top Joann Lau, bottom left to right Rose Lau, Sue Jean Lee, Joann Lee

The Fortune Cookies (Chinatown, New York)

Personnel :

Joann Lau

Rose Lau

Sue Jean Lee

Joann Lee

Discography :

1965 - It Should Have Been Me / A Girl In Love (Smash 1991)

Biography :

The Fortune Cookies, a girl singing group in Chinatown during the 1960s.

The group, which consisted of Lee and her older sister Sue Jean, and another pair of sisters, Joanne and Rose Lau, recorded a 45 rpm record and played it at parties throughout Chinatown for several years. Mrs. Sue-Jean Lee Suettinger passed away June 29, 2011 at the age of 63.

Songs :

   
 A Girl In Love                              It Should Have Been Me

...

The Five Secrets  (Staten Island, New-York)
aka The Secrets (1) aka The Loungers  - ref :The Uniques (6)

Personnel :

Dave Concepcion (Lead)

Pat Russo (First Tenor)

Vinnie Santorelli (Second tenor)

Steve Murphy (Baritone)

Franck Del Cavo (Bass)

Discography :

The Five Secrets
1957 - Queen Bee / See You Next Year (Decca 30350)

The Secrets (1)
1957 - Queen Bee / See You Next Year (Decca 30350)

The Loungers
1958 - Remenber The Night /  / Dizzy Spell (Herald 534)
1991 - Wedding Bells / Teenage Bells (Park Ave.5)

The Uniques (6)
1962 - Do You Remember / Come Marry Me (Flippin 202)

Biography :

The group formed on Staten Island in 1955, initially singing for fun. In 1956 they decided to get serious about their talent. They soon got themselves a manager and shortly thereafter signed with Decca. Their first release with Decca came in 1957. The recording received little promotion, but it nevertheless afforded them many appearances. Early copies show "Secrets" on the label. Several weeks following the release of this first disc, the Five Secrets signed with Herald.

   

As a legal precaution, they changed their name to the Loungers. Because of Herald/Ember's preoccupation with the Mellokings and The Five Satins, the Loungers received little or no attention.At Herald the material was written by the group, whereas at Decca Management gave them the material to record. This is most probably why they sounded so different on the two labels. Additionally, Decca had told the group that they wanted to sound pop. Shortly before the group broke up, Murphy Left and was replaced by Pat Russo's brother, Bernie. The group broke up at the end of 1958, and it was three years later that Vinnie Santorelli and Bernie Russo decided to form a new group "the Uniques". In 1962, the Uniques recorded "Do You Remember" b / w "Come Marry Me" released by Flippin Records.
Encyclopedia of Rhythm and Blues and Doo-Wop Vocal Groups by Mitch Rosalsky


Songs :

The Five Secrets

   
See You Next Year                       Queen Bee         


The Loungers

     
Teenage Bells                       Remenber The Night                        Dizzy Spell

Wedding Bells

The Uniques (6)

   
Do You Remember                 Come Marry Me   

...

 The Corvairs (4)  (Newport News, Virginia)
aka  The West Siders

Personnel :

Joe Shepard (Tenor)

Nelson Shields (Second Tenor)

Prince McKnight (Tenor)

Ronald Judge (Baritone)

Billy Faison (Bass)



Discography :

The Corvairs (4)
Singles:
1962 - True True Love / Hey, Sally Mae (Comet 2145)
1963 - I Don't Wanna Be Without You Baby / Girl With The Wind In Her Hair (Leopard 5005)
1966 - Swinging Little Government / Love, Love My Friend (Columbia 43603)
1966 - Ain't No Soul (In These Old Shoes) / Get A Job (Columbia 43861)
Unreleased:
1966 - The Grass Will Sing For You (Columbia)
1963 - Because I Love You (aka Don’t You Know) (Leopard)

The West Siders
1963 - Don't You Know / No Tears Left For Crying (United Artists 600/Leopard 5004)

 

Biography :

When The Leaders split ,Burton, Alston, and Simpson continuing on as the Three Voices while Judge and Shields relocated to New York City, forming the Corvairs with tenors Joe Shepard and Prince McKnight along with bass Billy Faison. In 1962 the Corvairs signed to the Comet label to release their Dave "Baby" Cortez-produced debut single, "Hey, Sally Mae".

  
The record quickly disappeared, and a year later the group resurfaced on Leopard with "No Tears Left for Crying," mistakenly credited to the Westsiders. When the single was subsequently licensed to United Artists, the label further muddied the waters by calling the group the West Siders, and for reasons no less mysterious, their next Leopard release, "I Don't Wanna Be Without You Baby," restored the Corvairs moniker.

  
                       (The Corvairs 1961) Top : Faison, Shepard and Shields - Botom : Judge and McKnight

Faison exited the lineup in 1965, with bass Edgar Brown appearing on the Corvairs' next effort, the 1966 Columbia release "Swinging Little Government." When the follow-up, "Ain't No Soul (In These Old Shoes)," flopped, the group split.

http://www.colorradio.com/leaders.htm
http://www.uncamarvy.com/Leaders/leaders.html

Songs :
(updated by Hans-Joachim) 

 
The Corvairs (4)

     
True True Love           Hey, Sally Mae           I Don't Wanna Be Without You Baby

     
Girl With The Wind In Her Hair      Ain't No Soul ...                Get A Job 

  
Because I Love You        Love, Love My Friend / Swinging Little Government 

The West Siders


Don't You Know / No Tears Left For Crying

...

The Hepsters (Cleveland, OH.)

Personnel :

Joe Williams (Lead)

Raymond Harvey (First Tenor)

Carl Brown (Second Tenor)

Bobby Woods (Bariton)

Paul Hayes (Bass)



Discography :

1955 - Rockin' N Rollin' With Santa Claus / I Had To Let You Go (Ronel 107)
1956 - This-A-Way / I Gotta Sing The Blues (Ronel 110) 


Biography :

The Hepsters got together in early 1954 as the Five Stars and had been formed by Joe Williams, a student at East Technical High.  Other members were Art Kirkpatrick, Raymond Harvey, Carl Brown, and Woody Woodall. Like many inner-city youth, the group practiced at a settlement house, the Friendly Inn Settlement House, and paid their dues playing talent shows and teen benefit affairs.

The Five Stars

The group's break into the recording business came when they auditioned for Estrella Young, who was working for a local booking agency. Young had the group change its name to the Hepsters and worked with the singers in honing their talents for the recording studio and developing original material.

Dave Clark, through nationwide contacts he developed for years as a promotion man, found the group via Young and brought them to Chicago to record. The first release by the Hepsters was "Rock 'n' Rollin' with Santa Claus" backed with "I Had To Let You Go". The Hepsters' second release was "This-a-Way" backed with "I Gotta Sing the Blues." "This-a-Way" was written by the leader, Williams, and the flip was written by Clark.The Hepsters were a talented group but never had the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities with a top-flight hit song.
Doowop The Chicago Scene (Robert Pruter)
http://www.uncamarvy.com/Hepsters/hepsters.html





Songs :

     
Rockin' N Rollin' With Santa Claus      I Had To Let You Go        This-A-Way


I Gotta Sing The Blues

The Passions (2) (Los Angeles, California)
aka The Colognes

Personnel :

Kenny Sinclair (Lead)

Harold Garcia

Sammy Handy

Earl Sinclair

William DeVase (Bass)

Discography :

The Passions (2)
1958 - Jackie Brown / My Aching Heart (Era 1063 / Capitol F-3963)
1958 - Nervous About Sally / Tango Of Love (Dore 505)

The Colognes
1959 - A Bird And A Bee / A River Flows (Lummtone 102)

Biography :

Harold Garcia, Sammy Handy, Kenny Sinclair from the Six Teens, Earl Sinclair and William DeVase, bass were the Passions on both Era and Dore. On Era, they rendered the uptempo “Jackie Brown” b/w “My Aching Heart” (1063); reissued on Capitol (3963). After this fine two-label release stiffed, The Passions were laid off to the Era sister label of Dore, after the cousins who ran Era, broke their partnership for the less effective “Tango Of Love” b/w “Nervous About Sally” (505) in 1958.

In 1959, most likely because of a competing East Coast Passions group, which had hit big with “Just To Be With You,” they became the Colognes on Lummtone, after which Sinclair and DeVase joined the Elements/Elgins vocal group.

Songs :

The Passions (2)

  
Jackie Brown                               My Aching Heart

  
Nervous About Sally                        Tango Of Love


The Colognes


A River Flows

...