The Guytones (Philadelphia, PA)




Personnel :

James Brown Robinson (Lead)

Stanley Evans (Lead)

Floyd Richards

Joe Tiggle

Arthur Hunter

Eddie Beasley

Discography :

The Guytones
Singles :
1957 - Ooh Bop Sh Ba (Give All Your Love To Me) / You Wont Let Me Go (Deluxe 6144/Delta 3003)
1957 - She's Mine / Not Wanted (Deluxe 6152)
1958 - Hunky Dory / This Is Love (Deluxe 6159)
1958 - Baby I Don't Care / Young Dreamer (Deluxe 6163)
1958 - Tell Me How Was I To Know / Your Heart's Bigger Than Mine (Deluxe 6169)
Unreleased:
1957 - Lovers And Losers (Deluxe)
 

Donnie Elbert bb The Guytones
1958 -  Peek-A-Boo / My Confession Of Love (Donnie Elbert) (Deluxe 6161)

Biography :

In 1957, James Brown Robinson and a group of other young crooners got together in the Queen Village neighborhood and harmonized wherever they could get a location. They were heard by local DJs Cannonball and Irv Timbers, "who both loved the sonic beam of young ensemble's united voices". The DJs arranged an audition with Cincinnati's De Luxe Records. Along with co-lead singer Stanley Evans, Floyd Richards, Joe Tiggle, Arthur Hunter and Eddie Beasley, the Guytones went to New York City, where they recorded 12 sides for De Luxe.

   
The Guytones were greatly influenced by a popular R&B band, the 5 Royales, out of Winston-Salem, N.C. When the boys got to New York, they were given some songs to sing, besides those that they had brought with them. So they repaired to a bathroom to rehearse. But out of the session with De Luxe came such doo-wop classics as "Ooh Bop Sha Boo," "Young Dreamer," "Hunky Dory," "She's Mine," "This Is Love," and others.

Donnie Elbert                                                                           The Guytones                     

In one of those nasty twists of fate, the group got a contract from Decca Records, which was looking for a Guytones-type group in 1959. But the unsigned contract accidentally was put in a closet and not discovered by the boys until it was too late. Decca hired another group. Meanwhile, James went to work for the resistor company, then at Broad and Callowhill streets, in 1957 to support his wife and seven children.

Songs :

The Guytones

       
Ooh Bop Sh Ba                     You Wont Let Me Go                  Hunky Dory

       
She's Mine                           Not Wanted                           This Is Love

       
     Baby I Don't Care / Young Dreamer      Tell Me How Was I To Know     Your Heart's Bigger Than Mine  

Donnie Elbert bb The Guytones


Peek-A-Boo  

....