The Techniques

The Techniques (Georgia Tech University, Atlanta, GA)


Personnel :

Buddy Harold (Lead)

Jim Tinney (First Tenor)

Jim Moore (Bass)

Jin Falin (Baritone)


Discography :

1957 - Hey! Little Girl / In A Round About Way (Stars 551 / Roulette 4030)
1958 - (Why Did I Ever) Let Her Go / Marindy (Roulette 4048)
1958 - Moon Tan / The Wisest Man in Town (Roulette 4097)

Biography :

Four Phil Sigma Kappa Fraternity brothers with time on their hands started singing "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing", slightly off keys and just for fun. Students passing by stopped to listen, and the Techniques had their first audition.  A listener suggested the boys - Jim Moore, 22, Knoxville; Jim Falin, 21, Corcoran, Calif; Jim Tinney, 22, Greenville, SC., and Buddy Harold, 21, Louisville, Ky. - sing at rush parties. The boys agreed it would be a lark. Sosing they did.

That was in fall of ’55. a few weeks later the boys tagged themselves The Techniques, and sang their lucky song, "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing »,to win local talent contests. They appeared on local TV and Radio shows, including several telethons for charity. They got star billing on a tV afternoon show for three months.In July 1957, The Techniques decided to give up their singing and concentrate on their studies. Not that their grades were suffering noticeably, but, after all, they were singing just for fun. At his home in Knoxville, Buddy took "about three minutes" our to write down a song "just to see how it would sound."

When he returned to College, a classmate asked the Techniques to sing at a party. The Boys gathered in the library to rehearse, and sang Buddy’s song. They taped the tune "Just for the heck of it." Buddy thought a record of the song would make a nice keepsake, so he took it to a local recording studio. The manager, after listening to the tune, "doctored it a bit," with echoes and sound effects.  Lowery produced a session with the techniques, with back up musicians Ray Stevens, Jerry Reed, Joe South and Chet Atkins…. "He only charged what it cost to make the records," Buddy recalled, "but it took my last ten dollars to pay for it." That investment has paid off handsomely.

  

The songs Buddy wrote and the record his last ten dollars bought was "Hey Little Girl," one of the nation’s top hit in November 1957. Although they "thought it sounded pretty good," The Techniques didn’t fully appreciate the potential selling power of the record until their friend Jerry Vandeventer of WSB heard the song, played it over the air. A local music publisher went into action, released the record nationally on Roulette. Overnight, in New York, "Hey Little Girl" jumped "from nothing" to a listing among the top 20 tunes. On the heels of their triumph on American Bandstand, The Techniques opened at the Paramount theater in New York for a week’s engagement over the thanksgiving holidays. Roulette released two others singles in 1958, but "Hey Little Girl" is the only Billboard chart entry for the group.

Songs :
 (By Hans-Joachim)

    
(Why Did I Ever) Let Her Go                        Hey! Little Girl           

    
         Marindy                                  The Wisest Man You Know

   
         Moon Tan                                In A Round About Way

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