The Elgins 1959 (L to R) William DeVase, Oscar McDonald, Kenny Sinclair, Darryl Lewis and Jimmy Smith.

The Elements  (Southern California)
aka The Daniels aka The Elgins (1) aka The Bagdads

Personnel:

Jimmy Smith (Lead)

William Devase

Darryl Lewis

Kenny Sinclair

Oscar McDonald

Discography :

The Elements
1960 - Lonely Hearts Club / Bad Man  (Titan 1708)
1961 - My Illness / Extra Extra (By the Elgins) (Titan 1724)

The Elgins (1)
1961 - Uncle Sam's Man / Casey Cop (Flip 353)  
1961 - Extra Extra /  My Illness (By the Elements) (Titan 1724)
1961 - Extra! Extra! / Heartache, Heartbreak (Titan 1724)                 
1962 - A Winner Never Quits / Finally  (Lummtone 109)
1962 - A Winner Never Quits / Johnny I'm Sorry (Lummtone 109)
1962 - Johnny I'm Sorry  / You Got Your Magnet On Me (Lummtone 110)
1963 - Lost My Love In The Big City  / Finally (Lummtone 112)
1963 - Your Lovely Ways / Finding A Sweetheart (Lummtone 113)
1965 - Street Scene / You Found Yourself Another Fool (Valiant 752)

The Daniels
1963 -  Big City  / Finally (Lantam 01) 

The Bagdads

Singles :
1968 - Livin' In Fear / Let's Talk About the Bad Times (Double Shot 128)
1968 - Bring Back Those Doo-Wopps / Green Power 1968 (Double Shot 133)
1969 - Love Has Two Faces / Jelly (Double Shot 140)
1970 - Keep Those Mini Skirts Up / Let's Talk About the Bad Times (Double Shot 151)
Unreleased:
1969 - Push Me Baby (Double Shot)

Biography :

Oscar McDonald and Jimmy Smith  attended high school together in Beaumont, Texas.  Jimmy, on occasion, laments the fact that he came in second place in several talent contests in Texas to Johnny Nash, of "I Can See Clearly Now" fame. Darryl Lewis, Kenny Sinclair and William Devase attended high school in southern California. Darryl and Kenny were original members of the Six Teens, of "A Casual Look" fame, along with Darryl's cousin Trudy Williams. After leaving the Six Teens, Kenny hooked up with William to sing in various groups while in high school.

The Elgins (1960)

Cappie, as Darryl is affectionately called by close friends, reunited with Kenny, his brother Carl, and William. He brought Jimmy into the group to sing lead. This quintet recorded "Lonely Hearts Club" b/w  "Bad Man" for the Titan label in 1960 under the name of the Elements. They also recorded "My Illness" as the Elements for Titan, but this was to go unreleased at the time. Soon thereafter, Carl left the group to devote more time to pursuing an acting career. Jimmy brought Oscar McDonald into the group and the Elgins were born. Along with a change in personnel was a label change to Flip.

This was a return to familiar shores. Flip had been the recording home for the Six Teens. Jimmy Smith had also recorded "I Cry And Cry Every Night" b/w "Night Time" for Flip  in 1959 backed by the Lockettes. The Elgins recording on Flip of "Uncle Sam’s Man" b/w "Casey Cop" was released in 1960 and established the group on the west coast.  The success of "Uncle Sam’s Man" certainly caught the attention of  George Brown at Titan records.

The Bagdads (1968)

Rembering that he still had an  unreleased recording by the group (prior to the name change) still in the vaults,  Brown decided to  capitalize on their recent success and issued "My Illness" b/w "Extra Extra"  in 1961 under the name Elgins rather than  the Elements . 1962 saw the record reissued with the title of "My Illness" changed to "Heartaches Heartbreak", a somewhat less somber  name for the tune.    1962 saw yet another label change for the group, this time to Lummie Fowler's Lummtone label. Their first release, Lummtone 109 was "Finally" b/w "A Winner Never Quits". Barbara Lewis, who had replaced Devase in the group at the time, is heard on  "Finally", behind the lead of Darryl Lewis. Their next release, also in '62 was "Johnny I'm Sorry" b/w "A Winner Never Quits", and was also issued as Lummtone  109. "Johnny I'm Sorry" took on new life when it was issued again as Lummtone 110 this time b/w "You Got Your Magnet On Me Baby".

The Elgins (2003)

Devase was back in the group for their next outing on Lummtone which was "I Left My Heart In The Big City" b/w "Finally", which was resurrected from their previous release. This record was also released on the Lantam label as by the Daniels. The Elgins final recording for Lummtone in 1963 was "Your Lovely Ways" b/w "Finding A Sweetheart". In 1965, the Elgins released a more POP sounding record "Street Scene" b/w "You Found Yourself Another Fool" for the Valiant label. Sinclair, Devase and McDonald recorded again between 1968-1970 as the Bagdads, putting out four singles, most notable of which was "Bring Back Those Doo-Wops" b/w "Green Power" for the Double Shot label.

http://www.harmonytrain.com/Artists/Elgins.htm
http://www.colorradio.com/elgins.html
http://www.electricearl.com/dws/elgins.html

http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/bagdads.htm
 

Songs :
(updated by Hans-Joachim) 

The Elements

  
Lonely Hearts Club / Bad Man                          My Illness                 


The Elgins (1)

     
Uncle Sam's Man / Casey Cop          Extra! Extra!                Heartache, Heartbreak    
               
     
 A Winner Never Quits / Johnny I'm Sorry

  
    You Got Your Magnet On Me        Lost My Love In The Big City  / Finally

  
Your Lovely Ways / Finding A Sweetheart          You Found Yourself Another Fool

  
Street Scene                                Finally  



The Daniels


Big City 


The Bagdads



  
Bring Back Those Doo-Wopps / Green Power

     
                 Push Me                      Livin' In Fear            Let's Talk About The Bad Times

   
Love Has Two Faces                                   Jelly

….