The Wisdoms

The Wisdoms (St. Paul, MN)

Personnel :

Gene "Butchy" Moore (Lead)

Horace Rivers (Tenor)

Ray "Bucky" Brown (Baritone)

Jerry Reed (Bass)

Discography :

1959 - Two Hearts Make One Love / Lost In Dreams (Gaity 169)

Biography :

The Wisdoms, which included St. Paul Central High School students Jerry Reed, Horace Rivers, Ray Brown, and Gene Moore, earned a quick following throughout the city of Minneapolis for their quick-footed dance moves and tender harmonies. In the summer of 1959, a year after forming, the Wisdoms recorded "Two Hearts Make One Love" and "Lost In Dreams"(Based on "Every Day Of The Week" by the Students) backed by the Glenrays. They were unhappy with the results and returned to Gaity to re-recorded the same songs this time with the Flames. They are a dozen or more unreleased tunes that cannot be retrieved; presumably they are lost forever.

Jerry Reed, Ray "Bucky" Brown, Horace Rivers and Gene "Butchy" Moore

The A-side is as sweet as can be, a romantic doo-wop ditty about a protagonist's undying love for his dear. The B-side hints at something a little more aggressive and rock-oriented, with members of the white garage rock band the Flames stepping in to add a marching-drum shuffle beat and a tiny sprinkling of surf-oriented guitar work. It was also in 1959 that the Wisdoms and the Flames would be invited to appear on KSTP's Hi Five program, which was modeled after Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Although they'd never experienced any discrimination at their live shows, despite playing parties in several different neighborhoods, it was at one of these televised events that the Wisdoms first experienced how impenetrable Minnesota's racial barrier was in the 1950s.

(The Wisdoms whith the Flames)

 "We were good dancers and girls wanted to dance with us,” Gene Moore told Jim Oldsberg's Lost and Found. “Predictably, a white girl would ask one of the Wisdoms to dance. The station, however, didn't condone interracial dancing.” “Because of our popularity, we were confident that Rob Hubbard, the owner of KSTP, wouldn't deny us the opportunity for singing programs altogether,” added Horace Rivers. “Our group had a brazen unwillingness, however, to compromise on who it was we could dance with, but our confidence was tempered with a healthy dose of reality.... Unlike Elvis Presley, who could only be shown on TV moving from the waist up, the Wisdoms could only be shown dancing on television from the waist down.

From "The Rise of the Minneapolis Sound" 

Songs :

     
Two Hearts Make One Love                        Lost In Dreams              

Unreleased Original Versions

   
Two Hearts Make One Love                 Lost In Dreams          

 ...