1950s Music – Music AmneZia

1947: Percy Mayfield

Orb — Sun, 16 Feb 2014 21:03:15 +0000

Biography Percy Mayfield (August 12, 1920 – August 11, 1984) was an American songwriter famous for the songs “Hit the Road Jack” and “Please Send Me Someone to Love“, as well as a successful rhythm and blues artist known for his smooth vocal style. Mayfield was born in Minden, the seat of Webster Parish […]

The post 1947: Percy Mayfield appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1954: The Chambers Brothers

Orb — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 02:41:56 +0000

Biography Unlike some acts billing themselves as “brothers”, The Chambers Brothers really were brothers. Growing up in a sharecropping family in one of the most impoverished parts of Mississippi, the four siblings first started to sing at the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Lee County. After his discharge from the army in 1952, the […]

The post 1954: The Chambers Brothers appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1957: The Poni-Tails

Orb — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 23:00:12 +0000

Biography The Poni-Tails were an American girl group from Lyndhurst, Ohio. Formed in a suburb of Cleveland, the Poni-Tails – Toni Cistone, Karen Topinka and Patti McCabe – started singing at Brush High School, which they all attended. Tom Ilius, a music publisher, had them signed to local record label Point Records, who released […]

The post 1957: The Poni-Tails appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1950: The Paradons

Orb — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 22:23:23 +0000

Biography The Paradons are know best for the beautiful “Diamonds and Pearls,” which reached number 18 on the pop chart in 1960, nine rungs higher than it registered on the R&B chart. The quartet, comprised of friends William Powers and Bill Meyers plus Chuck Weldon and West Tyler, gigged at school dances and local […]

The post 1950: The Paradons appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1956: The Shells

Orb — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 22:05:27 +0000

Biography The Shells — led by Nate Bouknight (aka “Little Nat”) — scored with a Top 30 hit with “Baby Oh Baby,” charting for the tiny Johnson label in 1957. The group — Bouknight, Randy “Shade Alston (tenor), Bobby Nurse (tenor), Danny Small (bass), and Gus Geter(baritone) — continued to wax impressive 45s into the early […]

The post 1956: The Shells appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1950: Freddy Cannon

Orb — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 22:17:58 +0000

Biography In looking back over the history of rock & roll, the sad fact remains that very few of its original practitioners stayed true to its original big beat vision. Some made a handful of brilliant sides before broader horizons — television or the movies — beckoned. Others were rockers in name only, pop […]

The post 1950: Freddy Cannon appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1955: The De John Sisters

Orb — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 03:48:21 +0000

Biography The DeJohn Sisters were an American vocal duo, Julie and Dux DeJohn (born DiGiovanni). They were born in Chester, Pennsylvania, which had been the hometown of an earlier vocal group, The Four Aces. They were the daughters of a dry cleaner and worked in their parents’ store after school, but while working at the club […]

The post 1955: The De John Sisters appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1949: The Hollywood Flames

Orb — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 02:16:23 +0000

Biography The Hollywood Flames were an American R&B vocal group in the 1950s, best known for their hit, “Buzz Buzz Buzz“. They formed as The Flames in 1949, in Watts, Los Angeles, at a talent show where members of various high school groups got together. The original members were Bobby Byrd (lead), David Ford, […]

The post 1949: The Hollywood Flames appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1955: The Jacks / The Cadets

Orb — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 20:37:45 +0000

Biography The Cadets are an American doo wop group, formed in Los Angles in the late 40’s. The group began as a gospel group, the Santa Monica Soul Seekers, in the late 1940s. The members were Lloyd McCraw, Willie Davis, Austin “Ted” Taylor, Aaron Collins, Glendon Kingsby, and Will “Dub” Jones. In 1955, the group auditioned for Modern Records, and were accepted. The Cadets were among […]

The post 1955: The Jacks / The Cadets appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1955: The Teen Queens

Orb — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 19:52:18 +0000

Biography The Teen Queens were an American musical group from the 1950s, most remembered for their hit single “Eddie My Love“, which reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #3 on the R&B Best Sellers charts in March 1956. The group consisted of sisters Betty and Rosie Collins, at 16 and 14 respectively, sisters of Aaron Collins, a singer with the doo wop group The Cadets. It was Aaron who wrote their […]

The post 1955: The Teen Queens appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1955: The Bonnie Sisters

Orb — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 19:11:15 +0000

Biography The Bonnie Sisters were an American pop group from New York. The three members were all nurses at Bellevue Hospital. After hearing The DeJohn Sisters on the radio, they began singing together at work, calling themselves The Belle Aimes initially. After performing on Arthur Godfrey‘s television show, they were signed by Mickey Baker to Rainbow Records and changed their name to […]

The post 1955: The Bonnie Sisters appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1955: The Turbans

Orb — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 18:10:45 +0000

Biography The Turbans were an African American doo-wop group, who formed in Philadelphia in 1953. The original members were: Al Banks (lead tenor), Matthew Platt (second tenor), Charlie Williams (baritone), and Andrew “Chet” Jones (bass). They came from Downtown Philadelphia (around Bainbridge and South Street). Around Christmas of 1954, they won first prize in a talent contest singing their rendition of […]

The post 1955: The Turbans appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1954: The El Dorados

Orb — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 17:25:37 +0000

Biography The El Dorados were an American doo-wop group, who achieved their greatest success with the song “At My Front Door”, a no. 1 hit on the R&B chart in 1955. The group formed in Chicago in 1952, originally as “Pirkle Lee and the Five Stars”. It comprised Pirkle Lee Moses Jr. (lead vocals), Louis Bradley and Arthur Basset (tenors), […]

The post 1954: The El Dorados appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1953: The Penguins

Orb — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 16:37:46 +0000

Biography The Penguins were an American doo-wop group of the 1950s and early 1960s, best remembered for their only Top 40 hit, “Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)“, which was one of the first rhythm and blues hits to cross over to the pop charts. The song peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but […]

The post 1953: The Penguins appeared first on Music AmneZia.

1953: The Lancers

Orb — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 02:59:58 +0000

Biography The Lancers consisted of Jerry Meacham, Dick Burr, Bob Porter and Corky Lindgren. They were a popular singing group of the early to mid-fifties and hit the charts with “Sweet Mama Tree Top tall” in 1953. The Lancers version of Open Up Your Heart did manage to get some airplay. The Lancers with Teresa Brewer, “Let Me Go, Lover!” was […]

The post 1953: The Lancers appeared first on Music AmneZia.