Herbie Cox（Lead）

Charles James（Tenor）

Berman Patterson（Tenor）

William "Buzzy" McClain（Baritone）

Waren Cobin（Bass）



Discography :

Singles:

1956 - You baby you / I was dreaming（Gee 1001）
1956 - Little girl of mine / You're driving me bad（Gee 1011）

1956 - Can't we be sweetheart / Neki honkey（Gee 1016）

1956 - String around my heart / Happy memories（Gee 1025）

1956 - Why do you do me like you do / I like your style of making love（Gee 1031）
1957 - See you next year / Ten pair of shoes（Gee 1038）
1958 - Hey babe / What did I do that was wrong（Gee 1041）
1958 - She's so fine / Trudy（Roulette 4094）
1957 - Since we fell in love (Roulette LP 25021)
1957 - Honey Bun (Unreleased)
1958 - Lover boy / Beginners at love（Gee 1048）

1959 - Cuzin Casanova / Mish mash baby（Roulette 4161）
1959 - After the dance (Roulette LP 25059)
1959 - Cool it, fool (Unreleased)
1960 - She's gone / Shadows on the very last row（Roulette 4302）
1961 - Heart & soul / How do you feel（Gee 1064）

1961 - For sentimental reason / Deed I do（Gee 1067）
1961 - Earth angel / Blues in the night（Gee 1074）
1961 - Again / Do you（Gee 1077）
1961 - Lover come back to me / There she goes（Gee 1079）
1961 - How deep is the ocean / Some kind of blue（Gee 1080）
1963 - Sweet and lovely (Unreleased)
1963 - Blue skies (Unreleased)
1963 - Slippin' and Slidin' (Unreleased)
1964 - She's forgotten you / Right from the git go（Ware 501）
1976 - Since I fell fot you / Heavenly fathert（Robbin Hood 132）
1976 - Please say you want me / So you and I can climb（Robbin Hood 133）
1991 - My angel lover / You lost the game of love（Classic Artist /Car 121）



LPs :

1961 - Heart And Soul
Heart And Soul/How Do You Feel/100 Pounds Of Clay/Please Say You Want Me/Can't We Be Sweethearts/Time Is Running Out On Our Love//Little Girl Of Mine/Heavenly Father/Glory Of Love/You And I Can Climb/You Baby You/String Around My Heart (Gee SGLP-705)

1962 - For Sentimental Reasons
For Sentimental Reasons/Blues In The Night/Red Sails In The Sunset/She's Gone/Vacation In The Mountains/My Babe//Earth Angel/Deed I Do/Shadows On The Very Last Row/What Did I Do That Was Wrong/Hey Babe/Leave My Woman Alone (Gee SGLP-707)

Biography :


In 1955, at Jamaica High School in Queens, New York, two singing groups - The Clefs and The Silvertones - merged to form The Cleftones. The lead singer was Herbie Cox and other group members were Berman Patterson, Warren Corbin (bass), Charlie James and William "Buzzy" McClain. Vocal battles were regularly fought with other local groups, including Gene Pearson's Rivileers and James Sheppard's Hearts (later The Heartbeats).

The Cleftones, all aged between 16 and 18, practiced in the back room of a beauty parlour owned by Buzzy's parents on 107th Avenue and Merrick Road. Their early influences were The Swallows, The Diamonds, The Cardinals, The Moonglows and The Penguins. However, as the group developed, they began to favour the more up-tempo songs and began to write in that vein.

(Charles James, William McClane, Warren Corbin, Marlene, Berman Patterson and Herbert Cox)

In late 1955, encouraged by their school-friend manager Dave Ralnick, the boys auditioned for Apollo, Baton and Old Town, but were turned down by them all. The next stop was Rama Records at 220, West 42nd Street, in an office over the PAL (Police Athletic League). Label owner George Goldner auditioned them and immediately signed them to his newly-formed Gee label (named after The Crows mega-hit which had been the making of Rama's fortunes in 1954).

"You Baby You"/"I Was Dreaming" (Gee 1000) was released in December 1955 (just a month later, Elvis was appearing on The Dorsey Brothers' TV Show and RCA were putting all their resources behind "Heartbreak Hotel"). "You Baby You" followed its label-mate "Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" into the Billboard Pop charts and reached #78, selling an estimated 150,000 copies.

The next release was Herbie's own competition "Little Girl Of Mine" (Gee 1011) (hands up all Shakers singing "Diddle liddle liddle liddle lit, yeah"). It sold over 750,000 during its heyday, and probably close to a million more since then. The record was released in the UK on Columbia 3801 (45 and 78), with the earlier hit "You Baby You" on the flip. Needless to say, the sales hardly registered a blip on the graph, hence it's supposed value of £400 (mint) in the Record Collector "Rare Record Guide".

Subsequent releases through the remainder of 1956 and 1957 included "Can't We Be Sweethearts?", "String Around My Heart", "Why Do You Do Me Like You Do?", "See You Next Year", "Hey Babe" and "Lover Boy", most of which can be found on the 1990 Rhino CD "Best Of The Cleftones" (B0000032S9), but the sales never matched those of their first two releases.

The group's first big live show in 1956 was at Detroit's Fox Theatre with The Cadillacs, Lavern Baker, Lonnie Donegan, Bobby Lewis, Bob Crewe and The Royal Jokers. The group were visually exciting and were always in demand for live appearances. They set a record by appearing 12 times in one year at Murray The K's Apollo Theatre dance parties. Alan Freed used them on nine holiday special shows (on one such Paramount show in 1957 the group backed up Charlie Gracie singing his hit "Butterfly" while singing from the wings - the group, that is, not Charlie).

In the summer of 1958 the Cleftones recorded their first Roulette record (#4094) "She's So Fine" and "Trudy". Once again it was not a big hit. In 1959 they made another record on Roulette (#4161) called "Cuzzin Casanova" and "Mish Mash Baby" (written by Murray The K's mother!) and then in late 1960 (#4302) "She's Gone" and "Shadows On The Very Last Row." Again no big hit.

In 1958, two members of the group left - Buzzy McClain and Berman Patterson (to join the military). Gene Pearson (lead singer of the Rivileers) came out of the military and joined the group. Pearson suggested that they follow the trend of the girl groups and add a female member, and so his friend Patricia Spann joined the group.

George Treadwell, manager of The Drifters, was appointed to a similar position for The Cleftones. The Drifters, by the early 60's, were in such disarray that Treadwell actually asked The Cleftones if they would become the new Drifters so that he could fire the whole bunch. When they declined, he managed to lure Gene Pearson away to sing second tenor on numerous Drifters charters from 1963 onward.

The Cleftones wound up back on the Gee record label (now part of Roulette). In 1961, they released "Heart And Soul" (Larry Clinton's 1938 hit). It was a big success and The Cleftones were back in the Pop charts, hitting #18 (#10 R&B). "We were very proud of being one of the only groups to have hits in both the 50's and 60's," said Herbie Cox. The non-charting UK release was on Columbia 4678.

They followed it up later in 1961 with another standard, Nat King Cole's " For Sentimental Reasons" (Gee 1067/Columbia 4720). It did okay but not as well as "Heart and Soul". The group then was recorded on the Rama record label with "Vacation In The Mountains" and "Leave My Woman Alone" however the record lists the artist only as Herbie Cox and not the Cleftones. It never really got much airplay.

In 1962, back on Gee, the Cleftones released the following records - (#1074) "Earth Angel" and "Blues In The Night"; (#1077) "Again" and "Do You?"; (#1079) "Lover Come Back To Me" and "There She Goes" (Columbia 4988 - their last UK release); and (#1080) "How Deep Is The Ocean?" and "Some Kinda Blue." The Cleftones released two LPs on Gee - (#705) "Heart And Soul" and (#707) "For Sentimental Reasons." They recorded one additional single in 1963 on the Ware record label (#6001) called "He's Forgotten You" and "Right From The Git Go."

Though never officially breaking up, the group became inactive until 1970, when Berman and Herbie met in a bar and decided to put the group back together again, including Herbie's cousin Tony Gaines. A few oldies revival shows later, and they were once again doing regular performances. At some point in the 70's several old cuts from the "For Sentimental Reasons" L.P. were issued on Robin Hood Records.

http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/herbie_cox.htm
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/cleftones.html
http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Cleftones.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/the-cleftones
http://www.bsnpubs.com/roulette/gee.html

Songs:

    
Again                                   Neki-Hokey


   
For sentimental reason             Little Girl Of Mine




CDs :

  
 Unforgettables with Chubby Checker - L to R : M.Robinson, J. Chase, Chubby Checker, M. Gaddness and C. Robinson

The Chiffons (1) (Los Angeles)
aka The Unforgettables (1)

Personnel :

Marie Robinson

Joyce Chase

Marie Gaddness

Carlotta  "Cookie" Robinson

Discography :

The Unforgettables (1)
1961 - It Hurts  / Was It Alright (Colpix 192)

The Chiffons (1)
1960 - Tonight's The Night / Do You Know (Big Deal 6003/Zircon 1012)
1961 - No More Tomorrows / Never Never (Wildcat 601)
1962 - After Last Night / Doctor Of Hearts (Reprise 20103)

Biography

The Chiffons, three young ladies from Los Angeles adopted their group name two years before the Celebrated Chiffons from the Bronx, NY scored big with "She's So Fine»". The group, Marie Love, Joyce  Chapel and  Carlotta Robertson, had assembled  while still in high school, taking the name Chiffons from a hat brand. Securing a recording session with Big Deal Records from Chatsworth, CA, the trio recorded two tracks,"Tonight's The Night", which was a cover of a present minor hit by the Shirelles and "Do You Know" (Big Deal 6003). The record charted on the KFXM chart in San Bernardino, CA. September 1960. The same month a lease deal was made with Zircon (#1012) label in Canada who wanted a piece of the action. "Tonight's The Night"  caught action in Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, Phoenix and Fort Wayne and had climbed to #76 on Billboard before the year had ended. (In July 1962, a single was released by Ginger & The Chiffons on Groove (0003), but they are a totally different group.

Come September of 1962, we see the release of "Doctor of Hearts" on Frank Sinatra's Reprise label backed with "After Last Night" (#20,103). The session seems to have taken place at the United Recording Studio, 6050 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, CA. Billboard gave both tracks three stars and did not comment on the music. Finally we have The Chiffons on the New York based Wildcat (#601) in October 1962. Less than two months later, "He's So Fine" was released on Laurie Records, becoming a huge hit for the New York group, so no competing Chiffons groups remained. After "Tonight's The Night">, Marie, Joyce and Carlotta recorded as The Unforgettables, having one minor chart item, " It Hurts" "Was It Alright" on Colpix 192 in 1961. With the addition of Singer Oma Head, other recordings under pseudonyms were also released.

Songs :
updated by Hans-Joachim

The Unforgettables (1)

   
Was It Alright                              It Hurts  


The Chiffons (1)

       
Tonight's The Night                        Do You Know                         After Last Night

     
           Doctor Of Hearts        Never Never / No More Tomorrows
 

….

The Mascots (2) (Canton, Ohio)
 aka The O'Jays

Personnel :

Eddie Levert (Lead)

Walter Williams

William Powell

Bobby Massey

Bill Isles

Discography :

Singles:
1960 - The Story Of My Heart / Do The Wiggle (King 5377)
1960 - That's The Way I Feel / Lonely Rain (King 5435)

Unreleased :
1960 - Waited So Long (King)
1960 - I Want Love (King)

Biography :

In the beginning, five McKinley High friends decided to form a vocal group in 1958 in Canton, Ohio: Levert, Williams, Powell, Bobby Massey and Bill Isles. "In those days, the school hallways and the men's room walls were marble," recalls Williams, who first met Levert when he was 6 and Levert was 7.

"Those walls gave off a kind of echo and our harmonies sounded real good. We used to flirt with the girls and sing instead of study. That's where it all started." Then known as the Triumphs, the quintet sang on local radio and also in the church choir where Williams' father was the choir director.

The son of a local Greek grocer heard the guys harmonizing one day as they were passing by the store and later arranged for the group to go to Cincinnati where King Records' Sid Nathan gave the high school juniors contracts and renamed them the Mascots.

They were invited to do a sock hop in Cleveland where they met DJ Eddie O'Jay. He later took the group to Detroit where it signed with Dayco Records.  The Dayco single "How Does It Feel," did well locally. It was during this period that the group, referred to now as "O'Jay's boys," was rechristened the O'Jays.

Songs :

    
   Lonely rain                                 The Story Of My Heart

   
That's The Way I Feel                    Do The Wiggle

  
Waited So Long                                   I Want Love

...