Pat Cordel & The Crescents (1)
The Crescents - (left to right) Carman Romano, Vito Picone, Pat Croccitto Cordel & Ronnie Jones
Pat Cordel & The Crescents (1) (Staten Island, NY.)
ref: The Elegants
Personnel :
Pat Croccitto Cordel (Lead)
Vito Picone
Ronnie Jones
Carman Romano (Baritone)
Discography :
1956 - Darling Come Back / My Tears (Club 1011 / Michele 503 / Victory 1001)
Biography :
Vito Picone and original member Carmen Romano met in the 1st grade at P.S. 39 in the South Beach Section of Staten Island NY. Both had a young widowed mother and just one sibling and lived two blocks away from each other, it was inevitable that the two would become friends immediately. As they approached the 4th grade, the NYC Board of Education started a music program and oddly enough Vito and Carmen were chosen as two of the four trombone players. The other two were Vinny Licastri who became Vito's best friend (who would later die of leukemia at age 16, the night The Elegants recorded "Little Star") and Ronnie Jones.
The Elegants taken at N.Y.'s Brooklyn Fox Theater. They Borrowed jackets(Too Large) from the Danleers.
Vito, Carmen and Ronnie would form their first singing group in 1955 with a pretty trumpet player in the band named Patricia Crocitto (daughter of the owner of a popular night club Crocitto's). They fashioned their sound after the red hot vocal group "The Teenagers" because Patricia had the high Frankie Lymon sounding voice and Vito could do the bass like Sherman Barns. They called themselves "Pat Cordel and The Crescents".After winning a singing contest, where the 1st prize was a recording contract, they recorded two songs "Darling Come Back" written by Vito and "My Tears" written by the whole group. One of the first white rock and roll artists to have a recording contract, they toured with such acts as The Willows, The Fi-Tones, The Solitaires, etc. in mostly "Black" venues. After their manager/Record Label Owner was tragically killed in Little Italy, they disbanded. Pat became one of the June Taylor dancers (Jackie Gleason Show), Ronnie became a commercial artist. Vito and Carmen decided that they enjoyed the entertainment world and would like to continue. The Elegants .
Songs :
Darling Come Back My Tears
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