Roger Craton (Lee Rogers)

The Barons (4) ) (Detroit)
aka The Peppermints (1)


Personnel :

Roger Craton (Lee Rogers) (Lead)

Jessie Greer

Barney (Duke) Browner


Discography :

Katie Blue (Watkins) & The Peppermints (1)
1959 – Doing All Right / Don’t Take, Give (Hob 114)

The Peppermints (1)
Single :
1959 – Teenage Idol / Believe Me (Hob 1/2)
Unreleased :
1959 – Willow Weep For Me (Hob)
1959 – I've Been Hurt (Hob)

Jack Sucrell & The Contours (1) bb The Peppermints (1)
1959 - I’m So Glad / Yours Is My Heart Alone (Hob 116)

The Barons (4)
1959 - I've Been Hurt / Willow Weep For Me (Spartan 400)
1961 - Money Don't Grow On Trees / I Miss You So (Spartan 402)
1961 - Dog Eat Dog / Money Don't Grow On Trees (Soul 837)
1961 - Who's In The Shack / While The Cats Away (Soul 838)

Biography :

The Barons were an early-'60s Detroit group more famous for its members -- Roger Craton aka Lee Rogers, Tyrone Douglas, and Jesse Greer -- than any accomplishment on their own whose records, due to limited pressings, are rare. As the Peppermints, they cut three for Carla Murphy's H.O.B. Records (House of Beauty Records). The House of Beauty, a hair boutique/candy shop, was a female hangout frequented by Raynoma Liles-Gordy (Berry Gordy's second wife).  H.O.B. issued "Doing All Right" with the flip "Don't Take, Give" credited to Katie Blue & the Peppermints.  A second offering "I'm So Glad" b/w "Yours Is My Heart Alone" (1959) was issued as Jack Sucrell & the Contours (not the Motown group); a final single in 1960 featured two sides credited as the Peppermints: "Teenage Idol" b/w "Believe Me." The flashy, well respected group was going nowhere with H.O.B. so they signed with Soul Records (not the Motown label) for two more stiffs credited this time to the Barons: "Money Don't Grow on Trees" b/w "Dog Eat Dog" and "While the Cats Away" b/w "Who's in the Shack," both in 1961.

   
                                                                                           Roger Craton (Lee Rogers)    

Not wasting a moment they cut two final releases in 1961 on Spartan Records: "I've Been Hurt" b/w "Willow Weep for Me" and "I Miss You So" b/w "Money Don't Grow on Trees." Nothing sold and Craton became Lee Rogers on Mike Hanks' labels but only could muster small hits like "Sad Affair" and "I Want You to Have Everything." Jesse Greer delved into songwriting for Correctone Records and other entities with little success. Tyrone Douglas' career was the busiest and most fruitful, but nobody knows him cause he sang with groups who members weren't well known. Douglas sang with the Magictones then Eight Day on Holland, Dozier & Holland's Invictus label; he joined the Undisputed Truth in 1973 and recorded with them on Motown and Whitfield Records reuniting with Magictones' Tyrone Berkeley, Virginia McDonald, and Calvin Stevens; McDonald also sang with Douglas in Eight Day.


Songs :

The Peppermints (1)

  
Teenage Idol                                 Believe Me


The Barons (4)

     
Willow Weep For Me           Who's In The Shack                While The Cats Away

  
       I Miss You So              Money Don't Grow On Trees

...