Bob & Jerry aka Ezra & The Ivies (2) aka The Kittens (1) aka Bobbi & The Beaus (2)

 Bob Feldman, Barry Mann & Jerry Goldstein

Bob & Jerry & Their Friends (Brooklyn, New York)
aka Ezra & The Ivies (2)
aka The Kittens (1)
aka Bobbi & The Beaus (2)

Personnel :

Jerry Goldstein

Bob Feldman

Discography :

Ezra & The Ivies (2)
1959 - Comick Book Crazy / Rockin Shoes (Baca Laca Ling Dong) (UA 165)

The Kittens (1)
1959 - A Letter To Donna / It's All Over Now (Unart 2010)

Bobbi & The Beaus (2)
1959 - Melvin / Losing Game (Unart 2009)

Bob & Jerry
1961 - Dreamy Eyes / We're The Guys   (Who Drive Your Baby Wild) (Bob & Jerry & Their Friends) (Columbia 42162)
1962 - Chubby Isn't Chubby Anymore / Nursery Rhyme Folk (Musicor 1018)


Biography :

Born in Brooklyn in 1940, Feldman grew up in an orthodox Jewish home and originally studied to be a cantor. The Feldmans lived across the street from Neil Diamond’s folks, just around the corner from the Sedakas, whose son, Neil, was a promising classical pianist, and a couple of blocks away from members of the Tokens, all Lincoln High School graduates and friends. By the mid-50s, doo wop was all the rage and Feldman soon fell in with various groups practising harmonies on the Brooklyn backstreets. He teamed up with his neighbourhood buddy, Jerry Goldstein, and wrote some songs that brought the pair to the attention of Jack Lewis, an A&R man at United Artists Records. Lewis allowed the enthusiastic 18 year-old to sit in on sessions at weekends and mentored him on various aspects of the music business.

Back then, the quickest route to a potential hit was a novelty recording and Feldman and Goldstein chose this path as the most likely way of securing airplay in a crowded market. Thus "Comic Book Crazy" by Ezra & the Ivies, "Melvin" by Bobbi & The Beaus with singer Barbara Robert and "‘A Tribute To Donna" by the Kittens - both probably recorded at the same session under Lewis’ supervision, appeared in March 1959, the latter being a tribute to Ritchie Valens, issued within weeks of his death in the plane accident that also claimed Buddy Holly’s life. None of these early efforts were particularly distinguished or hitworthy, but they enabled Feldman and Goldstein to establish a toehold in the business as part-timers.

    

The two pals would grab a sandwich andhustle music publishers in their lunch breaks. Young, enthusiastic and markedly persuasive, they began to get some bites, mainly as a novelty turn, twice riding on the coat-tails of existing hits with ‘We’re The Guys’ (an answer record to Barry Mann’s ‘Who Put The Bomp’) as Bob & Jerry on Columbia Records and ‘Chubby Isn’t Chubby Anymore’ (a daft nod to the King of The Twist) on the Musicor label. Another of their songs, ‘Charm Bracelet’, was recorded by teenage pop vocalist Bernadette Peters. Though they were making inroads, it wasn’t until Feldman and Goldstein met Richard Gottehrer in a music publisher’s waiting room in the spring of 1962, that they tasted their first chart success.They formed the Strangeloves consisted of Bob, Jerry and Richard Gottehrer. Although they left their mark under the name Strangeloves with only four singles and one album, their fascinating story extends both before and beyond the group’s brief tenure.

Songs:

Ezra & The Ivies (2)

  
Rockin Shoes (Baca Laca Ling Dong)               Comick Book Crazy               

The Kittens (1)

  
A Letter To Donna                                It's All Over Now

Bobbi & The Beaus (2)

  
Losing Game                                               Melvin

Bob & Jerry & Their Friends


We're The Guys (Who Drive Your Baby Wild)

Bob & Jerry

  
        Dreamy Eyes                                     Nursery Rhyme Folk

...