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The Plurals

Posted on by dion1


The Plurals (Elizabeth, New Jersey)

 

Personnel :

Pasquale “Pat” Mazzillo (Lead / Second Tenor)

Richard “Rip” Wagner (First Tenor)

Carl Anderson (Second Tenor)

Theodore “Teddy” Bennett (Baritone)

Bob Black (Bass)

 

Discography:

1958 - Donna My Dear / Miss Annie (Wanger  186/187 - Bergen 186/187)
1959 - Goodnight / I'm Sold (Wanger 188)

 

Biography :

Carl Anderson and a group of friends, Pat Mazzillo, Ted Bennett, Richard Wagner and Robert Black, sang in the school’s glee club. The school sponsored a talent show and Anderson and his friends, who were popular because of their ability to harmonize, were asked to enter the contest.


Plurals on WLBR with Henry Homan

They did that under the name of The Plurals, and won the second place prize for their rendition of the then-popular “Memories Of You,” a classic doo wop number. Their popularity increased and they continued to sing in the glee club, but were also given solo spots in which they represented their school.

Additionally, they worked at teen dances, and actually performed as a warm-up group for such rock and roll stars as Frankie Avalon, Bo Diddley, The Shirelles, and many more.They got their first break when a record producer, Frankie Freid, heard them sign. He offered them an opportunity to record for his company, C&M Records, which was based in Elizabeth.

   

Anderson, who loved to listen to the local black singing groups, became fascinated with a tune called “Miss Fannie.” The song is up tempo and Anderson improvised with it and created a different version and called it “Miss Annie.” The record made it to Billboard’s Top 40 along with it’s flip side, “Donna My Dear.” The group came out with a follow-up tune, also a collaboration between Anderson and his friends.


With Lead singer Mike Benz

Pat Mazzillo was working one day, He was underneath a car, arc welding a gas tank and somehow a spark caught the garage on fire.He was rushed to East Orange Hospital in critical condition. Pat died ten days later, on Sunday February 8, 1959. Frankie Freid suggested that they look for another lead singer and continue.

The Plurals held their first rehearsal with Mike Benz on lead at the Roseville Methodist Parish Hall. They recorded “Goodnight” and “I’m Sold” in April 1959. The songs “Goodnight” again advanced into the Billboard charts, this time cracking the Top 100.

http://www.classicurbanharmony.net/Plurals%20for%20web.pdf


Songs :


   
I'm Sold                                Miss Annie

   
Goodnight                             Donna My Dear

  ...

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The Downbeats (4)

Posted on by dion1


 

The Downbeats (4) (Detroit, Michigan)


Personnel :

Cleo Duke Miller

Robert Fleming

Johnny Dawson


Discography :

1962 - Request of a fool / Your Baby's Back (Talma 54056)
1965 - Darling Baby / Put Yourself In My Place (Vip 25029)


Biography :

The obscure Motown act known as the Downbeats included Johnny Dawson, Cleo Miller, and Robert Fleming. They sometimes accompanied Marv Johnson before he hit on United Artists Records, and cut tracks for the Lupine family of labels. (Although nothing emerged, there are gaping blanks in Lupine's discography which may account for the omission.)  The flip of the Downbeats' first Tamla single, "Request of a Fool," was published by Lupine Music, and written by Dawson. The A-side, "Your Baby's Back," is a '50s throwback that dropped early in 1962, the next Downbeats' release didn't surface until December 31, 1965. At Lupine they accompanied Marv Johnson, uncredited, on "Once Upon a Time," a beautiful but neglected doo wop release.

  
                           Marv Johnson                                                                                        The Elgins

Motown issued "Darling Baby" a Holland-Dozier-Holland production on their VIP label, and credited it to the Downbeats. Sandra Mallett joined Dawson, Miller, and Fleming and sung lead on both sides. Mallett had the single "It's Going to Be Hard Times" b/w "Camel Walk" on Tamla as Sandra Mallett & the Vandellas in 1962. Before Motown shipped "Darling Baby," they slapped new labels on the 45s effectively changing the groups' name from the Downbeats to the Elgins.  It was a strange choice, since another group of Elgins recorded for Congress Records ("Ritha Mae") and a '50s group from Southern California also used the name.

http://www.answers.com/topic/the-downbeats-2#ixzz1EqCYP0ln
http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/the%20elgins.html
http://motownforever.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=classic&action=display&thread=1406


Songs :

The Downbeats(4)

   
Your Baby's Back                          Request of a fool


Marv Johnson bb The Downbeats(4) (Uncredited)


Once upon a time

 

...

 

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The Daydreamers

Posted on by dion1


The Daydreamers (Detroit)



Personnel :

William “Bill” Amolsch

Clive “Skip” Caverly

Reginald “Reg” Caverly

Daniel “Danny” August



Discography :

?



Biography :

These are the Daydreamers, who recorded for quite a few major labels.one of the members, Ken Fraseur, even sang with The Pharaohs / Four Imperials for quite awhile.
Marilyn Bond,S. R. Boland "The birth of the Detroit sound: 1940-1964"

 



...

 

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The Playmates (1)

Posted on by dion1

The Playmates (1) (Waterbury, Connecticut)



Personnel :


Chic Hetti "Carl Cicchett" (Lead & Pianist)

Donny Conn "Donald Claps" (Vocal & Drummer)

Morey Car (Vocal & Bass)




Discography :


Singles :

1957 - Pretty Woman / Barefoot Girl (Roulette 4003)
1957 - Darling it's wonderful / Island Girl (Roulette 4022)
1958 - Jo-Ann / You Can't Stop Me From Dreaming (Roulette 4037)
1958 - Give Me Another Chance / Let’s Be Lovers (Roulette 4056)
1958 - Don't Go Home / Can't You Get It Through Your Head (Roulette 4072)
1958 - The Day I Died / While The Record Goes Around (Roulette 4100)
1958 - Beep-Beep / Your Love (Roulette 4115)
1959 - Star Love / The Thing-A-Ma-Jig  (Roulette 4136)
1959 - What Is Love / I Am (Roulette 4160)
1959 - A Ciu-E / First Love (Roulette 4200)
1959 - On The Beach / The Song Everybody's Singing  (Roulette 4211)
1960 - Second Chance / These Things I Offer You  (Roulette 4227)
1960 - Our Wedding Day / Parade Of Pretty Girls  (Roulette 4252)
1960 - Wait For Me / Eyes Of An Angel (Roulette 4276)
1961 - Little Miss Stuck-Up / Real Life (Roulette 4322)
1961 - Cowboys Never Cry / Tell Me What She Said (Roulette 4370)
1961 - Wimoweh / One Little Kiss (Roulette 4393)
1962 - A Rose And A Star / Bachelor Flat  (Roulette 4417)
1962 - Keep You Hands In Your Pockets / The Cop On The Beat (Roulette 4432)
1963 - What A Funny Way To Shoe It / Pettycoats Fly (Roulette 4464)
1963 - "A" My Name Is Alice / Just A Little Bit  (ABC 10422)
1963 - She Never Looked Better / But Not Through Tears (ABC 10468)
1963 - I Cross My Fingers / I’ll Never Get Over You  (ABC 10492)
1964 - Guy Behind The Wheel / One Guy Left On The Corner  (ABC 10522)
1964 - Fiddler On The Roof / Piece Of The Sky (Colpix 760)
1965 - One By One The Roses Died / Spanish Perfume (Colpix 769)
1965 - Ballad of Stanley The Lifeguard/Should I ask (Colpix 245)



Lps :

1958 - At Play with the Playmates (Roulette SR-25043)
Jo-Ann / Your Love / Darling It's Wonderful / Substitute For Love / Magic Shoes / When The Record Goes Around / Beep Beep / The Day I Died / Give Me Another Chance / Lovable / Intimate / Don't Go Home


1958 - Cuttin' Capers (Roulette SR-25068)
Let's Have A Party / The Macaroni Song / Worry / Our Friend / The Lady Or The Tiger / The Thing-A-Ma-Jig / What A Dream I Had / Women Drivers / Egypt / Modern Science / Bag Of Sand


1959 - Broadway Show Stoppers (Roulette SR-25084)
Get Me to the Church On Time / Hernando's Hideaway / You're Just In Love / Jubilation T. Cornpone / Once In Love With Amy / There Is Nothin' Like A Dame / Luck Be A Lady / Seventy-Six Trombones / Heart / Standin' On the Corner / I Whistle A Happy Tune / You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!


1960 - The Playmates Visit West Of The Indies (Forum SF-16001)
Goombay / Tonight My Heart She is Crying / Island Girl / Evolution / Old Donkey-O / Sing Bahama Mama / Pretty Woman / Similau / Women Drivers / The Trouble With Man / Barefoot Girl / Lot Of Money, Lot Of Woman


1961 - Wait For Me (Roulette SR-25139)
Wait For Me / Parade Of Pretty Girls / A Ciu-E / It's Amour / The Song Everybody's Singing / I Am / What Is Love / These Things I Offer You / First Love / Second Chance / Eyes Of An Angel / On The Beach

 

 



Biography :

The Playmates -- best known for "Beep Beep," one of several Top 40 hits -- were one of the first rock & roll groups signed to the New York-based Roulette Records, formed and co-owned by music industry leaders Morris Levy, Joe Kolsky, and George Goldner.

Originally known as the Nitwits (probably a better name for them in the long run), the Playmates had been performing in the area around Waterbury, CT, for five years before signing to Roulette in 1958. The label had already scored a few rock & roll hits by the time they signed the group; unfortunately, the Playmates' specialty was not rock & roll, but novelty music.

Despite the oft-corny lyrical content of their upbeat pop fare, they earned two hits right away with "Jo Ann" and "Beep Beep," the latter with a chorus that featured the group repeating a phrase of car beeps ("beep beep, beep beep, this car goes beep, beep beep").

   
            Beep Beep                                                                                            What is love                

Despite its silliness, "Beep Beep" -- written by group members Carl Cicchetti and Donald Claps -- climbed to number four in the nation in December 1958 and earned the Playmates the right to record an album, At Play With the Playmates, which followed soon after.

In 1959, they scored again with "What Is Love?" (number 15) and followed suit the next year with "Wait for Me" (number 37).

     

The group subsequently recorded three additional albums for the label: Cuttin' Capers, Wait for Me, and Broadway Showstoppers. Another album, The Playmates Visit West of the Indies, was issued on an early- to mid-'60s budget reissue label called Forum Records, which was a division of Roulette Records.The group disbanded in 1964.
~ Bryan Thomas, Rovi

http://www.answers.com/topic/the-playmates
http://www.rocky-52.net/chanteursp/playmates.htm

 


Songs :

   
I Cross My Fingers                    One Little Kiss

   
"A" My Name Is Alice                      Jo-Ann

   
What is Love                             First Love

 

 

...

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The Sinclairs

Posted on by dion1

The Sinclairs
(November 1959) L-R: Eddie Griffin, Arthur Stewart, Yusef Khan, Eddie Albino and Al Heitzer 

The Sinclairs (New York)


Personnel:

Arthur 'Party Artie' Stewart (Lead)

Eddie Albino (Lead)

Al Heitzer (Tenor/Falsetto)

Yusef 'Joe' Khan (Second Tenor/Baritone)

Eddie Griffin (Baritone/Bass)

 

Discography :

Unreleased :
1963 - My Guardian Angel

 

Biography :

The Sinclairs were strictly an amateur doowop quintet back in the day although quite a visual one as they danced in sync while the main two lead voices, Arthur 'Party Artie' Stewart and Eddie Albino, leaped off the stages landing in split position. Looking back to that era of the late 1950's-early 1960's when they really couldn't have cared less about money as they sang and danced everywhere and anywhere they could get an audience to listen and enjoy them.

The Sinclairs
(Early 1960) L-R: Jimmy Clarke, Jimmy Jarosz, Al Heitzer, Sam Garcia and Eddie Horta

They sang at paid gigs in Westchester and Nassau Counties where the competition wasn't as great as it was in New York City where it seems that every block had a doowop group entertaining the masses. They sang in churches, YMCA/YMHA's, Audubon Ballroom, P.S. 189, P.S. 152, the Dyckman Projects' Building 1 Community Room, high school assemblies, building courtyards, parks, building basements, subway arcades, subway station platforms and subway trains. But they didn't write their own music preferring to sing others' hit tunes. When Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records over near Columbus Circle at the time, and Bob Crewe of XYZ Records in the Brill Building told them in no uncertain terms: "Come back when you have original material". The Sinclairs broke up in early 1962 after after a lot of personal change.


Song:


My Guardian Angel

…

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The Bob-o-links aka The Memories (1)

Posted on by dion1

The Bob-o-links  (Washington DC)
aka The Memories (1)

 

Personnel :

Jim Durtz

Lou "DeMartino" Martin

Ron Lutz

Robert "Boot"s Dove

Gene Fitzgeearld

 

Discography :

The Bob-o-links
1962 - I Promise / Mr Frog ( Hi-Ho 101)

The Memories (1)
1962 - Love Bell / I Promise (Way-Lin 101)

 

Biography :

In 1957 a group of guys got together in southeast Washington DC at an eatery called the Hi Ho (a happy days teen hang out before there ever was a TV Happy Days show). These guys began to sing acapella on the street corners and in teen clubs around the D.C. area. They were noticed by a local radio personality who befriended them and entered them in numerous talent contests around the metro area. Over a period of time, the guys, who named themselves The Bobolinks, won twenty three talent shows in a row. The group was then noticed and signed by the record label "Colt 45 Records." They have never looked back. The Bobolinks, who changed their name to The Memories in 1960,  have appeared on numerous TV and radio shows over the years, including the Milt Grant, Buddy Dean, and Bandstand shows.
http://www.thememories.org/fr_photoalbum.cfm

 

Songs :

   
I Promise                                Love Bell

 

...

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The Harmony Grits

Posted on by dion1

The Harmony Grits (New York)
(The Original Drifters Minus Clyde Mcphatter)

 

Personnel :

David "Little David" Baughan (Lead)

Bill Pinkney (Tenor)

Andrew "Bubba" Thrasher (Second Tenor)

Gerhart "Gay" Thrasher (Baritone)

 

Discography :

1959 - I Could Have Told You / Am I To Be The One (End 1051)
1959 - Santa Claus Is Coming / Gee (End 1063)

 

Biography :

In 1959, the Original Drifters made two records for George Goldner's End label, billed as the "Harmony Grits" (although a Billboard advertisement included the phrase "formerly the Original Drifters").


David, Gerhart, Bill, Andrew

In June 1959, they released "I Could Have Told You" (led by Little Dave), backed with "Am I To Be The One" (all). November saw Gerhart leading "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town," coupled with a remake of the Crows' classic, "Gee," with Bill doing a high lead.

  
Andrew, Gerhart, Bill, David                                                

Unfortunately, Little Dave still had not become the stable member they needed. While he'd drift in and out of the group over the next ten years, he only appears on the End sides.
http://www.uncamarvy.com/OrigDrifters/origdrifters.html

 
Songs :

   
I Could Have Told You               Santa Claus Is Coming

   
Am I To Be The One                       Gee

 

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The Clouds (1)

Posted on by dion1

The Clouds (1) (Chicago)


Personnel :

Sherrard Jones (Lead) 

Al Butler  

Williams English 

Bobby Walker 
 

Discography : 

Single :
1956 - I Do / Rock and Roll Boogie (Cobra 5001)
Unreleased :
1956 - Say You Love Me (Parrot)
1956 - Baby Wants To Rock  (Parrot)


Biography :

 The Clouds were one of hundreds of R&B, doo-wop vocal groups in the 1950s and 1960s. Members were Sherrard Jones, Al Butler, William English, and Bobby Walker. The groups had been finalists in a talent contest put on by disk jockey McKie Fitzhugh at the Pershing Ballroom; the prize was a recording session, and a joint venture between Al Benson and Leonard Chess was involved.in 1956, they cut “Rock & Roll Boogie” b/w “I Do“ on the Cobra Records. Cobra was started on Chicago's West Side in 1956 by Eli Toscano, a record-store- and television-repair-shop owner, with help from promoter Howard Bedno. When his previous record label, Abco Records, failed to generate much interest, Toscano approached Willie Dixon about working for Cobra. Dissatisfied with his arrangement with Chess Records, Dixon joined Cobra. There he served in many capacities, including talent scout, producer, arranger, songwriter, bassist, and became "the artistic vision behind Cobra Records.


Songs :

   
            I Do                                          Baby Wants To Rock


Say You Love Me / Baby Wants To Rock


 ...

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The Illusions (2)

Posted on by dion1


 

The Illusions (2) (Fishtown, Philadelphia)


Personnel :

Al Lancellotti (Lead)

Pete Siciliano (Bass)

Freddie Jones (First Tenor / Falsetto)

Jackie Fox (Baritone/Bass)

Freddie Faulkner (Secondnd Tenor / Baritone / First Tenor)


Discography :

Singles:
1957 - Better Late Than Never / Rock and Roll Train  (Axtel 101)
1964 - Hey Boy / Lonely Soldier (Mali 104/Sheraton 104/Northeast 801/Relic 512)
1964 - Story Of My Life / Walking Boy (Little Debbie 105)

Unreleased :
N/A - One Mint Julep (Reco-Art)
N/A - Dancing In The Dark  (Reco-Art)
N/A - To A Girl I Don't Know So Well
N/A - Fake Love
N/A - Together Eternally
N/A - I Feel Rejected



Biography :

Group from South Philadelphia originally consisted of Al Lancellotti (Lead), Freddie Jones (1st Tenor), Jackie Fox (2nd Tenor-Baritone), Freddie Faulkner (2nd Tenor-Baritone-1st Tenor) and Pete Siciliano (Bass).

   

In 1957 they recorded for Axtel Records the sides "Better Late Than Never / Rock And Roll Train" After this recording the group temporally disbanded. In 1962 The Illusion's back with Freddie Jones ,Freddie Faulkner, Jackie Fox and a new member Tony"Carmen"Antoniolo.

They recorded for Mali Records "Hey Boy/Lonely Soldier" .The A side was a regional Hit and the disc was re-released by Northeast and Relic Records. In 1963 Freddy Faulkner recorded as a solo artist (with background vocals by The Rockafellas) for Swan Records the sides "Cigarettes & Matches / Little Driftin' Amy."

  

In 1964 the group recorded their last single for Little Debbie Records with the sides "Story Of My Life" b/w "Walking Boy". The group disbanded around 1966. Pete Siciliano  join a group called The leisure Lad.  Fred Jones later was a member of The Hustlers, The Common Pleas, Hubba Hubba, Star, Jones and Falcone and Studebaker




Songs :

   
Better Late Than Never             Rock and Roll Train                  Hey Boy

    
Lonely Soldier                         Story Of My Life                        Walking Boy

 

 ...

 

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The Valids

Posted on by dion1



The Valids (New Jersey)



Personnel :

Hank (Lead)

Bill

Bobby

John




Discography :

Singles:

1966 - Blue Moon (a capella) / Hey Senorita (acapella) (Amber 853)
1966 - Barbara Ann (a capella) / Congratulations (acapella) (Amber 855)

Lps :

1966 - The Valids -Acappella (Amber LP 802)
Over The Rainbow / Some Kind Of Wonderful  / Mexico  / Mr. Lonely  / Zing / Glory Of Love  / Kiss Kiss Kiss / Bartender  / My Girl  / The Closer You Are / When I Fall In Love / Up On The Roof / Boogalu Baby  / Gloria / Begin The Beguine / This Is My Love / My Foolish Heart 




Biography :

The Valids are a fine New Jersey group made two 45 's on the Amber label and then recorded a full album.

   

Their album "The Valids -Acappella" was recorded in 1966 on the same label.
The picture is the original valids .There was a second band same name with a few member changes but also had a great sound.



Songs :

   
Congratulations                             Mexico



Gloria



Cds :

 

 

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