The Deans (2) (Brooklyn, New York)
aka The Four Playboys / The Four Deans


Personnel :


Joe Macaluso (Tenor)


Tom Cori (Baritone)


Fred Khoury (Bass)



Discography :



The Deans (2) 

Singles :
1960 - My Heart Is Low / I'll Love You Forever (Mohawk 114)
1960 - Humpty Dumpty / Le Chiam (Goodluck) (Mohawk 119)
1961 - It's You / I Don't Want To Wait (Just For Saturday Night) (Mohawk 126)
1961 - Little White Gardenia / I Don't Want To Wait (Just For Saturday Night) (Laurie 3114)
1963 - I'm Gonna Love You / Don't Let Her Cry Tonight (Tin Pan Alley 316)
1963 - Pretty Nola / Ricky Rocky Poo-Poo-Poo (Honeywell Jackson) (Tin Pan Alley 319)
 Unreleased :
1960 - Walk With Me (Mohawk)
1960 - Carol (Mohawk)
1960 - Little Girl (Mohawk)
1960 - Come On  (Mohawk)


The Four Deans (The Four Playboys)
1992 (Recorded 58) - So Very Wrong / Mr Echo (Park Ave.7)


Biography :

The Deans formed in 1956-1957 and went on to record for Mohawk records. Originally, calling themselves The Four Playboys : Ralph Maffei (Lead) , Tom Cori (Baritone),  Fred Khoury (Bass)and Joe Macaluso (Tenor)  and eventualy lead on all recordings, when Ralph Maffei  left the group to get married. The 3-man group liked Dean Martin and for awhile called themselves the Dino’s, eventually settling on the Deans. They auditioned live in 1960 for Irv Spice.

The Four Playboys

Irv Spice owner of Mohawk Records, was a musician who engulfed most of his productions with strings and full orchestration. He is probably best known releasing Dion & The Belmonts and The Dimensions’ first discs, two groups who went on to national fame. Mohawk Records and it’s subsidiaries Wizz, Abel, dragon, Dee and Hawk have been involved in many recordings both released and unreleased.

The Deans

Irv Spice quickly signed them to a contract, their outstanding "Blend and Sound" made them sound like a 5-man group. The group started recording at Dick Charles Studios, and cut three singles from 1960 to 1961 before joining Laurie records for one single: "Little White Gardenia" b/w "I Don't Want To Wait (Just For Saturday Night)". Despite two other records on the Tin Pan Alley Labels in 1963, they never achieved great success.

In the early 1990, Park Avenue released  "So Very Much" and "Mr. Echo" recorded in 1958 by the original group, the Four Playboys, with Ralph Maffei on lead. The single was released under the name of The Four Deans .

Songs :

The Deans (2)

     
 My Heart Is Low                 I'll Love You Forever                       Humpty Dumpty

     
          Le Chiam                           It's You                              I Don't Want To Wait

     
  Little White Gardenia              I'm Gonna Love You              Don't Let Her Cry Tonight

     
Pretty Nola                        Walk With Me                                     Carol   

  
Little Girl                           Come On

 


The Four Deans / The Four Playboys


  
 So Very Wrong                          Mr Echo       





...

The Tymes (Philadelphia , PA)
aka Billy Abbott & The Jewels (4)
(The early Years)





Personnel :

George Williams, Jr (Lead)

George Hilliard (Second Tenor)

Albert Berry (First Tenor)

Norman Burnett (Baritone)

Donald Banks (Bass)

Discography :

The Tymes

Singles :
1963 - So In Love / Roscoe James McClai (Parkway 871)
1963 - Wonderful! Wonderful! / Come With Me To The Sea (Parkway 884)
1963 - Somewhere / View From My Window (Parkway 891)
1963 - Isle Of Love / I'm Always Chasing Rainbows (Parkway 7039)
1964 - To Each His Own / Wonderland Of Love (Parkway 908)
1964 - The Magic Of Our Summer Love / With All My Heart (Parkway 919)
1964 - Here She Comes / Malibu (Parkway 924)
1964 - The Twelfth Of Never / Here She Comes (Parkway 933)

   
(Parkway 871)                 (Parkway 884)                            (Parkway 891)
   
(Parkway 908)                    (Parkway 919)                            (Parkway924)

Lps :

1963 - So Much In Love (Parkway P-7032)
Alone / My Summer Love / Wonderful! Wonderful! / That Old Black Magic / Let's Make Love Tonight / Goodnight My Love / So Much In Love / You Asked Me To Be Yours / The Twelfth Of Never / Way Beyond Today / Summer Day / Autumn Leaves

1963 - Sound of the Wonderful Tymes (Parkway P-7038)
Wonderful Wonderful / Blue Velvet / One Little Kiss / Hello Young Lovers / Come With Me To The Sea / The Way You Look Tonight / Words Written On Water / And That Reminds Me / Chances Are / I Thank You  / Address Unknown / Moonlight Cocktails /

1963 - Somewhere (Parkway P-7039)
Somwhere / Stranger In Paradise / Let's Fall In Love Tonight / The Lamp Is Low / There Is Love / Night / Will You Wait For Me / Anymore / Till The End Of Time / Come With Me To The Sea / Why Should I Cry / Sleep Tight My Darling / Isle Of Love / I'm Always Chasing Rainbows   

Billy Abbott & The Jewels (4)
1963 - Groovy Baby / Come On And Dance With Me (Parkway 871)
1964 - It Isn't Fair / Hey Good Lookin' (Parkway 905)

Biography :

The story of The Tymes begins in 1955, when Norman Burnett met George Hilliard at a Willow Grove, Pennsylvania summer camp. When they returned home they hooked up with neighbors Albert (Caesar) Berry, III and Donald Banks, and formed a vocal group called The Latineers. For the next four years, the quartet made the rounds of the local circuit, performing at record hops, local talent shows and at nightclubs. In 1960, The Latineers brought in George Williams, Jr., whose Johnny Mathis-infulenced tenor would prove to be the missing piece of the puzzle.

The quintet was now set. The group continued to toil around Philadelphia for the next three years while honing their craft. The quintet’s breakthrough occurred in 1963 when they were contestants in the Tip Top Talent Hunt hosted by Philadelphia radio station WDAS. The Latineers performed “Danny Boy” and drew the attention of Leroy Lovett, one of the contest’s judges. He was impressed enough to have them audition for Billy Jackson, the A&R director of Cameo-Parkway records. Billy wanted to record them. Billy took The Latineers into the studio and produced them.

When the group signed with Cameo-Parkway the first matter to be addressed was the selection of the new moniker instead of going with the seemingly dated “Latineers”. The named was changed to The Tymes. George Williams had written the melody and the first verse to a romantic song he called “The Stroll”. He worked with others to complete the tune, and re-titled it “So Much In Love”. The group went into the studio and recorded “So Much In Love” many different ways.

The final version was released in the spring of 1963. Bernie Lowe, owner of Cameo Parkway, needed a backup group to complement Billy Abbott’s voice.  Not wanting to use their name, fearing it would take away from their popularity, he dubbed the Tymes them the Jewels, but it was really the Tymes backing up Billy Abbott (who changed his name from Billy Vaughn to avoid confusion with bandleader Billy Vaughn).

By August, it passed Jan and Dean’s “Surf City” to become the number one pop record in the country. It also reached number four on the R&B charts and number twenty-one in the U.K. . They went on tour after “So Much In Love” was released. The Tymes traveled around the country with Dick Clark’s “Cavalcade of Stars”. For their second single, The Tymes took advantage of the similarity of George Williams’ vocal style to that of Johnny Mathis, and covered his 1957 hit “Wonderful! Wonderful!”. The song was given an arrangement in the same vein as it predecessor, and reached number seven on the pop charts that summer.

 

Near the end of 1963 The Tymes released “Somewhere”, which reached number 19 on the pop charts. “Somewhere” , like the group’s number one hit, did prominently feature finger snaps and “ooh-wee-ooh” background chirps, and contained very little music. Cameo-Parkway again quickly assembled an album, entitled “Somewhere”. In addition to the title song the LP contained “Come With Me To The Sea”; versions of two much-covered classics, “The Lamp Is Low” and “STRANGER IN PARADISE” and “Anymore”, a Billy Jackson and Roy Straigis composition that was given an exotic arrangement.

All three of The Tymes’ Cameo-Parkway albums charted. In the winter of 1964, the quintet released a cover of The Platters’ “To Each His Own”. Next to follow was “Our Summer Love”, a wonderful, bossa nova-flavored tune. The Tymes eventually left Cameo-Parkway and signed with Columbia records.

Songs :

The Tymes

     
So In Love                       Roscoe James McClai                Wonderful! Wonderful!

     
Come With Me To The Sea         Somewhere              View From My Window

     
Isle Of Love               I'm Always Chasing Rainbows             To Each His Own

     
Wonderland Of Love     The Magic Of Our Summer Love        With All My Heart

     
Here She Comes                         Malibu                 The Twelfth Of Never

     
That Old Black Magic                   Alone                   Let's Make Love Tonight

     
Goodnight My Love               The Twelfth Of Never          Way Beyond Today

     
Summer Day                        Autumn Leaves              Till The End Of Time



Billy Abbott & The Jewels (4)

  
Come On And Dance With Me             Groovy Baby

It Isn't Fair / Hey Good Lookin'

Cds :

....

The Splendors (L to R) : Harold Marcus, Joe DiBartolo, Tommy Tucker, Georgie Moe and Bernie Drosdcz

The Motions (Brooklyn, New York)
ref : The Splendors (2) aka The Del-Fons

Personnel :

Tommy Tucker (Lead)

Larry Angeli (Baritone)

Joe Basta (First Tenor)

Richie Merrit (Second Tenor)

Discography :

The Motions
Single:
1961 - Mr. Night / Make Me A Love (Laurie 3112)
Unreleased :
1958 - Mambo City

The Del-Fons
Unreleased:
1959 - I Only Want You / This Is My Love

The Splendors (2)
Unreleased:
1963 - Lonely, Lonely Nights / Record Hop (Wilshire)
1964 - Roses Are Red / Embraceable You
1964 - Runday Runday / Mambo City
1964 - Stormy Weather / Make The Knife
1964 - Walkin' My Baby Back Home / I'm In The Mood For Love
1964 - My Vow To You / My Love For You Will Never Die

Biography :

1958, and the Place was the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. During this time, St. Michael's church used to hold dances which were attenuated by the local neighborhood teenagers. At this dances, four guys discovered they enjoyed singing together very much and decided to form a group called the Emotions. Members consisted of Tommy Tucker (Lead), Larry Angeli (Baritone), Joe Basta (First Tenor) and Richie Merrit (Second Tenor). The Group's first songs was "Mambo City" recorded on a demo. The group eventually gained a local following and began appearing at record hops, social clubs… At this time Richie had left the group and was replaced by Eddie Povenelli.

                                                                                                        Tommy Tucker (Motions' Lead singer)

The group met a man named Marv Kalfin, who eventually became their manager. He introduced the group to two songs he had written…"Mr Night" and "Make A Love". While the master recordings were being cut, a female member was added to the group. Marv brought the master tape to Laurie and their reaction was quite favorable. Another group who had already gained much popularity in the area, was using the same name. At the last time before going to press, Laurie did the first thing that came to mind. The "E" was dropped and the Guys were named The Motions. The single was released in June 1961. At about the time the Motions' record was released, another Laurie single was "Breaking Big"… The Jarmels' "A lItlle bit of Soap". "Mr Night" never really had a chance, the group rapidly became disguise ted and eventually disbanded.

                                                                                                                      Vinny Catalano

 The Story of the Motions, does not end here. Let us go back to the year 1957 and the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New york. At this time, Three teenagers in the same junior high school, Joe DiBartolo (First Tenor and Lead), Bernie Drosdcz (Baritone and Bass) and Harold Marcus (Second Tenor) and two others Johnny Jerrywicki (Baritone) and Georgie Moe (Lead)  joined together to Form a Group called the Del-Fons. Although this group only sang at parties, they recorded a demo 1959 that featured the songs "I Only Want You" and "This is My Love". Soon after this same two songs, released back to back, became a two sided hit for the Passions early in 1960. During 1962, the Del-Fons changed their name to the Splendors. However, due to repeated problems involving members , the group finally broke up, this was the same time that the Motions Disbanded.

Tommy Tucker, Joe DiBartolo  and Harold Marcus                                 Joe DiBartolo with group's demos

Early in 1963, Joe DiBartolo met Tonny Tucker and decided to reform the Splendors, consisting of Himself, Tommy Tucker and those two original members Bernie Drosdcz and Harold Marcus. Later that year Joe's cousin, Vinny Catalano, at this time in charge of Wilshire Records, had written two songs for the Splendors, "Lonely, Lonely Nights" and "Record Hop". The group recorded both songs but the reared wasn't released. In 1964, George Moe rejoined the group. They now began appearing at various places throughout New York. The Boys would occasionally buy time at a local recording studio in order to capture some of their harmony on tape. Of course, Demo discs were made of these sessions...

By Ken Berger (Story Untold)

Songs :

The Motions

   
Mr. Night                                    Make Me A Love


….

The Chapelaires  (Pittsburgh)
aka The Softwinds

Personnel :

Tony Rausch

Bob Bubarth

Ross Melodia

Fred Ferketic
 

Discography :

The Chapelaires
1961 - I'm Still In Love With You / Not Good Enough (Hac 101)
1961 - Gloria / Under Hawaiian Skies  (Hac 102)

Joni kay & The Chapelaires
1964 - Lonely Star / Happy Memories (Gateway 744)
1965 - It's Impossible, Why Try / Vacation Time (Gateway 746)

John Ivey bb The Chapelaires
1963 - Own A Real Live Clown / Far Far Far Away (Scotty 615)

Marie LaDonna & The Chapelaires
1964 - How Can I Let You Know / Georgie Porgie (Not Them) (Gateway 730) 

The Softwinds
1961 - Cross my heart / Oh Baby (Hac 105)

 

Biography :

It all started back in 1955 when a large group of eighth graders from the Mount Troy / Troy Hill District of Pittsburgh were attending Saint Anthony's Church. The Group of 12-20 boys would pass the chapel along side St. Anthony's every week on their way to church. One day someone suggested they start a singing group and all agreed. Whithin three weeks when the smoke cleared only four remained with a serious commitment to singing Tony Rausch, Paul Young, Ross Melodia and Fred Ferketic who were now the "Chapel Boys".

The group would perform at local hops and by 1957 Paul was replaced by Bob Bubarth. The group made some demos of original tunes they had written, "A Tear", Scarlet Scarf", "Swing Loose" and "Walla Walla Bong Bong". They would acquire amanager in 1958, Bob Ross, who was working with several other groups at the time (i.e. - Mario & the Satellites). A name change also developed and the group became "The Chapelaires".

Soon a management change would have the boys under the direction of DJ Mark Flanagan (Bob Pappas) of Weep. He got the group a contract with HAC Records named after the three song writing partners, Hal-Al-Chuck. Fred was a few years older than the rest of the group and in 1959 elected to go to college. He was replaced with bill Schmidt. So the recordings on HAC in 1961 were Bill, Tony, Ross and Bob. Bill would soon be drafted (1962?) and the group picked up John Lajzo and Wayne Goldie, Both former members of a local acappella group the Suburbans.

The groups sound had now changed so they felt a new name should match their sound, "The Softwinds". Hac Records only had four releases on the label before they closed their doors after less than two years of operation.

The Softwinds

The final release by "The Softwinds" were by the boys themselves. After a lack of succes the group would loose Wayne and go back to the name the "Chapelaires". Elmer Willett heard them and had them do some background vocals for Gateway Records, the label he was affiliated with.
Ed Angel (Crystal Ball Records)

Songs :

The Chapelaires

  
I'm Still In Love With You                  Not Good Enough


Gloria

The Softwinds

  
Cross My Heart                            Oh Baby

John Ivey bb The Chapelaires

  
Own A Real Live Clown                 Far Far Far Away

Marie LaDonna & The Chapelaires


How Can I Let You Know

 ...

The Standards (2) (Manhattan, New York)
aka The Holidays (4)

Personnel :

Richie Tsonos (Lead)

Larry Loeb (First Tenor)

Larry Rizzo (Baritone)

Harry Jay (Second Tenor)

Fred "Duke" Hodgkinson (Bass)

Discography :

Singles :
1965 - My Heart Belongs To You / Hello Love (Magna 1315/Chess 1869)
1965 - It Isn't Fair / Everybody Knows (Magna 1315)

Unreleased :
1963 - Here We Go Again
1964 - All Over Again
1965 - I Won't Cry Anymore
1965 - Twist & Shout
1965 - Murray the K

Biography :

After much practice Tony & The Holidays  recorded their first demo "Melissa" and "Tick Tock". This soon led to a release on ABC Records, "There Goes My Heart Again" b/w "My Love Is Real".

Buddy Sheppard & The Holidays

By the end of 1962 the group moved to Sabina Records and recorded several sides for the Belmonts and Jerry Granaham, under the new name Buddy Sheppard & The Holidays, "Time To Dream", "My Love Is Real", "Now It's All Over" and "That Background Sound" to mention a few. The latter also had Freddie & Angelo of the Belmonts in the Background.

  
The Standards                                                              

Tony Castro would soon leave the group being replaced by lead singer Richie Tsonos. Along with new lead singer came a group name change. Now the Standards would have two releases on the Magna Label with two sides being picked up and nationally distributed by Chess records.

The Standards

 Throughout their recording years the group or group members lent their talents on the Backgrounds of many '45's, the most important being Larry & The Legends on Atlantic Records backing Larry Santos.

Songs :


     
My Heart Belongs To You              Hello Love                         It Isn't Fair


Everybody Knows

...