The Big Five (Cleveland, Ohio)
aka The Fabulous Five Flames aka The Fabulous Five aka The Fabulous Flames (1)

Personnel :

Otis Carter

Harvey Hall

David McPhatter

Richard Fisher

Ernest Smith

Discography:

The Big Five
1958 - Wob-Ding-A-Ling / Baby, I Need You So (Junior 5000)
1960 - Blue Eyes / Stardust In Her Eyes (Shad 5019)

The Fabulous Flames  (1)
1958 - Josephine / My Joan (Rex 3000)

The Fabulous Five
1960 - Janie Made A Monster / Gettin' Old (King 45-5220)

The Fabulous Five Flames
1960 - Lonely Lover / No More Tears (Time 1023)

Biography :

This Vocal group from Cleveland was known locally as The Fabulous Flames. The group included  J. C. Tatum, Otis Carter, David McFadden, Ernest Smith, and Harvey Hall. The group started while some of the members were students at East Technical High School. The group performed at local clubs, and in Detroit. Their first single "Wop Ding A Ling" (also Known as "Wab Ding A Ling") plus the flip "Baby, I Need You So" was issued on the Shad predecessor Junior label (Junior 5000) on 29 October 1958. Bobby Shad renamed The Fabulous Flames by The Big Five. Their second single "Josephine" b/w "My Joan " released as their original name (The Fabulous Flames) was a local production, done for the short lived Rex label. Bill Jacocks, a local entrepreneur, wrote the songs and helped get the record released. Jacocks later became known as Cleveland's first African-American TV news anchor, along with producting some records in the mid 1970s.

  
Bobby Shad                                                                                                                        

The group was known as the Fabulous Flames, but changed for The Fabulous Five for their third record for the King label to prevent confusion with other groups with that name. The song "Janie Made A Monster" is a classic R&B Halloween record. Richard Fisher replaced J. C. Tatum. Four sides were recorded at Capitol Studios in New York on 4 December 1959, "Lonely Lover", "No More Tears", "Blue Eyes" and "Stardust In Her Eyes". The first two will be released on the Time (/Shad) Label on April 1960 as The Fabulous Five Flames, and the next two were released on 10 June 1960 on Shad 5019 as The Big Five.  Richard Fisher was the brother of Jesse Fisher. He wasn't with the group for long as he left for New York where he ended up joining the Jive Five. Art Blakey replaced him, not long before the group disbanded. Harvey Hall - later known as Harvey Nickerson-Hall - went on to lead Harvey and the Phenomenals. https://www.buckeyebeat.com/

Songs :

The Big Five

  
Wob-Ding-A-Ling                               Baby, I Need You So

  
      Blue Eyes                                     Stardust In Her Eyes

The Fabulous Flames  (1)

  
Josephine                                             My Joan

The Fabulous Five

  
Janie Made A Monster                            Gettin' Old       

The Fabulous Five Flames

  
Lonely Lover                                    No More Tears

...

(L to R) Eddie Miller, Tom Fagan and ed Burkhalter

The Chancers (Auburn, Alabama)

Personnel :

Eddie Miller (Lead)

Tommy Fagan (Tenor)

Fred Burkhalter (Bass/ Baritone)

Discography :

1958 - Shirley Ann / My One (Dot 15870)

Biography :

Vocal & Instrumental Trio, the Chancers formed in the late 1950s at A.P.I. (Alabama Polytechnic Institute), which in 1960 became Auburn University.  Better known as the KA Trio. Tommy Fagan (from Fort Valley), a member of this group, has gained added fame for himself and the trio by writing a ballad entitled "Remember The Night," which was previewed in february 1958 over a national TV hookup by singer Autry Inman. RCA has released the record­ing.

Chancers'Friend Dorothy Gideon spins their disc. Fred Burkhalter, Tommy Fagan & Eddie Miller

The Chancers began singing as a group about 1956 when they met as KA fraternity brothers. Tommy Fagan and Eddie Miller (from Anniston)  were roommates at the time, be­gan experimenting and came up with some very fine arrange­ments, with Fagan on the tub bass, a wash tub arrangement, and Miller on the guitar.  Fred Burkhalter (from Rome, Ga.) soon joined the group ad­ding his bass and baritone voice to those of Fagan, tenor, and Mil­ler, lead. The Chancers got their start by entertaining at fraternity activi­ties. Sev­eral of their originals were played over WAUD, and the group per­formed on Fagan's hometown sta­tion, WEPM in Fort Valley, Ga.

   
           Fred Burkhalter, Eddie Miller & Tommy Fagan                                      Autry Inman ("Remember The Night")               

The big break came when Jeff Whatley, Auburn's expert in high fidelity, sent tape record­ings of their work to Tru Pub­lishing Company. Tru sold Fa­gan's song, "Remember the Night" to RCA victor, who became very interested in both the group and the song. The group will record several songs, two of which, "My One" a song composed by the trio and "Shirley Ann" will be released by Dot records.

Songs :

The Chancers

  
My One                                          Shirley Ann

Autry Inman


Remember The Night

...

Top : W.Kimbrough - L.Alford       Middle : F.Abercrombie - W.Glenn    Bottom : G.Jones - M.Glenn   

The Vel-Tones (1) (Aliquippa, Pa.)

Personnel :

Willie Glenn (Lead)

Melvin Glenn (First Tenor)

Len Alford (Second Tenor)

Frank Abercrombie (Baritone)

William Kimbrough (Bass)

Discography :

1958 - Broken Heart / Please Say You'll Be True (Vel 9178/Fee Bee 9178)

Biography :

In 1954, Richie Blackson, Joe Freeman, Willie Glenn and Coyt Young formed a barbershop quartet from a Choir at Aliquippa High School in Aliquippa, Pa. In 1956, While in school Willie Glenn had been groomed to the more conservative musical stylings. Now, he and others would be crooners had become street corner vocalists. Not until early 1957 did a cohesive quintet, the Vel-Tones, surface with Willie Glenn, Melvin Glenn (Willie's brother), Len Alford, Frank Abercrombie and William Kimbrough. Initially, the only instrumental accompaniment was provided by Gorge Jones on piano and Organ. Although the Vel-Tones offerings lacked originally, their superb harmony impressed former original "Come Go With Me" Dell-Viking, Kripp Johnson. On account of contractual obligations, Johnson was still recording for Joe Averbach's Fee Bee Label with a new assemblage of Dell-Vikings, aka, the Versatiles.

  
Kripp Johnson                                                                    The Dell-Vikings - Willie Glenn in the Middle                                                      
Kripp johnson arranged an audition for the Vel-Tones at Averbach's home in Whitehall, Pa. The group brought along a new number called "Broken Heart" which had been written just for them In August, the group traveled to Cleveland, Ohio for a session at the Way Out Recording Studio. "Broken Heart" and "Please Say You'll Be True" were waxed. The Vel-Tones shared the stage with the Five Royales at the CIO Hall in Aliquippa. there were continuous engagements at a multitude of club in Pensylvania. In 1959, Kripp Johnson approached Willie Glenn about joining a new edition of the Del Vikings. Glenn agreed and With his departure the Vel-Tones finally Disbanded.

Songs :

 
Broken Heart / Please Say You'll Be True


...

Edward Harder, John Wray, Bob DelDin, Larry Chance & Larry Palombo.

The High Hatters (Bronx, New York)
aka The Earls (2)

Personnel :

Edward Harder (Lead)

Bob DelDin (First Tenor)

Larry Chance (Second Tenor)

John Wray (Baritone)

Larry Palombo (Bass/Baritone)

Discography :

Unreleased :
1959 - It's You (Rome)

Biography :

From the Bronx, The Earls began life as the High Hatters, cutting four demos in 1959 for Rome Records. They planned to buy themselves white tux & tails, spats, patent leather shoes, ruffled shirts, white gloves, white top hats and fancy white walking sticks. However, they had no money, so the name went out , along with the idea. At that time, the group consisted of Val Polillo (Lead), Bob Del Din, (First Tenor), Larry Palombo, (Bass/Baritone), John Wray,(Baritone), and Larry Chance, (Second Tenor). Val Polillo left and was replaced by Eddie Harder on lead.

        
Larry Palombo

Their First appearances as the High Hatters were at the Moose Lodge on 216th Street in the Bronx and at Teen Town in Mt. Vernon, NY. They sang all the standard street songs, "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom," "I'm So Happy," "Why Do Fools Fall In Love," "Thousand Miles Away," etc. Knowing they couldn't afford to buy the outfits they had wanted, they decided to change the name. However, they had five guys, all of whom thought that the name they wanted was best. Five members, five ideas. So, they decided that the only fair way to arrive at a new name would be to get a dictionary, open a page at random, place a finger on a word and call the group whatever came up. Finger landed on the word "EARL,... nobleman of high rank." That was it....they would be called "The EARLS!". Later, in 1959, the Earls lost their original member Larry Palombo in an army skydiving accident when his parachute failed to open during an exercise. In 1961, Rome released the Earls' first record "Life is But a Dream" (Rome 101 – 1961) b/w "Lost Love".

Songs :

...

1958 - (From Left) Dale Sherwood, Chuck Ciaschi, Gus Eframson, Fred Ciaschi, Bill lucas & Bobby Comstock

Bobby & The Counts (4) (Philadelphia)
(Early Years)

Personnel :

Bobby Comstock (Lead)

Fred Ciaschi (Lead vocals & Piano)

Gus Eframson (Rhythm Guitar)

Dale Sherwood (Drums)

Chuck Ciaschi (Bass)

Discography :

Bobby & The Counts (4)
1958 - Tra-La-la (Im So Happy) / Too Young (Marlee 104)
1958 - Three Signs Of Love / Cellar Stomp (Count 6985)

Bobby Comstock & The Counts (4)
1959 - Sweet Talk / Tennessee Waltz (Blaze 349)
1959 - Jealous Fool / Zig Zag (Triumph 602)
1960 - Let's Talk It Over / Jambalaya (Atlantic 2051)
1960 - Bony Maronie / Do That Little Thing (Jubilee 5392)
1960 - Everyday Blues / Wayward Wind (Mohawk 124)
1961 - The Garden Of Eden / Just A Piece Of Paper (Festival 25000)
1962 - I Want To Do It / Let's Stomp (Lawn 202)
1963 - Jezebel / Your Big Brown Eyes (Jubilee 5396)
1963 - Susie Baby / Take A Walk (Lawn 210)
1963 - Sunny / Chicken Back (Lawn 217)
1963 - This Little Love Of Mine / Your Boyfriend's Back (Lawn 219)
1963 - I Can't Help Myself / Run My Heart (Lawn 224)
1964 - Since You Been Gone / The Beatle Bounce (Lawn 229)
1964 - Ain't That Just Like Me / Can't It Be True (Lawn 232)

Freddy Davis & The Counts (4)
1958 - I Hope You're Happy / Faith CAn Move Mountains (Count 405)

Biography :

Comstock was born in Ithaca, New York, and began singing and playing mandolin as a child. At the age of seven, he started appearing regularly with his brother on a local radio station, and then on country music radio in Sayre, Pennsylvania. In 1958, after hearing rock and roll broadcasts from Nashville, he formed his own band, Bobby and the Counts. As well as Comstock on guitar and vocals, other band members were Fred Ciaschi (lead vocals & piano), Gus Eframson (rhythm guitar), Dale Sherwood (drums), Chuck Ciaschi (bass) and (initially) Bill Lucas (bongos & vocals). 

The group recorded their first single, "Too Young"/"Tra-La-La", for Marlee Records in Trumansburg, New York, and in 1959 were signed to a national deal by Triumph Records, established by Herb Abramson after he left Atlantic. The group's moderately rocked-up version of the Patti Page hit "Tennessee Waltz" was released on the subsidiary Blaze label in late 1959 - with the group now being billed as Bobby Comstock & The Counts - and rose to no.52 on the Billboard pop chart.


(From Left) Chuck Ciaschi, Fred Ciaschi, Bobby Comstock, Gus Eframson  & Dale Sherwood.

As a result of its success, the group appeared on several package shows promoted by Alan Freed, toured nationally with artists such as Bobby Vinton and Freddie Cannon, and appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Their follow-up record, a version of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya", released on the Atlantic label, also made the national pop chart, reaching no.90.

The group, with various changes of personnel over the years, continued to release singles on Abramson's labels until 1962, with diminishing success, before signing to the Lawn label. Their first record for the label, "Let's Stomp", released as a Comstock solo single, reached no.57 on the US pop chart in early 1963.

The song was written by Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer, who later recorded as The Strangeloves.  It was reputedly performed by the Beatles in Hamburg, and was certainly performed by the Searchers and recorded by Lee Curtis and the All-Stars, a beat group featuring ex-Beatle Pete Best. Follow-ups were less successful, although the group broke into the US charts for a final time in 1963 with "Your Boyfriend's Back", an answer record to "My Boyfriend's Back" by the Angels, a female group recording on the same label.

Songs :

     
Too Young  / Tra-La-la (Im So Happy)       Three Signs Of Love             Cellar Stomp               

     
Sweet Talk                      Tennessee Waltz                           Jealous Fool

     
Zig Zag                        Let's Talk It Over                    Jambalaya  

     
Bony Maronie                       Do That Little Thing                   Everyday Blues

     
Wayward Wind                  The Garden Of Eden            Just A Piece Of Paper

     
I Want To Do It                     Let's Stomp                                Jezebel

     
Your Big Brown Eyes                     Susie Baby                         Take A Walk         

     
             Sunny                              Chicken Back                     This Little Love Of Mine

     
Your Boyfriend's Back              I Can't Help Myself                   You Been Gone      

     
The Beatle Bounce                   Ain't That Just Like Me                Can't It Be True      


...