The Lonely Ones (1) aka The Markeys (1)

Clockwise from left : Tonny Giannatasio, Victor Eusepi, Sal DiTroia, George Morton and Marty Monaco

The Markeys (1) (Long Island, New York)
aka The Lonely Ones (1)

Personnel :

George "Shadow" Morton (Lead)

Tonny Giannatasio

Victor Eusepi

Marty Monaco

Sal DiTroia

Discography :

The Markeys (1) Featuring Georgie Morton
1958 - Hot Rod / Yakkaty Yak (RCA 47-7256)

The Markeys (1) Featuring George Morton
1958 - A Time To Love / Make a Record, Man (RCA 47-7412)

The Lonely Ones (1)
1959 - I Want My Girl / My Wish (Sir 270 / Baton 270)

Biography :

George Francis Morton was born in Richmond, Virginia on 3 September 1941 and raised in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York, where he attended St Thomas Aquinas School. As George entered his teens, where he seemed he was getting in too deep with the Bed-Stuy neighbourhood's notorious street gangs, his parents moved the family out to Long Island- a safer environment, or so they thought. In 1957 George formed a vocal group, The Markeys, with friends Marty Monaco, Tonny Giannatasio, Victor Eusepi and  Sal DiTroia. Marty Monaco's mother had a basic recording studio in her basement in nearby Levittown, where the guys wrote, rehearsed and taped demos of their songs. The owner of a local record store took a liking to the young quintet and helped arrange for them to audition for RCA.

George "Shadow" Morton

Billed as The Markeys featurin Georgie Morton, the group made their recording debut with "Hot Rod", released on RCA in the Summer of 1958 when George was 16. Long Island teenager Ellie Greenwich, behind whom the guys harmonised at a few of local high school hop, issued her first single around the same time, also on RCA. Before the year was over, RCA had released the Markeys' second single, "A Time To Love" and two more of George's songs had been recorded by Sal Mure for United Artists. For the next Record - "I Want My Girl ", for The Sir Label in 1959, again with George on lead vocals - he and his pals changed their name to the Lonely Ones. After graduating from Bethpage High School in 1959, George drifted aimlessly through a succession of short-lived jobs- bouncer, ice cream seller, hairdresser, golf caddie.... George Francis "Shadow" Morton will become an record producer and songwriter best known for his influential work in the 1960s. In particular, he was noted for writing and producing "Remember (Walking in the Sand)", "Leader of the Pack", and other hits for girl group The Shangri-Las.
From "The Shadow Morton Story"

Songs :

The Markeys (1)

  
   A Time To Love                              Make a Record, Man

  
Hot Rod                                         Yakkaty Yak


The Lonely Ones (1)

  
  My Wish                                        I Want My Girl


...