The Utations

The Utations (Trumbull, Connecticut)

Personnel :

Carl Demore (First Tenor)

Jim Petrino (Second Tenor / Lead)

Roland Bousquet (Second Tenor / Lead)

Paul Timpanelli (Bass)

George Kovachi (Baritone)

Discography :

No Recording

Biography :

In early 1960, two teenagers began harmonizing to the tunes of the Everly Brothers, Don & Juan and Robert & Johnny singing mostly for their own enjoyment in the Trumbull High School bathrooms and hallways. They were George Kovachi and Wesley Twelves, two teens who met in their first year of high school. Chris Costeines also occasionally joined in. Soon after, Paul Timpanelli joined the group as baritone and later Stanley Goldman as 2nd tenor and sometimes lead.

Later in 1960 we chose a name for the group and officially became "The Sophisticats" performing locally at record hops, dances and more bathrooms. For a short while, The Sophisticats worked with guitarist Fred Stern and a drummer whose name can no longer be remembered. We practiced and performed through much of 1960 with the same members. Late in 1961, Wes's girlfriend, Shirley Clark, decided that Wes should spend less time rehearsing and more time with her. Roland Bousquet, a Bridgeport native stepped up to replace Wes and Jim Petrino also from Bridgeport joined to replace Stan. Carl Demore also joined to handle the 1st tenor duties ... suddenly we had a whole new sound!

In early 1962 we renamed the group "The Salutations." This lasted a few months until Vito and the Salutations released their hit "Unchained Melody." We then decided to just shorten the name to "The Utations." No need to go into the iterations of the name "Utations" our peers managed to come up with and call us! The next changes came late in 1962 as Carl graduated and went to college and Roland moved to Maine. In 1963, we recruited Tony Sciarappa who had recently moved from our Bridgeport, CT Parrott Avenue neighborhood to Trumbull. Jerry Bourdeau from Trumbull also joined in 1963. This allowed "the Utations" to continue to rehearse and play out occasionally for the next year or two. Meanwhile, Jim Petrino married Shirley Clark and began raising a family. By the end of 1964, George Kovachi had joined the Marine Corps, Tony enlisted in the Air Force, Carl was still at UCONN, Paul was off to college and Jerry enlisted in the Army.

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