Randy & the Rainbows (3) aka the Dialtones (3)
Randy & the Rainbows (3) aka the Dialtones (3) (Queens, New-York)
Personnel :
Dominick Safuto (Lead)
Frank Safuto (First Tenor)
Sal Zero (Second Tenor)
Mike Zero (Baritone)
Ken Arcipowski (Bass)
Discography :
The Dialtones (3)
1960 - Johnny / Till I Heard It From You (Goldisc 3005/Goldisc 3020)
N/A - Bohemian Daddy (unreleased demo)
N/A - 24 Hours (unreleased)
Randy & the Rainbows (3)
1963 - Denise/ Come back Rust 5059)
1963 - Why do kids grow up / She's my angel (Rust 5073)
1964 - Dry your Eyes / Happy teenager (Rust 5080)
1964 - Little Star / Sharin' (Rust 5091)
1965 - Joyride/ Little hot rod Suzie (Rust 5101)
1966 - Lovely Lies / I'll forget her tomorow (Mike 4001)
1966 - Quarter to three / he's a fugitive (Mike 4004)
1966 - Bonnie's part of town / Can it be (Mike 4008)
1967 - I'll be seeing you / Oh to get away (B.T Puppy 535)
1977 - Angel face / I wonder why (crystal ball 106)
1982 - Try the impossible / Debbie (Ambient Sound 02872)
1982 - Remenber (Walking in the Sand) / Happy teenager (Ambient Sound 451)
Triangle
1970 - Jacqueline / Your love comes shinin' through (Prmnt 0055)
1971 - Judge And Jury / Midnight Magic man (Prmnt 0123)
Madison Street
1977 - Mr Minsterl man / King of love (Mill 605)
1978 - Simple Love Song / We're Falling in love (Mill 621)
Biography :
One of the last pop doo wop groups to hit the top 10 before the Beatles barnstormed American radio (actully Dion & the Del -Satins were the last. reaching number six with "Drip Drop" on December 28, 1963), Randy & the Rainbows were a Maspeth, Queens, quintet with hopes of lasting succes that were dashed by the death of a president and foreign "invasion".
In 1959, 12-year-olds Dominick Safuto, his brother Frank, cousin Eddie Scalla, and Rosalie Calindo on Lead formed the Dialtones.
The Dialtones
They managed one obscure single, "Till i heard it from you", for George Goldner's Goldisc Label in 1960.
The Hilight of that session might have been the period the Dialtones spent sitting in the studio waiting room with idols Little Anthony & the Imperials awaiting their turn to record.
In 1961 Goldisc tried again, releasing the Dialtones single for another shot at the charts. It didn't work.
Dom (Lead) then joined up with friend Mike Zero (Baritone) to form a new group with Mike's brother Sal (Second Tenor) and Ken Arcipowski (Bass) as the Encores.
When the Grover Cleveland High School Quartet decided to fill out their sound as a quintet, Dom convinced his brother and ex-Dialtone member Frank (First Tenor) to Join, and they renamed themselves Junior & the Counts.
Junior & the Counts
The Counts started Playing church festivities, sweet sixteens, and the like until they came to theattention of frank Carrarie, who became their manager and intoduced them to songwriter Neil Levenson.
Neil brought them to bright tunes productions, wich was really the creative base of singing-group-turned-producers the Tokens.
The Tokens produced the Group on two songs written by Levinson titled "Denise" and "Come Back", but before they could issue them on Rust subsidiary Laurie Records, a more commercially acceptable group name had to be chosen. The Schwartz Brothers, owners of Laurie, renamed them Randy & the Rainbows.
Dom became Randy and "Denise" became a monster hit. By August 24th it was number 10 nationally. with its gust-of-wind styled "oohs" on the into, a Four Seasons type of arrangement, and Randy's attractive lead, "Denise" crossed over the R&B chart on September 14th and peacked at number 18. It reached as high number two on New-York's local Radio Charts.
A cross contry tour grew out of "Denise's" succes, and the five 16 years olds were living in fantasyland performing alongside Dionne Warwick, the Chiffons, Timi Yuro, Darlene Love and the Four Seasons. They also did Murray the K's Brooklyn Fox Lador Day show for 10 days and were in awe of the talent around them, including Ben E. King, The Ronettes, The Miracles, The Dovells, The Chiffons, The Tymes, Little Stevie Wonder, The Angels (Whose "my boyfriend's back" beat them out of the top spot in New York), The Shirelles, Jan & Dean, Gene Pitney, and for one day only (as the poster said), The Beach Boys.
The Rainbows' next release, "Why do kids grow up", was a similarly infectious doo wop rocker that was released in the fall of 1963. It stopped, along with the country's hearbeat, when one week later President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
The record was affected (as countless others); due to lack of interest during the country's turmoil, it barely charted nationally (#97, December 14, 1963).
From there on Rust singles like "Dry your Eyes", "Little Star" (The Elegants song), and "JoyRide" had little support and not much of a chance when the british invasion hit America.
The group continued to perform, but mostly on New York aera one-nighters. They appeard on Jerry Blavat's Philadelphia TV show as well as on Clay Cole's New York TVer.
Three releases on Mike and a return to the tokens and their B.T. Puppy label in 1966 for "I'll be seeing you" brought them little more than sporadic airplay.
After the B.T Puppy sides, Sal and Kenny left, leaving Dom, Frank, Mike and sometimes Vinnie Corella as the nucleus.
To find a record deal in the '70s the group had tochange its identity, so while they played oldies shows as Randy & the Rainbows they also recorded as Triangle for two singles for Paramount in 1970-71. In 1977 they produced their own self-financed single, "Mr Minstrel Man", as Madison Street and would up on Millenium Records. The commercial results were not encouraging.
Jay Warner (American Singing Group)
http://www.randyandtherainbowssafuto.com/
http://www.randyandtherainbows.com/
Videos :
My Favorite or Randy & the Rainbows :
"Why do kids grow up"
CD ;
MP3 :