doo-wop

The Marcels (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)



Personnel :

Cornelius "Nini" Harp (Lead and Guitar)

Ronald "Bingo" Mundy (First Tenor)

Gene Bricker (Second Tenor) & after Walt Maddox (Second Tenor)

Richard Knauss (Baritone) & after  Allen Johnson (Baritone)

Fred Johnson (Bass)



Discography :

The Marcels
1961 - Blue Moon / Goodbye To Love (Colpix 186)
1961 - Summertime / Teeter Totter Love (Colpix 196)
1961 - Blue Moon (LP CP-416)
1961 - Goodbye To Love (LP CP-416)
1961 - Sweet Was The Wine (LP CP-416)
1961 - Peace Of Mind (LP CP-416)
1961 - A Fallen Tear (LP CP-416)
1961 - Over The Rainbow (LP CP-416)
1961 - I'll Be Forever Loving You (LP CP-416)
1961 - Two People In The World (LP CP-416)
1961 - Most Of All (LP CP-416)
1961 - Teeter Totter Love (LP CP-416)
1961 - Sunday Kind Of Love (LP CP-416)
1961 - Crazy Bells (LP CP-416)
1961 - You Are My Sunshine / Find Another Fool (Colpix 606)
1961 - Heartaches / My Love For You (Colpix 606612)
1961 - Don't Cry For Me This Christmas / Merry Twist-mas (Colpix 606617)
1961 - My Melanchy Baby / Really Need Your Love (Colpix 606624)
1962 - Footprints In The Sand / Twistin' Fever (Colpix 606629)
1962 - Flowerpot / Hold Up (Colpix 606640)
1962 - Loved Her The Whole Week Through / Friendly Loans (Colpix 606651)
1962 - All Right, Okay, You Win / Lollipop Baby (Colpix 606665)
1963 - That Old Black Magic / Don't Turn Your Back On Me (Colpix 606683)
1963 - Give Me Back Your Love / I Wanna Be The Leader (Colpix 606687)
1963 - One Last Kiss / Teeter Totter Love (Colpix 606694)
1964 - How Deep Is The Ocean / Lonely Boy (888/101)
1967 - Letter Full Of Tears / Tell Me (Chartbound 009)
1973 - In The Still Of The Night / High On A Hill (Queen Bee 4)
1975 - That Lucky Old Sun / Peace Of Mind (St Clair 1371)
1978 - Blue Moon / Clap Your Hands (When I Clap My Hands) (All Ears 810085)
1986 - Blue Heartaches (Murray Hill 000229))
1986 - Loved Her The Whole Week Through (Murray Hill 000229)
1986 - Friendly Loans (Murray Hill 000229)

Walt Maddox & The Marcels
1982 - A Letter Full Of Tears /How Do You Speak To An Angel (Super 232)
1983 - Blue Moon / Send In The Clowns (Walt Maddox) (Super M 30427)

Biography :

The Marcels were a successful racially integrated doo-wop group known for turning beloved American classical pop songs into rock and roll. The group formed in 1959 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with lead Cornelius Harp, bass Fred Johnson, Gene Bricker, Ron Mundy, and Richard Knauss.

The group was named by Fred Johnson's younger sister Priscilla, after a popular hair style of the day (the Marcell wave). In 1961 many were shocked to hear a new version of the ballad, "Blue Moon" that began with the bass singer saying, "bomp-baba-bomp" and "dip-da-dip." Still, the record sold a million copies and is featured in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

   
The disc climbed all the way to number one in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart. In their U.S. homeland, additional revivals in the same vein as "Blue Moon" - "Heartaches" and "Melancholy Baby" - were less successful, although the former peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually sold over one million copies worldwide. The group had two other singles that hit No. 78 and No. 58 on the same chart.

In August 1961, due to problems encountered in the Deep South while touring because of the group being bi-racial, the white members, Knauss and Bricker left and were replaced by Allen Johnson (brother of Fred) and Walt Maddox. Mundy left soon after, leaving the group a quartet.

   
In 1962, Harp and Allen Johnson left, and were replaced by Richard Harris and William Herndon. There was a brief reunion of the original members in 1973. The group made several recordings in 1975 with Harp back on lead.

   
Original member Gene Bricker died in 1983. Allen Johnson died in 1995.
By the early 1990s the group included Johnson, Maddox, Harris, Jules Hopson, and Richard Merritt.

The group split around 1995. Fred Johnson formed his own group with new members, while the other four members recruited new bass Ted Smith. Maddox won a lawsuit against Sunny James Svetnic, the manager of Johnson's group, for trademark infringement in 1996. Svetnic died in 2002.
Johnson reunited with Harp, Mundy, and Knauss in 1999 for the PBS special Doo Wop 50 with a fifth member.

http://home.att.net/~freebizak/Marcels/marcels.html
http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ev1tiger/marcels.html

Videos :

 
Merry Twist-mas

Songs:

    
Really Need Your Love           My Love For You




CD :




MP3 :

The Spinners (1) (Pittsburgh, CA)



Personnel :

Lawrence Brice (Lead)

Robert Thomas

Gilbert Joseph

Maurke Allen



Discography :

1958 - My love and your love / Marvella (Rhythm 125)

Biography :

These Spinners were not the famous detroit Spinners, but rather the west coast Pittsburg, CA (SF/Oakland) group, as played on KDIA.

Don Barksdale

It was Rhythm Records "The Boss in the Bay" #125, it was an Oakland label owned by college basketball hall of famer and legendary KDIA-AM (the "choice voice of the Bay")(Lucky 13....1310 on the dial) Don Barksdale.

Members included Lawrence Brice, Gilbert Joseph (baritone), Robert Thomas, and Maurice Allen. Co-writers were Brice and Joseph.
They became onehit wonders with the Doo Wop song 'My love and your
love'.



Their Songs :

   
My love and your love                   Marvella

The Clientelles (Upper Darby, Pennsylvania)
Pictures update from http://whitedoowopcollector.blogspot.com

Personnel :

Jimmy Dilks (Lead)

Tommy Payne (First & Second Tenor)

Chuck Frederico (Second Tenor & Baritone)

Jack Shingle (Second Lead)

Mike Orlando (Bass)

Discography :

1961 - Church Bells May Ring / My love (M.B.S.7)



Biography :

The Clientelles formed in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, in 1960. Group Members changed frequently. Once they were in place, the members shown above became dedicated and practiced religiously for three years at the home of their manager, who eventually took them to a club in North Philadelphia where they were quite sucessful. the Club, however had different intentions.

Without their manager present, group members and their parents met with one of the owners of this club who asked that each member contribute 100$ to help launch their musical career. The group's manager was never aware of this and soon brought them to a studio to cut some demos. He paids $500 for their time and an additional $500 to a record pressing plant for the discs.

The Only thing he receveid was some 500 to 1,000 records pressed on the mysterious M.B.S records label. Although several other records are know to exist on the M.B.S. label, the situation with the Clientelles remains cloudy.

The Clientelles did many local shows to support their disc, but nothing positive was ever realized; there was no promotion, support, or airplay. By 1962, the Clientelles' entertainment career was finished.



Their songs :

    
Church Bells May Ring                     My love

The Four After Fives aka The Rivingtons (Los Angeles)

Personnel :

Carl White (Lead)

Al Frazier (Tenor)

Sonny Harris (Lead)

Turner "Rocky" Wilson Jr (Bass)

Discography :

1961 - Hello Schoolteacher! / I Gotta have somebody (Lonely boy) (All Time 9076)

Their Songs :

   
Hello Schoolteacher!              I Gotta have somebody

The Admirations (1) (Brooklyn, New York)
Pictures  update from http://whitedoowopcollector.blogspot.com

Personnel :

Joe (Cookie) Lorello

Fred Mastanduno (First Tenor)

John Mahlan (Second Tenor)

Ralph Minichino (Baritone)

Lou Moshella (Bass)



Discography :

1959 - The Bells of Rosa Rita / Little Bo-Beep (Mercury 71521)
1961 - To the Aisle / Hey senorita (Mercury 71833)
1961 - Remember the day (Mercury) (Unreleased)
1961 - It all Happened so fast (Mercury) (Unreleased)
1974 - Over the rainbow / In my younger days (Kelway 108)



Biography :

If the quality of a vocal group was judged by the number of records released, then the Admirations would have been judged unfairly.
One of the best late-'50s white doo wop groups, the Admirations were also one of the few such acts with only two records on a major label.
The quintet would have been better off with one of New York's rock and roll independents,who were used to breaking records like theirs, but in 1958, 15-year-old high school students couldn't possibly forsee such things.
The group members were all friends from the same neighborhood in brooklyn, growing up around Elderts Lane  and Liberty Avenue.
They consisted of lead Joe (Cookie) Lorello, Fred Mastanduno (First Tenor), John Mahlan (Second Tenor), Ralph Minichino (Baritone), and Lou Moshella (Bass).

They practiced in hallways, on street corners, and at the neighborhood candy store and locked their eyes on a large advertisement for admiration cigar.
At that moment the Admirations were born. They began doing dances and record hops. performing songs by their favorite groups like The Flamingos and Belmonts.
In the fall of 1958, an A&R assistant to Mercury's Clyde Otis named Jerry
Maggat saw the group perform and brought them to Otis, who signed them up.
Although their first recording was done in February 1959, for some inexplicable reason "Bells of Rosa Rita" was not released by Mercury until November of that year.

It became one of those classic East-Coast doo wop records that seemed more popular as an "oldie" than it was at the time of its ill-fated initial release.
With Mercury's interest on the wane after just one record,  the group decided to disband, but in 1960 they reformed with Joe Mertens and Diane Salemme (Joe's wife) replacing John Mahlam (In the Army) and Ralph Minichino.

By the summer of 1960, the group got an opportunity and cut four more sides for Mercury, two of which were never released and two ("To the Aisle" and "Hey Senorita") that weren't issued until 1961.

Though their record releases were few, the Admirations' powerful five-part chime harmony on "Bells of Rosa Rita" have endeared them to vocal group enthusiasts for almost 30 years. Disappointed with Mercury's disinterest, the group disbanded for a second time  later thant year as John became a police officer, Joe and Fred joined the sanitation department, and lou joined a construction company.  In 1974, the group was resurrected for a third time doing various revival appearances in the New York city Aera.
The lack of exposure for Admirations records is evident in the rarity of those recordings on the collector's market.

Members of the group have acknowledged at one time or another that even they don 't have a copy of "To the Aisle".
Jay Warner (American singing groups: a history from 1940s to today)

Songs :

   
To the Aisle                         It all Happened so fast


   
The Bells of Rosa Rita           Little Bo-Beep

• The Marcels (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) | 08-11-2009
• The Spinners (1) | 07-11-2009
• The Clientelles | 06-11-2009
• The Four After Fives aka The Rivingtons | 05-11-2009
• The Admirations (1) | 03-11-2009
• Lee Andrews & The Hearts (3) | 30-10-2009
• The Donnybrooks | 30-10-2009
• The Rockin' Kids | 29-10-2009
• The Darts (2) | 27-10-2009
• The Four Haven Knights aka The Haven Knights | 25-10-2009
• The Hi-Fives (1) | 23-10-2009
• Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans | 21-10-2009
• The Capitals | 20-10-2009
• The Vonnair Sisters | 20-10-2009
• The Accents (1) | 18-10-2009