doo-wop

 
The Volumes (3) (Detroit, Michigan)

Personnel :

Eddie Union (Lead)

Elijah "Teenie" Davies (First Tenor)

Larry Wright (Second Tenor)

Joe Travillion (Baritone)

Ernest Newson (Bass)

Discography :

The Valumes
1962 - I Love You / Dreams (Chex 1002)

The Volumes
1962 - I Love You / Dreams (Chex 1002)
1962 - Come Back Into My Heart / The Bell (Chex 1005)

1962 - Angel (acapella) (Chex unreleased, Collectables LP 5032)
1962 - You Put A Spell On Me (acapella) (Chex unreleased, Collectables LP 5032)
1963 - Sandra / Teenage Paradise (Jubilee 5446)

1963 - Our Song / Oh My Mother In Law (Jubilee 5454)
1964 - Gotta Give Her Love / I Can't Live Without You (American Arts 6)
1965 - I Just Can't Help Myself / One Way Lover (American Arts 18)

1965 - Gotta Give Her Love / I Can't Live Without You (Astra 1020) 

1966 - I Got Love / Maintain Your Cool (Twirl 2016) 

1966 - The Trouble I've Seen / That Same Old Feeling (Impact 1017) 

1967 - You Got It Baby / A Way To Love You (Inferno 2001)

1967 - My Kind Of Girl / My Road Is The Right Road (Inferno 2004)

1968 - Ain't That Loving You / I Love You Baby (Inferno 5001)
1970 - Ain't Gonna Give You Up / Am I Losing You (Karen 1551)

Biography :

The term ‘one hit wonder’ is usually considered a put down and therefore isn’t a description that a group welcomes. Although it’s a term that has been assigned to the Volumes, it is far from appropriate. Ask a Northern Soul fan to name the track that was the group’s most popular cut and you will get any of four answers but none of them will be the group’s only US national hit. Their big hit was actually “I Love You” and it shot up the charts way back in 1962, making them just about the top R&B group in Detroit back then. Commercially, they never equaled those dizzy chart heights again, but they had a long recording career and enjoyed many more top releases that have become anthems with soul fans around the world.

   
 
Formed In Detroit back in the days of doo wop (1960), members had gotten together on street corners after school (Central High, Chadsey, etc.) to practice their harmony singing. The group consisted of Eddie Union (lead), Elijah Davis (first tenor), Larry Wright (second tenor), Joe Travillion (baritone), and Ernest Newsom (bass). Willie Ewing became their manager in 1961 and he set up Chex Records. The group hit the floor running, as their first 45 release, "I Love You", quickly entered local charts.

It soon broke out of Detroit and rose to reach the R&B Top 10 and Pop Top 30 in 1962. The group’s expert harmony work on the cut hide the make shift nature of the instrumental backing (Detroit legend Popcorn" Wylie beating out the rhythm on a suitcase). Chex issued a second 45, “Come Back Into My Heart”, but this failed to repeat the huge success of their first outing (though Lamont Dozier played on this). Chex was only a tiny label with few resources and no means of effectively distributing their releases. When “I Love You” had exploded onto the charts, a deal was done with Jubilee Records for national distribution.

Unable to cope with the workload their success brought, Chex handed over the reins to Jubilee almost entirely for the group’s next two releases (in 1963).
The group had teamed up with Harry Balk and Duke Browner to work on these sides issued on Jubilee. Recording in New York the songs they cut were written by Maron McKenzie (Harry’s staff writer) and produced by Duke Browner.

Further label changes were experienced after Balk and Jubilee had a falling out. So the group’s next outing was released on New York based Old Town Records (1964), with a second 45 escaping that same year on the American Arts label. These changes weren’t instigated by the group themselves and certainly didn’t indicate that they were difficult to work with. The production team behind all of these recordings being Harry Balk and Duke Browner (however they worked almost exclusively with Browner).

American Arts was owned by Lou Guarino, a friend of Harry's based in Pittsburg. In fact, Balk was reorganising his Detroit area business set-up and so he placed a number of his artists (Bobbie Smith, etc) with American Arts during that period. The Volumes had made a seamless transition to cutting soul tracks as Eddie Union adapted his lead vocal style perfectly to suit the new sound.  Their opening release on American Arts, “Gotta Give Her Love” was a superlative example of this and the 45 returned them to local radio station charts.

The follow up “I Just Can't Help Myself” escaped in 1965 but that same year, Eddie Union left the group to ensure his family was provided with a more steady income.

http://home.comcast.net/~twirlrecords/volumes.html

Songs :

   
I love you                             Our Song


   
Oh My Mother In Law              The Bells

   
Come Back Into My Heart     Teenage Paradise

   
Gotta Give Her Love                The La La Song




MP3 :

The Murmaids (Los Angeles, CA)
(By Hans-Joachim)


Members :

Carol Fischer

Terry Fischer

Sally Gordon



Discography :


The Murmaids

Singles
1963 - Popsicles And Icicles / Blue Dress (Chattahoochee 628)
1963 - Popsicles And Icicles / [Bunny Stomp (instrumental)] (Chattahoochee 628)
1963 - Popsicles And Icicles / Comedy And Tragedy (Chattahoochee 628)
1963 - Popsicles And Icicles / [Huntington Flats (instrumental)] (Chattahoochee 628)
1964 - Heartbreak Ahead / He's Good To Me (Chattahoochee 636)
1964 - Wild And Wonderful / Bull Talk (Chattahoochee 641)
1964 - Bull Talk / Wild And Wonderful (Chattahoochee 650)
1965 - Stuffed Animals / Little White Lies (Chattahoochee 668)
1966 - Little Boys / Go Away (Chattahoochee 711)
1968 - Paper Sun / Song Through Perception (Liberty 56078)

Album
1980 - Popsicles & Icicles,You Cheated (prev. unrel.*), Mr.Sandman (prev. unrel.*), Blue Dress, Playmates (prev. unrel.*), Wild And Wonderful, Alone (prev. unrel.*), Heartbreak Ahead, So Young (prev. unrel.*), Bull Talk, Don't Forget (prev. unrel.*), Three Little Words (prev. unrel.*) (Chattahoochee LP 628)
*Recorded around 1963

The Lady-Bugs (Jackie DeShannon + The Mermaids)
1964 - How Do You Do It / Liverpool (Chattahoochee 637)



Biography :

The Murmaids can safely be classed as one-hit wonders - but that one hit, "Popsicles and Icicles," not only characterizes an entire innocent era of pop music and the early phase of '60s girl-group music, but was a key early career jump for several of the participants. The Murmaids were Carol Fischer, Terry Fischer, and Sally Gordon of Los Angeles.

They'd grown up together and had begun singing, and when the singing began to show promise in their middle/late-teens, the Fischer sisters' mother brought them into Chattahoochee Records, a tiny Los Angeles-based label, for an audition.

The label's recording manager was Kim Fowley, who provided them with a song called "Popsicles and Icicles," composed by David Gates, an Oklahoman with musical aspirations who'd been knocking around Los Angeles for the last few years, writing songs and playing the odd session. The mix of dreamy melody and ethereal girl-trio voices was a quick chart success, "Popsicles and Icicles" scaling into the Top Ten in late 1963.

It was, alas, to be the first and last time that the Murmaids were to occupy the attention of chart compilers. And, ironically, by the time the song was a hit, Carol and Terry Fischer had started college, and this was of much greater concern to them --

the trio did cut a few more songs in an effort to follow up on "Popsicles and Icicles'" success, but only "Heartbreak Ahead" in early 1964 managed to get any airplay.

Without a full-time professional commitment to touring or personal appearance, the Murmaids proved a one-off success, "Popsicles and Icicles" disappearing, but not without leaving a lot of fond memories for radio listeners. Fowley kept working to get another chart hit, without success, and later Murmaids singles were very likely the work of other singers.

Jacki deShannon & The Murmaids under the name The Lady Bugs

The last Murmaids single appeared in 1968, by which time Fowley had begun working with the Clinger Sisters, a girl group (and former regulars on television variety shows, including Danny Kaye's program) who had turned toward a more rocking sound on Columbia Records. David Gates, whose song had given the Murmaids their one claim to fame, was taking his big steps to stardom around that time, forming the group Bread in 1969, which would bring him massive success both as a songwriter ("Make It With You," etc.)

and as a pop-rock star during the early '70s. The Murmaids themselves remain a fixture of early/mid-'60s girl group collections. Their records - and they left behind the equivalent of about an album of surprisingly good material - recall the Paris Sisters, the Fleetwoods, the Teddy Bears and the rest of the innocent side of girl-group music.
Bruce Eder, All Music Guide


http://www.themurmaids.com
http://www.classicbands.com/MurmaidsInterview.html
http://www.history-of-rock.com/murmaids.htm



Songs :

    
Popsicles And Icicles              Blue Dress

   
Comedy And Tragedy             Heartbreak Ahead





CD :






MP3 :

The Enchanters (2) (Detroit)



Personnel:

Alton Hollowell（Lead）

Tommy Wade（Tenor）

Gerald Hollowell（Tenor）

Jack Thomas（Bass）



Discography :

1956 - True love gone / Wait a minutes baby（Coral 61756）
1957 - There goes / Fan me, baby（Coral 61832）
1957 - Mambo santa mambo / Bottle up and go（Coral 61916）
1963 - True love gone / The day（Coral 62373）
1963 - True love gone / There goes a pretty girl（Coral 65610）
N/A - One Hand, One Heart (Coral) (Unreleased)



Biography :

The Enchanters who perform "True Love Gone" on Coral records were another of the 1950's gospel groups that made the shift to R&B. As gospel singers they were known as the Hollowell Brothers
While on tour in 1956 , Duke Ellington discovered the Enchanters in Detroit , Michigan. 

Duke was so impressed with them  that he pressed a few of their tunes (True Love Gone bw There Goes) on the Mercer label and distributed to local DJs. The name of that label was Mercer ( his brother’s name).

A Great R&B  group which included the Hollowell brothers and Tommy Wade, their recordings were never given much air time outside Detroit .


Songs :

   
Mambo santa mambo             True love gone


    
Wait a minutes baby             There goes



Mp3 :

Billy & The Essentials (1) aka The Heatwaves
aka The Panics (2) aka The Styles (5) (Philadelphia)
(with Hans-Joachim)

Members:

Billy Carlucci (Lead)

Mike Lenihan (First Tenor)

Johnny caulfield (Second Tenor)

Pete Torres (Falsetto)

Phil D'Antonio (Baritone)




Discography:

Little Billy & the Essentials (1)
1962 - The Dance Is Over / Steady Girl (Landa 691/ Jaimie 1229)

Billy & the Essentials (1)
1962 - Over The Weekend / Maybe You'll Be There (Jaimie 1239)
1963 - Last Dance / Yes Sir, That's My Baby (Mercury 72210)
1963 - Young At Heart / Lonely Weekend (Mercury 72217)
1965 - The Actor / Remember Me, Baby (Cameo 344)
1966 - Babalu's Wedding Day / My Way Of Saying (Smash 2045)
1966 - Baby, Go Away / Don't Cry (Sing Along With The Music) (Smash 2071)
1967 - I Wrote A Song / Oh, What A Feeling (SSS International 706)
1981 - Resolutions / You're so fine (Crystal Ball 145)
N/A - Let's pretend (Unreleased)
N/A - Mr Lucky (Unreleased)
N/A - Our Rendez vous (Unreleased)
N/A - Let's go together (Unreleased)
N/A - Soul Stomp (Unreleased)
N/A - Born to be together (Unreleased)
N/A - Canadian Sunset (Unreleased)
N/A - Cinderella (Demo Unreleased with the Sherry's)


The Heatwaves
1965 - I'll Do My Crying Tomorrow / Nowhere To Go (Josie 941)

The Panics (2)
1966 - Beans / Show Her You Care (Swan 4247)

The Styles (5)
1966 - Hush, Little Girl / I Do Love You (Swan 4258)




Biography:

Lead singer Billy Carlucci began harmonizing at Bartrum High School in Philly , joining voices with , among others, Patti La Belle. As he was learning phrasing and timing from some of the older black singers of the school, he was lucky to run into Jamie staff producer John Madara who also wrote and produced Danny and the Juniors.
Billy would form a group in high school, the Crystals, and would achieve success as the Essentials, a name they picked from the dictionary..

The Crystals

Billy would record for several years under various names (The Heatwaves, The Styles, Marshmellow way).
Carluccci pulled together a group consisting of Pete Torres (falsetto), Phil D'Antonio (baritone) , Johnny caulfield (second tenor), and Mike Lenihan (first tenor) dubbing them Little Billy & the Essentials.

They cut some demos and traveled to New York City making the rounds of the record companies the same way hundreds of groups before them and after them would. Eventually, Landa records, a division of Jamie / Guyden ( although that was unknown to the group at the time)…said yes and signed the boys to a contract.

Carlucci picks up the story from there, "I picked :The Dance is Over" for our first tune. It was an obscure flip from a Shirelles record which I always enjoyed. We got re-aquainted Madara at the Gold record Shop over on 60th street near Market and since they were affiliated with Landa they drove us and Maureen Gray up to New York City to record". The session at Bell Sound failed to produce anything commercial and the group was put on the back burner.
   

Enter one Danny Driscoll. Formerly employed by RCA, he jumped over to Jamie/Guyden as national promotions director and contacted the group. The first day Billy recalls he comes to us and says, I've heard good things about you guys. So play me your record. We did and he flipped.

Two days later the record was seeing new life on Jerry Blaine's shows on WCAM with the big R&B station WIBG following suit soon after. "The Dance Is Over" actually hit the #10 spot locally and plans were being made by Driscoll to shop the group around to the major Mercury label. At this point Driscoll dies. Shot dead. No details known. The group offered up two more single releases, both mediocre and eventually wound up on Smash, a subsidiary of Mercury.

Their re-make of the Eternal's "Bbabalu's Wedding Day" effectively ended the career of Billy & the Essentials. Carlucci kept his hand in the business and to date has sung, written and produced over 500 songs under a gaggle of names.

http://www.thatphillysound.com/artists/billy_essentials.html



Songs:

    
Maybe You'll Be There            Let's Pretend


    
Cinderella                               Steady Girl



Nowhere To Go

MP3 :

Shep & The Limelites (Queens, New York)
(By Hans-Joachim)


Members :

James "Shep"  Sheppard (Lead)

Clarence Bassett (Tenor)

Charles Baskerville (Baritone)




Discography :

Shep & The Limelites

Singles
1959 - Freckle Face (Apt) (Unreleased)
1959 - Little Star (Apt) (Unreleased)
1960 - Too Young To Wed (Apt 25038)
1961 - Daddy's Home / This I Know (Hull 740)
1961 - Ready For Your Love / You'll Be Sorry (Hull 742)
1961 - Three Steps From The Altar / Oh What A Feeling (Hull 747)
1961 - Three Steps From The Altar / Ready For You (Roulette 102)
1962 - Our Aniversary / Who Told The Sandman (Hull 748)
1962 - What Did Daddy Do / Teach Me, Teach Me How To Twist (Hull 751)
1962 - Everything Is Going To Be Alright / Gee Baby What About You (Hull 753)
1963 - Remember Baby / The Monkey (Hull 756
1963 - Stick By Me (And I'll Stick By You) / It's All Over Now (Hull 757)
1963 - Steal Away (Whith Your Baby) / For You My Love (Hull 759)
1963 - Why, Why Won't You Believe Me / Easy To Remember (When You Want To Forget) (Hull 761)
1964 - Why Did You Fall For Me / I'm All Alone (Hull 767)
1964 - Party For Two / You Better Believe (Hull 770)
1965 - I'm A Hurtin' Inside / In Case I Forget (Hull 772)

Albums
1962 - Daddy's Home / This I Know / Ready For Your Love / You'll Be Sorry / What Did Daddy Do / Gee Baby What About You / Our Anniversary / Who Told The Sandman / Three Steps From The Altar / Oh' What A Feeling / Stick By Me (And I'll Stick By You) / I'm A Hurtin' Inside (Hull LP  1000)

1967 - Daddy's Home / This I Know / Ready For Your Love / You'll Be Sorry / What Did Daddy Do / Gee Baby What About You / Our Anniversary / Who Told The Sandman / Three Steps From The Altar / Oh' What A Feeling / Stick By Me (And I'll Stick By You) / I'm A Hurtin' Inside (Roulette LP 25350)

Shane Sheppard & The Limelites
1960 - I'm So Lonely (What Can I Do?) / One Week From Today (Apt 25046)




Biography :

Shep & the Limelites' name will forever be etched in rock & roll history for recording the endearing "Daddy's Home," a tender ballad about returning from war that soared to number two on the pop charts in May 1961. James Sheppard's career began with the Heartbeats, a band from Jamaica, Queens, NY.

The Heartbeats

(They were the Hearts until a female group from Harlem with the same name scored a minor hit called "Lonely Nights" in early 1955.) The Hearts would mimic songs by the Orioles, the Ravens, Five Keys, the Moonglows, the Larks, the Flamingos, and others. When not rehearsing, they competed with wannabes in parks and under street corner lamps. During one encounter they battled a group led by James Sheppard; impressed, the Hearts asked Sheppard to be their new lead.

   
The acquisition of Sheppard helped the Hearts twofold: not only could he blow, he also wrote gorgeous ballads. Shortly after he joined the Hearts, they became the Heartbeat Quintet and started playing clubs, weddings, graduations, ceremonies, and basement parties. Jazz saxophonist Illinois Jacquet befriended them and let them rehearse in his basement. Jacquet's brother arranged their first recording opportunity. "Tormented," a ballad written by Sheppard, was released on Network Records in Philadelphia, but lack of promotion killed any chance of success. After shortening their name to the Heartbeats, they came to the attention of William Miller, who worked for Hull Records. He introduced the quintet to owner Bea Caslin, who was impressed by their tight harmonies and Sheppard's songwriting skills; the group was soon signed to the label. Three initial releases sold well, particularly the magnificent "Your Way"; all were ballads written by Sheppard.

The minor successes of the recordings encouraged Hull Records to invest in professional choreography to tighten the band's stage presentation. Appearances at premier New York venues like the Brooklyn Fox and the Apollo had become common. To the surprise of Hull Records, fans called radio stations in record numbers demanding to hear the flip of "Baby Don't Go," the exquisite "A Thousand Miles Away." Sheppard's craving for an ex-girlfriend who moved to Texas had inspired "A Thousand.

Not only did the song do well locally and regionally, it started selling nationwide. Bookings poured in, providing appearances with luminaries like Ray Charles, B.B. King, and the Flamingos. Touring, however, didn't prove lucrative, as they experienced an inordinate share of misfortunes including vehicle breakdowns and promoters leaving with the proceeds. "Daddy's Home" would be the Heartbeats' final Hull Record release.

   
Bea Caslin then sold the Heartbeats' contract and the publishing rights to the Roulette Record conglomerate. "I Won't Be the Fool Anymore" came out on Rama Records in 1957; after another Rama release, Roulette switched them to Gee Records, and eventually to Roulette itself. "500 Miles to Go" and "After New Year's Eve" were the most successful commercially, while "Down on My Knees" was the most notable artistically.

Problems within the group began to show: the last straw came when Sheppard passed out at the microphone in Philadelphia, and bandmate Al Crump sang the lyrics until Sheppard was able to continue. The group wanted to breakup after this embarrassment but had commitments, so the group sang on gigs as a quartet doing standards, and Sheppard appeared afterward to sing the Heartbeat hits. They did their last gig in 1959 at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C., and Sheppard opened a restaurant in Jamaica, Queens, singing solo on the side.

   
Two years after the the Heartbeats' demise, Sheppard met some old friends - Clarence Bassett and Charles Baskerville of the Videos - and formed Shep & the Limelites. Bassett had also warbled with the Five Sharps. After two flops on Apt. Records, Shep returned to Hull Records and Caslin signed them on the spot. "Daddy's Home" was Shep & the Limelites' first Hull release and it nearly aced the pop chart, stopping at number two. (Ricky Nelson's "Travelin' Man" kept it from the top spot.) Hull released 12 Shep & the Limelites singles between 1961 and 1965.

"Our Anniversary" went to number seven R&B in 1962 and was their only other chart success. Personal differences caused the Limelites to disband by 1966. Baskervlle joined the Players, and Bassett sang with the Flamingos and later Creative Funk. Sheppard reunited with the Limelites in 1970 to perform on the oldie revival circuit, but this quickly ended when Sheppard was found on January 24, 1970, shot to death in his car on the Long Island expressway.

Andrew Hamilton, All Music Guide

http://home.earthlink.net/~v1tiger/JSheppard.html
http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/james_sheppard.htm




Songs :

   
Daddy's Home                      Easy to Remember


   
This I Know                          Stick By Me



CD :









MP3 :

• The Volumes (3) | 06-12-2009
• The Murmaids | 05-12-2009
• The Enchanters (2) | 03-12-2009
• Billy & The Essentials (1) aka The Heatwaves aka The Panics (2) aka The Styles (5) | 02-12-2009
• Shep & The Limelites | 01-12-2009
• The Philharmonics | 28-11-2009
• The Kool Toppers Ref The Corsairs (2) | 26-11-2009
• The Dedications (1) | 25-11-2009
• The Mystics (1) aka The Overons | 24-11-2009
• Tony & The Technics | 22-11-2009
• The Primes | 22-11-2009
• The Fidelitys | 19-11-2009
• The Thornton Sisters | 17-11-2009
• The Pennants aka The Laurels (7) | 17-11-2009
• Rochell & The Candles (1) | 16-11-2009