Doo Wop - Rhythm & Blues

The Minor-Tones aka The Classics (1) ref : The Viceroys (2) - ref : The Penguins

Posted on August 7 2008 by dion1

The Minor-Tones (Los Angeles)
aka The Classics (1)
ref : The Viceroys (2) - ref : The Penguins

Personnel :

James/Jimmy Conwell (Lead)

Oliver Williams

Jack

Steve

Discography :

The Minor-Tones
1956 - Burning Desire / Gonna Tell The World (Cholly 7094)

The Classics (1)
1959 - Je Vous Aime / Burning Desire (Ro-Ann 1002)

------------------------------------------

The Viceroys (2)
1961 - Uncle Sam Needs You / I'm So Sorry (It's Ending With You) (Little Star 107/ Smash 1716)
1961 - Dreamy Eyes / Ball N' Chain (Original Sound 15)

The Penguins
1963 - Memories Of El Monte / Be Mine (Original Sound 27)

Biography :

James/Jimmy Conwell had been doo-wopping since 1953, when with Oliver Williams, Jack and Steve, he formed the Minor Tones at Carver Junior High School in L.A. (Jesse Belvin was an early mentor). The group debuted on the Cholly label with the street corner ballad “Burning Desire,” then recut it in 1959 as the Classics for producer H.B. Barnum and Ro-Ann Records.

The Minor-Tones aka The Classics (1) ref : The Viceroys (2) - ref : The Penguins

The Group broke up some time later, but Jimmy Conwell and Oliver Williams along with three friends, Andrew Jack White, Charles Jones and Herbert White formed a new group, The Viceroys. They cut a Coasters-influenced “Uncle Sam Needs You” for Barnum in ‘61. First out on the Little Star logo, it was picked up by Mercury’s Smash imprint for national consumption.

The Minor-Tones aka The Classics (1) ref : The Viceroys (2) - ref : The Penguins
Cleve Duncan The Exits with James Conwell

The group also waxed “Dreamy Eyes” for local deejay Art Laboe’s Original Sound logo the same year and subbed as the Penguins just long enough to back Cleve Duncan on “Memories Of El Monte” in ’63 for Laboe’s logo. Later, Jimmy Conwell went onto to record throughout the late 1960's as a solo artist and with The Exits, The New Group, The Trips and The Light Drivers.