Tyrone Johnson

Tyrone & The Nu-Ports (Chislehurst, NJ)
aka The Mystery Men

Personnel:

Tyrone Johnson (Lead)

Alexander Lancaster(first Tenor)

Calvin McDonald (Bass)

Calvin Henderson (Baritone)

Ronald Turner (Second Tenor)






Discography :

Tyrone & The Nu-Ports 

Singles :
1962 - The Combination / Look At Her Eyes (Darrow 71)
1963 - Feel Like A Million / On Saturday Night (Darrow 5-20)

Unreleased :
1962 - Crossfire
1962 - That’s Right
1962 - All That’s Good
1962 - Dream
1962 - No Greater Love
1962 - Just One Of Those Things

The Mystery Men
1963 - Feel Like A Million / On Saturday Night (Pow 1001/1002)

Marc Tanno bb Tyrone & Nu-Ports
1962 - Too Many Times Before / Someday (President 718)

Al Belmont bb Tyrone & Nu-Ports
1963 - I Just Gotta have You / Baby I Wanna Know (Darrow ??)    

Slip & Dell  bb Tyrone & Nu-Ports
1964 - Don’t Take A Chance / Gotta Get Away (Modern Artists 100)

Dante bb Tyrone & Nu-Ports
1960 - Baby, Baby / How Much I Care (Darrow 515)

Biography :

Around 1956, Tyrone Johnson  entered Lower Camden County’s Overbrook High School in Pine Hill, NJ. It was in high school that Tyrone met four other students who shared his love of singing and they soon formed a vocal group. Initially the group was called the Deltones and they consisted of Tyrone Johnson (lead), Alex Lancaster (first tenor), Calvin McDonald (bass), Ronald Turner (second tenor) and a fifth fellow singing baritone. By the time they entered high school, all the group members were living around the Berlin, NJ, area.

Tyronne & the Nu-Ports at Holiday Hop with The Emotions, Billy & The Essentials, Off Keys …

By 1959 the group was finishing high school and the fifth member had left the group. The Deltones were looking for a new baritone. That’s when Calvin Henderson entered the picture. With the new baritone came a new name : The Nu-Ports .  Before recording , the group also made appearances in Pennsylvania. The Nu-Ports used to sing at all the local record hops in South Jersey. They played the Ice House in Cherry Hill and the Inferno in Hammonton among other venues.

The group wrote a lot of their own material and putting together the harmony was always a group effort. By 1962, Calvin Henderson was in his senior year at high school and the Nu-Ports were ready to start a recording career. The group was managed by Moon Rasso from Hammonton, NJ, who introduced them to Joe Ricci. They had already written numerous songs; “The Combination,” “Feel Like A Million,” “Look At Her Eyes,” and so forth. They first went and cut “The Combination” to the Reco Arts Studio.  Joe Ricci released “The Combination” on his Darrow label with “Look At Her Eyes” on the flip side.

Tyrone Johnson was lead on “The Combination” while Calvin Henderson led “Look At Her Eyes”. “The Combination” was released and got airplay from Oaky Miller on WEEZ, Jerry Blavat on WCAM and a few other stations.  With “The Combination” attracting a lot of attention locally, Joe Ricci looked toward the Nu-Ports’ next release, a catchy up-tempo number called “Feel Like A Million.” It was backed with “On Saturday Night.”

Marc Tanno                                                                                 Dante

“Fell Like A Million” was a big record for the group. It never made Billboard’s national charts, but then the “Hot R&B Singles” charts in 1962 only listed the top 30 songs. The Nu-Ports said they were told by their management that the record sold 50,000 to 75,000 copies, mostly locally. Throughout the Fall of 1962 and all of 1963, the Nu-Ports played numerous shows with other Philadelphia artists. Tyrone & the Nu-Ports also began working on enough songs for an album. The group recorded at least fifteen sides.  The album was just never released. While waiting in vain for their album to come out, Tyrone & the Nu-Ports began doing backup studio work: Marc Tanno, Al Belmont, Dante, Slip & Dell . An automobile accident involving four members of the group stopped their projects. Still working with Ray Eskridge (the “Del” from Slip & Del), Ricci took the Nu-Ports’ background track to “Feel Like A Million” and had Eskridge record a new lead track to the song. His intent was to issue the new version of the song on his Pow label as by the “Mystery Men”.
http://www.classicurbanharmony.net





Songs :
(updated by Hans-Joachim) 

Tyrone & The Nu-Ports

  
The Combination                 Look At Her Eyes

  
Feel Like A Million                 On Saturday Night

Just One Of Those Things

The Mystery Men


Feel Like A Million


Slip & Dell  bb Tyrone & Nu-Ports


Don’t Take A Chance  


Dante bb Tyrone & Nu-Ports

  
Baby, Baby                           How Much I Care






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