The Starlites (1)

The Starlites (1) 1957 (L to R) Troy Keyes, Cliff Rice, Sony Eugene, Charlie Saunders & Vic Rice

The Starlites (1) (Brooklyn, New-York)
Ref : The Starlites (2)

Personnel :

Sony Eugene (Lead)

Troy Keyes

Cliff Rice

Charlie Saunders

Vic Rice




Discography :

The Starlites (1)
1957 - Missing You / Give Me A kiss (Peak 5000)
1965 - Joannie / My Greatest Thrill (Relic 1001) (Joyce unreleased 1957)

 
Eddie & The Starlites (2)
Singles:
1959 - To Make A Long Story Short / Pretty Little Girl (Scepter 1202)
1963 - Come On Home / I Need Some Money (Aljon 1260/1261)
1972 - Three Steps To Go / Nobody But You And Me (Bim Bam Boom 102)
1973 - I Can Dream / You Told Me So (Vintage 1004)
 

Unreleased
1959 - I Love You (Scepter)
1960 - Come On Home (alt. version)

Lp :
1964 - Al Browne Presents Dyno Sounds (Moon AB 1)
To Make A Long Story Short

Biography :

Troy Keyes was born in Pantego, NC, on March 13, 1940. A member of his church's choir throughout childhood, from the age of ten he grew up in Brooklyn, New York, there singing in street-corner doo wop groups in addition to studying dance at the Fred Astaire Studio. In 1955 Keyes joined a vocal group dubbed the Starlites with Cliff Rice, Sony Eugene, Charlie Saunders & Vic Rice. The Starlites earned a record deal with Al Browne and his tiny Peak label as a result of winning a local talent contest. Their single "Missing You" went nowhere, and in 1958 he joined the Velours, which cut several singles for the Cub label.

Eddie & The Starlites (2)

Al Browne had several different groups which he called the Starlites. The story of Scepter Records starts with Florence Greenberg, who was a thirty-something housewife in the New Jersey suburbs of New York in the mid-1950s.  The first single on the label (Scepter 1201) was "Why Why Why"/"Ugly Duckling" by Don Crawford & the Escorts. When Al was producing for the Scepter Label on some early releases, he took the Starlites with him.  Here, They became Eddie & Starlites for their release in Late December 1958 - cut in October at a split session with the Criterions/Kents.

Al Browne (Piano) with his band

At that time the group has been much change members, completely different than the group on Peak and consists of Eddie Jenkins, Robert Honey, Teddy Odes, Vel Miller and Archie Price. Al Browne must have recorded them many times, because of the material that appeared years later on various labels. He Used "Three Steps To Heaven" on his "Dyno Sounds" Moon LP. Five years later, the group’s next record was issued on Al’s reactivated Aljon Label.







Songs :
(updated by Hans-Joachim) 

The Starlites (1)

  
Missing You                                    Give Me A kiss

 My Greatest Thrill  / Joannie

 

Eddie & The Starlites (2)

      
To Make A Long Story Short          Pretty Little Girl              Come On Home

     
I Can Dream                      I Love You                 Come On Home (alt. version)

     
I Need Some Money        Nobody But You And Me / Three Steps To Go     You Told Me So 

…