1959 - My Love Is Just For You / Repetition (Tin Pan Alley 252)
Biography :
Vocal group from the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, New York. The Blendairs were formed in 1958 and consisting of Coste Govenelli, George Winters, Vic Guzman, Sonny Pastano and Andy Maraglia. Previously, Andy Maraglia was part of another group from Brooklyn, the Chalets with which he will record "Fat Mom-Mi-O" b / w "Who's-Laughing Who's-Crying" for the Tru-Lite label. The Blendairs meet Jack Covais, owner of Tin Pan Alley records, for whom they did one session. Two pieces will be recorded during their session: "My Love Is Just For You" & "Repetition". The single was released in 1959 on Tin Pan Alley #252. They are not the Blendairs who have an unreleased side "My Rose Ann".
The Four Dots : Marvin Brown, Fletcher Williams, Melvin Peters and Kenneth Miller
The Four Dots (1) (Pittsburgh, PA) aka The Four Troys
Personnel :
Kenny Jackson (First Tenor)
Melvin Peters (Second Tenor)
Manning Rosemont (Baritone)
Marvin Brown (Bass)
Discography :
The Four Dots (1) 1956 - Rita / He Man Looking For A She Girl (Bullseye 103)
Fletcher Williams & The Four Dots (1) 1956 - Peace Of Mind / Kiss Me Sugar Plum (Bullseye 104)
The Four Troys Singles : 1959 - In The Moonlight / Suddenly You Want To Dance (Freedom 44013) Unreleased 1959 - Weeping Willow (Freedom)
Fletcher Williams 1957 - Mary Lou / Stop Look And Love Me (Bullseye 1001)
Biography :
They Started as the Mellows around 1950, in the Hill and Homewood sections of Pittsburgh, PA. The original group did not have Marvin Brown included in it......because they hadn't found him yet. When they did, it was Fletcher Williams, Edgar Lee, Melvin Peters, Kenneth Miller and Marvin Brown . They changed their name to the five Mellows, and sang much of the standard fare of the R+B groups in the early and mid 50's.
The Five Mellows : Edgar Lee, Melvin Peters, Fletcher Williams, Kenneth Miller and Marvin Brown
They changed their name again,this time to the Four Dots, Edgar Lee left (and some additional swapping of members), and had one recording session in early 1956 with Bullseye records. They recorded four songs,"Rita","He Man Looking For A She Girl","Peace Of Mind","Kiss Me Sugar Plum." The first two were released as Bullseye 103. It was played locally in the Pittsburgh area, but didn't get play nationally. The second release pair the last two, Peace Of Mind", and "Kiss Me Sugar Plum." Same result. The story has some twists.
A different group from California, called the Four Dots, was signed to a Liberty records subsidiary, Freedom, in 1959. This group had Jewel Akens, Jerry Stone and Eddie Cochran as members, and released two 45's. That label also signed the Marvin Brown based Four Dots. You can't have two of the same named artists on a label, so the "Original Four Dots" became the Four Troys. They issued "In The Moonlight" and "Suddenly You Want To Dance" on Freedom 44013 in 1959. Melvin Peters also worked with the Del Vikings and Marcels. In the early 1960's, he joined Chuck Jackson and the Motown group The Originals. Then it was back home as a Headliner. He spent the seventies working with Solid Gold, Flashback, and the Katch. Now he's with a Cleveland group called Mellow Class.
The Boss-Tones (Philadelphia, PA.) ref : The Four Casts
Personnel :
Duval Young "Babbo"
Robbie Robinson
Willie Weaver
Buck
Discography :
The Boss-Tones 1961 - Mope-Itty Mope / Wings Of An Angel (Boss 401 / V-Tone 208)
The Four Casts 964 - Stormy Weather / Workin' At The Factory (Atlantic 2228)
Wee Willie Weaver bb The Ly-Dells 1965 - You're Gonna Be So Glad / Automatic Reaction (Tandy 101)
Biography :
Vocal group from high school at Philly's Edison HS (8th and Lehigh Avenue) composed by Duval Young "Babbo", Robbie Robinson, Willie Weaver and Buck (last name unknown). The Group recorded "Mope-Itty Mope" b/w "Wings Of An Angel" in 1961. The single was issued on the Boss Label (distributed by Ember) before the rarer V-Tone pressing. Matt Atkinson who sang with many Philly groups during the era - matter of fact he did several performances with the Bosstones on-stage singing with the Boss-Tones but was not on the original record. "Mope-Itty Mope" has been a huge oldie in Philadelphia in Philly since Jerry "Geator" Blavat featured it at his popular hops. The Boss-Tones received regional attention but never achieved the national success initially hoped for. The Dovells, even covered it for Cameo-Parkway.
Jim Drucker worked as a teenager for Jolly Joyce Theatrical Booking Agency (JJA), Philadelphia and ran weekend WIBG Record Hops with Harold B. Childs, for Buzzy Curtis (Promotions) and was in high school at Philly's Edison HS with members of the Boss-Tones. In 1964 he combined Chuck Hatfield, Paul O' Lone from The Ly-Dells and Babbo and Willie Weaver from the Bosstones, and in the dark of night (at Chancellor Records Studios, 9th and Vine Streets), He produced: "Stormy Weather" b/w "Working at the Factory" . Jerry Blavat, Russ Faith (Chancellor Records) and Buzz Curtis sold the master (RCA Tape Recorder deck) tapes to Atlantic Records. The record was released in the spring of 1964, under the name of “the Four Casts” (Atlantic 2228)
The Students (1) Single : 1958 - Mommy And Daddy / My Heart Is An Open Door (Red Top 100) Unreleased : 1958 - Bye Bye Truly (Red Top) 1958 - Mary (Red Top)
Colly Williams 1961 - You Know I'll Love You Tomorrow / Oh What A Love (Ry An 501) 1963 - We'll Make It Sommeday / My Vow (Poplar 118)
Biography :
When Doc Bagby, Irv Nahan and Marvin “Red Top” Schwartz got together to form Red Top records during the last spring of 1957, Philadelphia was well on it's way to becoming the most important city of the record business. Operating out of a small office in Downtown Centre City, Red Top was instituted showcase local Philadelphia Talent. Doc Bagby, Irv Nahan and Marvin Schwartz could get enough initial airplay locally to test any release, if there was sufficient action in Philly, they'd turn the master over to a larger label for national distribution. With that in mind, Doc Bagby cut Red Top's first session with a young (mid-teens) Philadelphia group called the Students (Not the Checker/Note group of "I"m So Yong" fame) on July 8, 1957. The Students consisted of Emerson "Rocky" Brown, Colly Williams, Janice Brown, Jim Dickerson and Clarence Smith. Four Songs were recorded that afternoon -"Bye Bye Truly ", "Mary", "My Heart Is An Open Door" and "Mommy And Daddy", the latter making up Red Top's first single with sold about 25,000 in Philadelphia alone (It was not released in any other area). The group performs locally before splitting up. Colly Williams will return a few years later with two singles on Ry An and Poplar.
Songs :
The Students (1)
Mommy And Daddy My Heart Is An Open Door
Bye Bye Truly Mary
Colly Williams
You Know I'll Love You Tomorrow We'll Make It Sommeday
1958 - Jungle Love / Please Ring My Phone (Checker 895)
Biography :
In 1958, The Starlettes signing a contract with Checker, a record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary to Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The Starlettes were a backing vocal group who made one record of their own. The Starlettes cut one single "Jungle Love"/"Please Ring My Phone" for Checker but they also did a lot of background work for other artist. They were Gloria J. Mandly, Edythe Jones, Catherine Cooper, Audrey Maben and Audrey Sparrow.
The Antwinetts for Baltimore is made up of Patricia Diggs, Connie Green, Stella Mae Logan and Vicky Logan. The group were recorded and promoted by Howfum Records, a very small music publishing company, which was based in Baltimore, Maryland. The actual pressing of the records was done on a contract basis with RCA, and - apparently due to some sort of confusion - many, if not most (possibly all) copies of the record ended up mistakenly printed with an RCA label. In 2003, Carroll Williams, who was one of the main figures in Howfum Records, gave an interview of his reminiscences of Howfum in the 1950s, which were published in a book, "Group Harmony", by Stuart L. Goosman (published in 2005). According to Carroll Williams, "The Antwinetts was the very first group we recorded. Young girls, twelve, thirteen, fourteen years old". He added that The Antwinetts "was our star group", and that they sold "thousands" of their records. Unfortunately, in the 1950s, the songs of The Antwinetts seem to have only been heard on the radio in Baltimore and the other major cities of Maryland, with some random airplay on various New York City stations. Howfum did not really have the money or connections to truly promote the group, and so, they faded into obscurity.
The Truetones (Washinton,D.C. / Baltimore) aka The Capitols (2)
Personnel :
Ronald Henderson (Lead)
James Green (First Tenor)
Marshall Hawkins (Second Tenor)
Earl Briscoe (Baritone)
Leonard Campbell (Bass) )
Discography :
The Truetones 1958 - Honey, Honey / Whirlwind (Monument 4501) 1961 - Blushing Bride / Singing Waters (Felsted 8625) 1966 - He's Got The Nerve / That's Love (Josie 950/1103) 1966 – Girls Are Sentimental / One More Time (LSP 0001/0002)
The Capitols (2) 1973 - Honey, Honey / Alone In The Night (The Jones Boys) (Baron 103)
Biography :
This group started as the Capitols, and changed their name to the Truetones when they signed to Monument records. The Truetones were one of those groups whose personnel changed almost continuously. The only constant member was the group's organizer/Manager/writer and lead singer Ronald Henderson.
Top : Ronald Henderson, Gene Williams, Andrew Layer - Bottom : John Johnson, Kenny Willis
Their first records, "Honey, Honey" (not be confused with the Teenchords' song of the same name) is a great medium-tempo harmony group sound from the late 1950's. The group Other three records were spaced rather far apart : "Singing Waters"on Felsted was released in the early 60's and the two other were released on Josie & LSPin the Mid-60s. In 1973, Honey, Honey is released by Baron under their original name, The Capitols.
The Truetones (1966)
At personal appearances, the Truetones would perform as a "double group" that is, they would open the show with their own songs, and then return to sing back-up for another singer, usually, Pookie Hudson after he left the Spaniels. Thanks to Marv Goldberg
Discography : Single : 1956 - Nothing But Love / Until The Day I Die (Dig 112) Unreleased : 1956 - I Don't Wanta Cry (Dig)
Biography :
The Dig Record label was originally called Ultra Records and was formed in late 1955 by Frank Gallo, Eddie Mesner, Leo Mesner and Johnny Otis in Los Angeles California. in February 1956, the name of the label was changed to Dig Records, probably because of the existence of another California record company called Ultra. In 1957, Johnny Otis acquired sole ownership of the Dig Record Label. The Tears, a quartet of Torrance High School since 1954, consisted of blonde vocalist/composer, Teri Akers, Jill Moore, Dick Dawson and Sherwood Tiernan.
Johnny Otis
The Tears impressed johnny Otis at one of his Talent Shows. Their Dig sides, "Nothing But Love"/ "Until The Day I Die" did well in Los Angeles but despite their appearance on the J.O. TV show, it didn’t help record sales all that much. Otis did not follow it up with another record. Yet a second record was ready to be released with the title "I Don't Wanta Cry". Could this group have been the inspiration for "To Know Him Is To Love Him" by the Teddy Bears? Similar lineup with a girl singing lead and boys on harmony.
1964 - The Little White Cloud That Cried /I Believe In You (Port 70041)
Biography :
In 1964, The Harptones recorded "Sunset" released by On Warren Troob's KT Label. After "Sunset was released, Willie Winfield left the group to take a full time job. The Harptones tried it one more time. Hank Jernigan returned, and, along with Nicky Clark, Curtis Cherebin, William Dempsey, Freddy Taylor, and Raoul Cita, recorded "The Little White Cloud That Cried" (led by Nicky) and "I Believe In You" (led by Hank). Possibly feeling that without Willie there was no Harptones, the group called themselves the "Soothers." The disc was released, in July 1964, on the Port label (a subsidiary of Jubilee). Shortly after this, The Soothers disbanded and the members found day time jobs. Nicky Clark moved to Buffalo and died several years later while still in his 30's. http://www.uncamarvy.com/Harptones/harptones.html
Songs:
The Little White Cloud That Cried I Believe In You
All the photos of "The Genies featuring Roy C. Hammond" on the various albums published present a cut photo of the four guys. Marv Goldberg sent me the full picture, and it's titled "The Skylarks". After Five singles and one minor hit , the Genies had two interesting spin-offs. Roy Hammond embarked upon a solo career as Roy C and was rewarded with a hit in 1965 and Claude Johnson teamed with Roland Trone and they became Don (Roland) and Juan (Claude) and hit the # 7 spot on the Billboard charts in the early spring of 1962 with "What's Your Name".
A group of "Skylarks" emerged in 1961 after the separation of "The Genies". Their first record "Everytime It Rains" b/w "Is You Is" release by by Embassy , probably a New York label (though some locate it in Los Angeles). "Everytime It Rains" was written by Chet Barns and Roy Hammond, the two had already written "Mama Blow Your Top" for the Genies. Could it be a reformation of "The Genies" with the other three members and Chet Barnes?. A new single will be released the following year by Everlast Record from New York with "Everybody's Got Somebody" b/w "Jeannie" both written by Barnes....
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