The Starlarks

The Starlarks (New Haven, Conn.)

Personnel :

Wes Forbes (Lead)

Gordon Henry (First Tenor)

Richie Freeman (Second Tenor)

Fred Harris (Baritone)

Joe Bash (Bass)

Discography :

1956 - Fountain Of Love / Send Me A PIcture, Baby! (Elm 001/Ember 1013)
1957 - Heavenly Father / My Dear (Ancho 102)

Biography :

Beginning with 8 members, they eventually ended up with five : Wes Forbes, Gordon Henry, Richie Freeman, Fred Harris and Joe Bash. Ranging in age from 14-17, they all attended Hillhouse high (New Haven) where many members of other groups also went. Fred Harris was on the basketball team and met Joel Alderman who was to become their manager. Joel was broadcasting games for Weli radio, when Fred mentioned he had a group that wanted to record a song they had written.

  
So, one night after Weli went off the air, Joel had the group record "Fountain of love / send me a picture baby". Then, he took it to Colombia Records where it was pressed on his Elm Label. It got some reaction in the new Haven area selling 2500 copies in only five months. This was in the fall of '56, after the five satins hit it big with " In the Still Of The Night". Al Silver of Herald records heard of the popularity of the Starlark's disc, and , thinking he had another hit, bought the rights and put it out on Herald's subsidiary, Ember. This was an unfortunate move for both Silver and the Starlarksas the record did not sell well in N.Y. A bit discouraged with the failure of their first record, the group went back to singing at dances and social clubs. In the summer of 1956 Gordon Henry Left the group to be replaced by Josh Hill. Meanwhile, Joel had formed a new label called Anchor and asked the group to record again.

This time they did "Heavenly Father / My dear" and had a local hit, reaching no.8 on local charts. Outside New Haven, no promotion was given the recording which caused it to disappear from the ratings and eventually caused the group to split up. Wes Forbes and Fred Harris joined the Five Satins when they moved to Cub records, with Fred leaving after the Cub Release. Wes teamed with Harris and Lou Peebles and cut two records as the New Yorkers on Wall Records and as The Wildwoods on Caprice.

 

Songs :

   
Fountain Of Love                Send Me A PIcture, Baby!

   
Heavenly Father                    My Dear

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