Val
Shively's R&B Records is a group harmony record collector's
institution and Val's new website is a must visit for anyone who seriously
collected! Check out the Photo Gallery and Val's look back on his life,
including numerous classic record collecting stories.
Todd
Baptista's website has a wealth of info and news for group harmony fans.
It contains Todd's articles, news of his concerts and other events and links
to purchase books he's authored. Click
www.toddbaptista.com
Matt
the Cat Back before XM Radio combined with Sirius we used to
love listening to Matt the Cat's satellite radio shows like "The Night Prowl
Show" and "Harlem". Though not on the radio now, Matt still has a great
and informative website. Let's hope Matt can return to radio real soon.
Beaudaddy's
Vocal Group Harmony Site. If you're looking for a great site
dedicated to acappella street corner harmony, this is it! Full of featured
articles, group photos and label scans. Check this one out.
NE Doo Wop Society
The New England Doo Wop Society does a great job keeping our music alive with
regular doo wop shows in the Springfield, MA area. Check out their website
for info on their next show. The also have a weekly email newsletter that
is free and informative. To get on their email list write to them at the
email below.
"Echoes of
the Past" magazine is dedicated to researching and preserving the history of
R&B and Doo Wop groups of the 1950's. We are regular contributors to
this magazine, along with several other excellent writers. For info or
to subscribe, contact Bob Belniak at
echoes.past@yahoo.com
New Jersey Doo Wop & Street
Corner Harmony Association holds monthly shows with acappella groups in northern
New Jersey, usually at the Paramus Elks Club on the last Saturday of each month.
For info see
http://www.njdoowop.com/ or see our Calendar Page.
Keep
Rockin', a new magazine dedicated to the life times and culture of
the 1950's and early 1960's. Contains interviews with artists like Jimmy
Beaumont of the Skyliners and Lou Christie. For info click
Keep Rockin'
to visit their website.
South
Philly String Band Club Monthly Doo Wop Acappella-Fests Every
second Wednesday evening, fans of doo wop acappella singing gather at the South
Philly String Band Club to enjoy great food and listen to one or more of their
favorite Philadelphia acappella groups. In between groups, dee jays like
King Arthur and Jimmy DePre spin great tunes for dancing. For details,
contact Eddie Natale at his new email
eddie7792@gmail.com. You can also view
photos and read our reviews of a couple typical get-togethers there by clicking
South Philly
String Band Club and
South Philly String Band Club Revisited.
It's About The Music!
Concert Calendar.
Our friend Andrea Siegel is editing a concert calendar that is the most comprehensive schedule of upcoming
events in the oldies and group harmony scene, countrywide. Fabulous
listings of events, venues, radio & Internet shows, producers, promoters,
artists and record stores and contacts for hundreds of active vocal groups.
Plus, Classic Urban Harmony's own Pamela Horner contributes occasional reviews of
recent concerts. Click on the link to visit their website for
subscription information.
White
Doo Wop Collector's Blogspot Juan Marce Frontera's put together
an outstanding site dedicated to some of the more obscure white doo wop groups.
A wealth of great info and photos.
Felix
Hernandez's Rhythm Review.
Great site from our longtime friend, Felix Hernandez of KISS-FM and WBGO-FM
(NY/NJ). From this site you can listen to Felix live, check out Felix’ Video
of the Week, Radio Survey Collection from soul stations around the country
(1962-1982) and find out about the next Rhythm Review Dance Party.
Doo
Wop Jukebox Forum. Register here to read and post comments on
doo wop music topics of the day. Fascinating discussions on all aspects
of doo wop music! Run by Mike Paladino, former member of the Bon-Aires
and now with the Moonlites. This non-commercial forum also has a DJ's
and Shows Forum where we post notices of our radio guest appearances.
Join this to stay informed about our music!
Unca Marvy's Site
Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebook contains a huge collection of detailed articles
about 1950's era R&B vocal groups, researched and written by Marv himself.
Vocal Group Harmony Site
Tony Fournier has assembled a wealth of information, especially on 1940's and
early 1950's vocal groups. Check out the "Record of the Week" section
and the archived group harmony radio shows. On December 6, the Record of
the Week was be
supplied by Classic Urban Harmony - the Four Deep Tones on Coral.
Clifton Music
The record and CD store, started by Ronnie I, that was the center of our lives
for so many years, continues under the supervision of Sandi I. Check
them out for your music CD and DVD needs.
Black Gospel Blogs
Bob Marovich’s (Gospel Memories) definitive blog for black Gospel, Jubilee and
Spiritual groups.
The
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
and Museum has a lot to offer group harmony enthusiasts. We anticipate
working with them in the near future to do much more to archive and preserve
the history of vocal groups.
A
Touch of Classic Soul Marc Taylor's great monthly 28-page
newspaper-style magazine features detailed biographies and discographies of
classic soul artists. Everyone from the Channels and Chantels to the
Manhattans and Blue Magic. Some single artists but plenty of vocal
groups. Highly recommended. Click this link to email Marc Taylor
for subscription details.
Lead
East. The world's largest 1950's weekend party, doo wop concert
festival and vintage car show returns to Parsippany, NJ, every Labor day weekend.
Check out the
Lead East Website.
GROUPS
& ARTISTS
Linda
Jansen - Original Lead Singer of the Angels The lead of one of
the best known vocal groups from New Jersey, Linda Jansen still has a powerful
voice and a big following. Check out her website by clicking the link
above. Linda is also on Facebook.
Cal
Raye With or without the Class-Airs, this guy's a great singer!
Remember "Lovely Lies" and "My Tears Start To Fall"? Cal Raye has a dj
service now in Rhode Island but still drops by the Star Diner in Rumford to
harmonize. Check out his site.
Ronnie
& the Satellites The group from Rhode Island that recorded
"Last Night I Dreamed" (Rose label, 1959) and "Blue Moon" (Dolly
label (1960) is back together again and sounding good. Check out their
website and also
"Papa Joe" Fiske's website about the group.
James
Power Singer and songwriter James Power gave us the song
tribute to Rev. Claude Jeter, "The Man In Room 1009," recorded as a duet with
former Persuasions lead, Jerry Lawson. Click on Jim's name to visit his
website. Also see our web tribute to Claude Jeter and the
Swan Silvertones
to see a video of "The Man In Room 1009."
Sheps
Talented acappella group from New Jersey with great harmony and a nice
repertoire of songs including some of their own original compositions. The
Sheps are the next group we've scheduled to do free concerts at the Franklin
Township Public Library in Somerset, NJ. Check out their website!
Escalades
Great new acappella group from Philadelphia and South Jersey.
Group contains good friends of ours including Bill Keith (formerly of the
Blendtones, Philadelphia Students, A Moment's Pleasure, Accords), Buddy Rhodes
(formerly of the Accords), Jerry Utter and Harry Filoon (both from the
Destinations) and Tony Russo (from the Destinations and formerly of the Duprees).
Check out their website!
Five
Boroughs Great vocal group comprised of group founder,
Frank Iovino, Jimmy DellaRosa (formerly of Street Corner Memories), Eddie
Pardochi and Paul Albino (both from the Five Discs) and Johnny Sorrentino.
Also check out the
Five Borroughs MySpace page.
Four
Pops Another nice vocal group featuring our friend Nelson "Tino"
Alvarez who's also sung with Dino & the Heartspinners, Norman Fox & the Rob
Roys, Brooklyn Connection and the Larkings. Check out their website.
Jimmy Merchant &
Teenagers An original member of Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers,
Jimmy Merchant is still singing and sounding great. Jimmy is also a
very talented artist. We ought to know. We purchased one of his
pr.ints for Classic Urban Harmony's archive wall. To check out Jimmy's
schedule or view his art, visit his site.
Quiet Storm This fine acappella group out of Philadelphia is
attracting a lot of attention with their tight harmonies. Check out their
website.
Tru
Great 60's and 70's-style soul group out of Camden, NJ, getting rave reviews in
south Jersey. Check out their website and their new CD.
Marquees
Reese Palmer and the group that gave a start to Marvin Gaye,
recorded "Hey Little School Girl" and "Wyatt Earp" for Okeh in the late 1950's.
They also became the second group of Moonglows. Still going strong, the
Marquees now have a website. It is not quite finished but it looks pretty
good so far. Check out
Marquees.
Elmer
Hopper, now with the Mills Brothers but formerly with Paul Robi's
Platters, has his own blog,
xplatter.com, "My Times with the Platters."
Very interesting site.
Choice
Visit the new website for "Jersey City's Bad Boys of Acappella."
If you enjoyed this group at the Franklin Township Public Library, check out the
group's upcoming schedule.
Four
Man Trio An extremely entertaining vocal group and self
contained band in Northern New Jersey doing fifties and sixties songs with
emphases on great doo wop and soul harmony. Check out their website for a
schedule of their appearances and more.
Jerry
Lawson & Talk of the Town Jerry Lawson
former lead
singer, arranger & producer of The Persuasions for 40 years & 22 albums is
now with a new acappella group called Talk of the Town and they are great!
Check out Jerry's website for samples from their new CD and a lot more.
Nicky Addeo & the Nite
Owls One of the great voices of our time, Asbury Park NJ's Nicky
Addeao is still sounding great. Check out his website for great photos
from his career and his current schedule.
Street
Corner Five We've known this fine acappella group from the
Philadelphia area since the early 1980's and they keep getting better and
better. Now they have their own website. There's a group bio,
photos, music and video clips and a schedule of where you can see them
perform. Check them out!!!
Four
Epics Great website in tribute to the South Philly group,
the Four Epics. Remember "I'm On My Way" (Heritage) and "Again"
(Laurie)? How about "Mr. Cupid" by the Vespers? Site has
a detailed bio and fabulous photos of the group in the studio backing Johnny
Greco on "Rocket Ride".
Les Paul
As a musician, inventor and all around legend, Les Paul wa an American
entertainment icon! Though Les is gone now, his website serves as a
tribute to him. Check it out.
Cadillacs
One of the greatest R&B vocal groups of all time and they're still looking
and sounding good! Led by the dynamic Earl "Speedo" Carroll, the group
also contains original member Bobby Phillips along with Gary K. Lewis.
See photos and hear music clips. Has the group's schedule of upcoming
performances. Nice site.
Jimmie
Rodgers Who can forget those great 1950's songs like
"Honeycomb," "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine," "Secretly," and "Oh Oh I'm Falling
In Love Again"? Well we recently spoke to Jimmie Rodgers by phone and
found out he's got his own website. It has a detailed time-lined bio,
lots of photos and details on Jimmie's latest projects including a soon to
be released autobiography called "Dancing on the Moon".
Silk City One of the most
entertaining acappella groups around and a great bunch of guys with a world
of talent. Check out their website and go out to see them when they're
performing in your area.
Vic Donna Remember Vic Donna and the
Parakeets who recorded "Teenage Rose" for the Atlas label? Well Vic
Donna is recording again and he still sounds great. Click
Vic Donna to connect to a site and listen
to a great group harmony cut from Vic's soon to be released CD. We'll
be writing an article on Vic and the Parakeets soon for Echoes of the Past
magazine.
The
Bon-Aires One of our favorite vocal groups, we have all of
their records going back to the early 60's on the Rust label.
(OK, we don't have "Blue Beat" but how many people do?!!) Anyway, we
always loved this group when they did UGHA. Now the group's history is
detailed in this site with some great photos and song clips.
The
Moonlites Very fine contemporary doo wop group out of
Texas. This group sings mainly in the Southwest but they do get to
other areas. We saw this group perform at Cool Bobby B's 2007 Doo Wop
Convention in Las Vegas and they were great! Their website contains
photos and music clips. Group features former Bon-Aires bass, Mike
Paladino.
The Duprees We grew up on the Duprees music
and they're still great! Check out two nice websites here - one for
the Duprees and one for lead singer
Tommy Petillo. Check out
what's new with the Duprees and then go
read the fascinating bio of
Tommy
Petillo singing with Parkway and then the Duprees.
Earl
Lewis and the Channels have a great MySpace page with samples of their
music and their current concert schedule. Earl Lewis a legend in our
music and a great guy. And he and the Channels sound as great as ever.
Check out his page. Also, visit our
Recent Articles by Us Section
to read about the Channels' records with Richard Barrett.
The Chantels.
One of the greatest female vocal groups in R&B history. You can read
about their history in the
Recent Articles by Us Section. But be sure to check out
the Chantels own webpage for a lot
more, including their current schedule.
Jimmy Castor
From Doo Wop to Hip Hop, from Jimmy Castor & the Juniors to the Jimmy Castor
Bunch and beyond, our friend Jimmy Castor has done it all. Definitely
one of the most talented men in show business! Jimmy's a writer,
producer, singer, instrumentalist and just an overall great performer.
Jimmy's early career with the Juniors and Teenchords is covered in the
Recent Articles by Us Section. But check out Jimmy's own site to read
his complete bio. Group harmony fans will want to purchase his new CD
single "Give Me Your Love," a great harmony ballad with high tenor lead.
You can hear a sample on
JimmyCastor.com
Clyde Wright &
the Golden Gate Quartet Great link about Clyde Wright and the
Golden Gate Quartet. History of both Clyde Wright and the Golden Gate
Quartet. Contains the Gates' current schedule and links to purchase
their CD's and Clyde's biography. Many other great links. The
site is in English and French.
Terry
Johnson's Flamingos What a fabulous singer and what a fabulous
group. Terry Johnson is one of the true legends of our music. Check
out his website for the group's schedule and don't miss this group when they
sing in your area.
Morris Wade and
the Columbus Pharaohs You saw him on the 2008 Burlington
Concert, now visit his website. Morris gives a history of his career with
the Columbus Pharaohs, the Four Pharaohs, the Egyptian Kings and beyond.
Lots of great photos and Morris' current schedule.
Manhattan
Transfer One of the most innovative harmony groups of our time.
Check out their website.
Mills Brothers
John Mills and Elmer Hopper continue the Mills Brothers legacy. Click this
link for their current schedule, booking info and a photo tour of the group's
80-year history.
Ink Spots
Archive Jack Hanna's and Bill Proctor's phenomenal archive of
information on the original Ink Spots.
Ink Spots' Family
Tree Greg Centamore's compilation photos and personnel for
the many Ink Spots groups that evolved from the original over the years.
The Ink Spots – Carrying on the Inks
Spots tradition, this group contains four guys with a wealth of credentials;
Sonny Hatchett (formerly of Sonny & the Dukes), Herman Denby (formerly of the
Swallows), Harold Winley (formerly of the Clovers) and Morris Dow (worked with
Jimmy McGriff, Herb Kenny and Nancy Wison).
Deep River Quartet For
more than thirty years, one of Europe's premier spiritual and jazz vocal
quartets. Check out their website for their CD's and schedule.
The Silhouettes
Remember the song "Get A Job"? Of course you do! This site is
dedicated to the Philadelphia group that brought us that record and so many more
great songs.
Little Isidore &
the Inquisitors One of the most entertaining fifties-style vocal
groups around today! We love these guys! Check out Little Isidore's
MySpace Page.
Cornerstone
The site for Golden Voice Harry Schmitt and Cornerstone. We've known these
fellows for more than 25 years and they keep getting better and better! To
check out their schedule or see YouTube videos of the group, click on this link.
SOUL HARMONY
and NORTHERN SOUL WEBSITE LINKS
GoldSoul
A well respected Soul music retailer and events organizer.
Kev and Sam Roberts and the folks at GoldSoul organized the fabulous
SoulTrip USA events. Visit this site for what's happening in Northern
Soul music.
Hitsville Soul Club Dave Moore and the gang at the Hitsville
Soul Club have put together a great site with articles, record reviews,
memorabilia and so much more. Worth a visit!!!
Bob
Abrahamian's Sitting In The Park Website Bob Abrahamian's
Chicago radio show, "Sitting In the Park," is one of the best show's around
for great soul harmony. Bob's done dozens of interviews of great
Chicago soul groups and posted them on this site for all to hear. A
wealth of information!!!!
CAROLINA BEACH
MUSIC LINKS!
Willie C's Beach Music Cafe & Carolina Beach Music
Great 50's & 60's R&B dance music lives on in the Carolinas. Willie C's
"Beach Music Cafe" is the first site to check for the latest on
the Carolina Beach Music scene.
Beach Music and Shag Preservation
Society of S.C. Non-profit organization that produces the
Charleston Beach Music & Shag Festivals plus other events.
The Tams
Great website for a great group! "What Kind Of Fool," "Untie Me," "Be
Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy," "I've Been Hurt." Charles Pope's Tams
are a must see when you're in Beach Music country.
The
Catalinas This fine Charlotte NC group started in 1957
heavily influenced by doo wop and went on to become a classic beach music
group. There have been a lot of personnel changes over fifty years but
the group is still going strong.
The
Swingin' Medallions This dynamic group is known outside of
the Carolinas for "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)" but Beach Music fans
know the group is so much more! A "must-see" act.
East
Coast Party Band An exciting group from Charleston SC
that's not only good vocally but also has a great horn and rhythm section.
Repertoire includes beach music, soul and classic rock & roll.
Maurice Williams
& the Zodiacs "Stay," "Little Darling," "May I." Need
we say more? Maurice has been entertaining for fifty years and still
sounds great.
Billy Scott
& Party Prophet Band Billy Scott's a born entertainer
and a great guy. Remember "I Got The Fever" by Billy Scott & the
Prophets? Check out Billy and his band.
Wallstreet
One of the hottest new groups on the Carolina Beach Music scene and they're
from New Jersey. Check out their MySpace page to hear samples of their
music.
Angel Rissoff
Great voice and fine entertainer, Angel's from the Bronx but his music's
found a strong following among Beach Music fans. Formerly sang as
Little Leapold with Little Isidore & the Inquisitors. Click on
Angel's name to see his website.
Fabulous
Shades Very fine Beach Music band with a large following.
Based out of Greenville, SC, they've been entertaining for 20 years.
They have a great new CD out. See their website for details.
General Johnson & the Chairmen of the Board One of our
all-time favorite acts! General Johnson is a music genius and the
Chairmen are legends in the Carolina Beach Music field.
OTHER SITES MENTIONED IN OUR STORIES
www.blackpointwoodworking.com
The official custom cabinetry and furniture maker for Classic Urban
Harmony LLC. Robert Lafferty did a fabulous job in designing, building
and installing our bookshelves and cabinetry in the CUH Library.
Mr. C's Beach Bistro
Very nice restaurant on the beach in Allenhurst NJ where we saw Nicky Addeo
& Nite Owls on New Years Eve. Visit there website here and check this
place when in the area.
Philadelphia's
Enterprise Center, Preserving the Original Bandstand Studio.
For info on how to help preserve the Original Bandstand Studio contact the
Enterprise Center.
Copyright © Classic Urban Harmony LLC, 2008-2009. All
Rights Reserved.
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