The Vanguards (4) (Toronto)

Personnel :

Roy Ellis

Percy Gibbons

Gerald Samuels

Vernon Baird

Joey Waterman

Discography :

1958 - Baby Doll / My Friend Mary Ann (Regency 723 / Dot 15791)
1958 - I Love You Darlin' / Tears Fall  (Regency 743)

Biography :

The Vanguards were a Toronto-based vocal group that put out a couple of forty-fives on the Regency label in the late fifties. The group consisted of Roy Ellis, Percy Gibbons and Gerald Samuels along with original members Vernon Baird, Joey Waterman and other local Toronto musicians."  Both records - 'Baby Doll' b/w 'My Friend Mary Ann' and its follow-up 'Tears Fall' b/w 'I Love You Darling' - came out in 1958, "Baby Doll' doesn't seem to have tweaked any charts at the time, but that didn't stop Dot Records from giving it a go down in the States.

Of course, with a relatively unoriginal name like the Vanguards, it shouldn't have come as a surprise that there was already another group with the same name. So the guys chose the hipper-sounding Other Brothers. Vernon Baird and Joey Waterman left the group. As a trio, The Other Brothers became a cabaret act and moved to Montreal working extensively, including at the famous El Morocco Club, with shows elsewhere including Val-d'Or, Rouyn-Noranda and Quebec City's Hotel Clarendon among others." The Other Brothers recorded a Caribbean-themed album with Montreal singer Pierre Noles in 1962 called Everybody Dance the Ay Bo Le.
http://www.canuckistanmusic.com/index.php?maid=661

Songs :

  
      Baby Doll                             My Friend Mary Ann

  
I Love You Darlin'                                Tears Fall


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The Dikes (Atlanta, Georgia)

Personnel :

Lowell Spearman

Johnny Leach

Robert Fleming

Lucius Chosin

Rufus Chosin

Discography :

1955 - Light Me Up / Don't Leave Poor Me (Federal 12249)

Biography :

The Dikes were five native Georgians discovered by  Ralph Bass, Federal A&R man, during a local hunt. Their singing and songwriting earned them a recording session and one release, "Light Me Up" / "Don't Leave Poor Me" (Federal 12249) in January 1956. Information on the labels of records distributed to Dee Jays and distributors tells us that the group members were Lowell Spearman, Johnny Leach, Robert Fleming, Lucius Chosin and his brother Rufus Chosin. However, we still do not now the origin of the group's unfortunate choir for a name.


Songs :


Light Me Up / Don't Leave Poor Me

...

The Wise Boys (Caerphilly, Wales)

Personnel :

Robin Glossop

Mike Glossop

Paul Glossop

Robert Barlow

Terry Jones

Discography :

1960 - 1960 - Why Why Why / My Fortune (Parlophone 4693)

Biography :

The Wise Boys were a five piece group from Caerphilly. The vocal duties were carried out by three brothers – Robin (19), Mike (13), and Paul (12)  Glossop, supported by Robert Barlow and Terry Jones. In August 1960, they were on their way to London for a recording Test with EMI. When they realised one of their guitars was missing having fallen from it’s storage space on their vehicle.

The group back tracked stopping people along the way until they found someone who had heard that the instrument had been handed to the Police.  Retrieved from the Police station the band and guitar made it to EMI’s Manchester Sq office in time to perform for the waiting A&R team. On the strength of their performance the group were offered a recording contract. The boys released a single later that year titled, “Why, Why, Why,” and "and My Fortune "on the B side.  They had a minor hit in the early 60s with "Why Why Why"

Songs :

 
Why Why Why                              My Fortune

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The Swallows (2) (Los Angeles)
aka The Guides, aka The Senders, aka The Uptones

Personnel :

Carlton Beck (Lead Tenor)

Harry Binns (Tenor)

Richard Betts (Baritone)

Jackie Eugene Ware

Raymond Washington

Discography :

The Swallows (2)
1959 - You Must Try / How Long Must A Fool Go On (Guyden 2023)

The Guides
1959 - You Must Try / How Long Must A Fool Go On (Guyden 2023)

The Senders
1959 - I Dream Of You / The Ballad Of Stagger Lee (Kent 320)
1959 - One More Kiss / Everybody Needs To Know (Kent 324)
1961 - Pretty Little Pretty / Spinning (Entra 711)

The Uptones (1)
1962 - No More/ I'll Be There (Lute 6225)
1962 - Be Mine / Dreamin' (Lute 6229)
1963 - Wear My Ring / Dreaming (Magnum 714)

Carlton Beck bb The Hollywood Saxons
1962 - The Girl I Left Behind / You'll Be Coming Home Soon (Penney 1306 /Troy 100)


Biography :

In 1959, Lead singer, Carlton Beck, backed by Richard Botts, Jackie Eugene Ware and Raymond Washington recorded "You Must Try" b/w "How Long Must A Fool Go On" as The Swallows on Guyden  #32023. There was a legal issue challenging Guyden's use of the name "The Swallows," so Guyden changed the group's name to "The Guides" and pressed new copies with the change. The same year, they changed their name to The Senders.

Produced by George Motola, he Brought to the Kent label who at that time was working for the Bihari Brothers. The Senders epitomised the southern California vocal group sound of the later 1950s and early 1960s with the ethereal "I Dream Of You Night After Night" (Kent 320) from 1959. It was their first of two singles on Kent that year — they also had 1961 releases on Entra. Probably with some personnel changes (Richard Betts), the group later recorded as the Uptones on Lute and Magnum in 1962-63.

  
                                                                                                        The Hollywood Saxons

The group's lead singer, Carlton Beck, also had a rare vocal group record on Motola’s Troy label under his own name in 1962 backed by Stan Beverly, Charles Taggart, and Maudice Giles of the Hollywood Saxons. Carlton Beck was a member of the Hollywood Saxons (who recorded on Elf, Entra, Swingin’ and Twentieth Century in the 1960s) and its evolving groups in the 1970s — the Professionals on Action Pac and Speed Limit on Watts.

Songs :

The Guides / The Swallows (2)

    
              You Must Try                         How Long Must A Fool Go On

The Senders

  
       I Dream Of You                        The Ballad Of Stagger Lee

 
     One More Kiss                          Everybody Needs To Know

   
Pretty Little Pretty                                       Spinning     

The Uptones (1)

  
No More                                     I'll Be There

  
Be Mine                                        Dreamin'

  
Wear My Ring                             Dreaming

Carlton Beck bb The Hollywood Saxons


The Girl I Left Behind

...

Maxine Brown

The Strollers (2) (New York)
aka The Manhattans (3

Personnel :

Freddy Johnson (Lead)

Maxine Brown

Gilbert Monk

Discography :

The Manhattans (3)
1958 - How Do You Say I'm Sorry / Love Is Where You Find It  (Warner 1016)   

The Strollers (2)
1958 - Wer're Strollin' / Crowded Classroom (Warner 1018)

Biography :

According to The Louisiana Weekly (April 1961)
Maxine Brown first started as a Gospel singer with prof. Charles Taylor, and switched to polular tunes in 1957, joining forces with four fellows to form a group called The Manhattans composed by Freddy Johnson, Gilbert Monk and two other boys whose names have been forgotten. For Warner Records they Waxed "How Do You Say I'm Sorry" and "Love Is Where You Find It". The group was going well until some of the guys got drafted, leaving The Manhattans a trio, Freddy Johnson, Maxine Brown and Gilbert Monk. Maxine and Freddy  The Strollers which clicked in a mild sort of a way with tune called "Crowded Classroom") This was shortly followed by a changeover to Carlton Records and a new vocal group known as the Treys before signing as a solo artist with the Nomar label.

Her recording debut, 1960’s “All In My Mind”, is often cited as one of the first soul singles. The backing was that of a fairly typical tick-tocking rock’n’roll bal- lad, albeit with a great trombone line, but Brown was fantastic, creating a tremendous amount of tension and simmering emotion by restraining her gospel chops and then let- ting them out sparingly. “Funny” followed in a similar style in 1961, and Brown was signed by ABC-Paramount on the back of the two songs’ R&B chart success.

Songs :

The Manhattans (3)

  
Love Is Where You Find It               How Do You Say I'm Sorry

The Strollers (2)


Wer're Strollin' / Crowded Classroom


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