Oma Heard

The Darlings (2) (Los Angeles, CA)
aka The Sweethearts (2)
aka The Sa-Shays
aka The Utmosts
aka The Dynels
aka The Postalettes
aka The Delicates (2)

Personnel :

Oma Heard (Lead)

Carlotta "Cookie" Robertson (Lead)

Maxine Waters

Julia Waters

Discography :

The Sweethearts (2)
1961 - They Talk Too Much / Puppy Love (Hi-III 116)
1961 - Summer Days / What Is Love (Hi-III 117)

The Sa-Shays
1961 - You Got Love / Boo Hoo Hoo (Zen 101 / Alfi 1)
1963 - Here Comes The Love / I’ll Make You Love Me (Zen 109)

The Utmosts
1962 - I Need You / Big Man (Pan Or 1123)

The Dynels
1962 - Boy Friend / Let's Do It Again  (Dot 16382)
1964 - Just A Face In The Crowd / C'mon Little Darlin’ (Natural 7001)

The Postalettes
1963 - He Played One, Two, Three, Four / Like Chalypso (Instrumental) (Dore 662)

The Darlings (2)
1963 - To Know Him Is To Love Him / Train Out Of Memphis (Instrumental) (Dore 663)
1963 - He Played One, Two, Three, Four / My Pillow (Dore 677)
1966 - The Horn Goes Beep Beep Beep / Floatin' On Cotton Candy (Instrumental) (Dore 775)

The Delicates (2)
1963 - My Pillow / He Played One, Two, Three, Four (Dee Dee 677 / Celeste 676)

Biography :

The Darlings, a female quartet comprising Oma Heard, Carlotta "Cookie" Robertson (Gaynell Hodge’s niece who In 1960 with Joyce Chapel & Marie Love recorded as The Chiffons and The Unforgettables) and the sisters Maxine and Julia Waters, were managed and produced by a former artist named Bobby Sanders - real name: Jerome Lenoir. In 1963, Dore issued two consecutive singles by the group under different names, the first as the Postalettes singing 'He Played 1, 2, 3, 4' (a variation of 'The Paddiwack Song'), the second as the Darlings with their punchy revival of 'To Know Him Is To Love Him', heard here. Sanders produced all four at the same (with Grayson arranging) and assigned the masters over Dore on 23 January 1963.

    

Three of the four girls had previously sung in a Fremont High School group named the Sweethearts, who recorded for producer H.B. Barnum in 1961 and moonlighted on obscure one-off 45s as the Utmosts and the Sa-Shays.  Although amateur, they were already establishing career paths as versatile session vocalists and barely knew their identity from one release to the next - immediately prior to signing for Dore, they had recorded a one-off 45 for producer Steve Venet (himself a former Dore artist) as the Dynels on Dot.

                                                                                                   Oma Heard

Something about 'He Played 1, 2, 3, 4' piqued Lew Bedell interest because a few months later, he re-issued it with a new B-side ('My Pillow') on Dore 677 crediting the Darlings. Then again, in October 1963 on Dee Dee 677 as by the Delicates!. And he wasn't finished yet. Possibly frustrated by his inability to break the record, Bedell sold the master to a couple who ran a tiny R&B label, Celeste, out of their LA home, prompting a further re-issue with the revised title 'This Old Man' on Celeste 676. Oma Heard later sang with Ike Turner's Ikettes, did session work and recorded under her own name for Motown in the late 1960s, while the Water sisters worked as background singers on countless sessions by such diverse artists as Paul Simon, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Paul and Rod Stewart.

Songs :

The Sweethearts (2)

  
   They Talk Too Much                            Puppy Love         

  
Summer Days                                  What Is Love

The Sa-Shays

  
You Got Love                          Boo Hoo Hoo

  
Here Comes The Love                I’ll Make You Love Me

The Utmosts

  
I Need You                                    Big Man

The Dynels

  
     Boy Friend                                     Let's Do It Again

  
Just A Face In The Crowd                   C'mon Little Darlin’        

The Darlings (2)

  
To Know Him Is To Love Him                             My Pillow                   

The Delicates (2)


My Pillow


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