January 2008 Blog Posts (28)

The Prisonaires...Magazine Article From 1954

When five self-trained Tennessee State Prison convicts waxed a cool disc called "Just Walking In The Rain," the Prisonaires became a nation-wide sensation. Their sweet ballad has already sold a quarter-of-a-million copies.

The story of the group's success as artists, however, is not nearly so staggering as the story of five cons who can leave prison just about any time they please. You see, in order to maintain their… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 10, 2008 at 3:23pm — 4 Comments

The Prisonaires

January 18

*Johnny Bragg was born on this date in 1926. He was an African-American singer.

From Nashville, Tenn., as a teenager in 1943, Bragg was sentenced to six life terms in the Tennessee State Prison. The charge was rape, he always denied the charges, and Governor Frank Clement commuted his sentence in 1959. He soon returned to prison on a parole violation and spent time in and out of incarceration until 1977.… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 10, 2008 at 3:17pm — 1 Comment

The Schoolboys

The Schoolboys sound almost uncannily similar to Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, but they predate them by close to a year in terms of recording and success. Formed in Harlem's Cooper Junior High School in 1954 or early 1955, with Harold Atley as leader, James Edwards (first tenor), Roger Hayes (second tenor), James "Charlie" McKay (baritone), and Renaldo Gamble (bass), they performed in school talent shows and became… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 9, 2008 at 7:21pm — 8 Comments

The Five Echoes

The Five Echoes are notable for having been the group that both Earl Lewis (Channels, Flamingos) and Johnnie Taylor both passed through at one time or another. The original Chicago-based group -- Constant "Count" Sims (baritone), Herbert Lewis (baritone), Jimmy Marshall (bass), and Tommy Hunt (second tenor) -- originally called themselves the Flames because they hung out at the Morocco Hotel, home to a famous nightspot, the Flame.

The Flames… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 9, 2008 at 5:46pm — 3 Comments

Earl Lewis And The Channels

0n the east Coast in the 1950s there were certain vocal groups that managed to become immensely popular without having national record sales success. The two groups that best fit into that category were the immortal HARPTONES and the incomparable Channels.

Late 1955 New York City was the setting for the latter's formation. Larry Hampden (first tenor), Billy Morris (second tenor), and Edward Doulphin (baritone)… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 8, 2008 at 9:40pm — 5 Comments

The Magnificent Men

In 1964, the Magnificent Men, the only white act to ever headline New York 's legendary Apollo Theatre and the other major stops on the rhythm and blues "chitlin circuit," was formed from the improbable combination of two integrated bands. York, Pennsylvania's Del-Chords, a seven-member group that featured singers Dave Bupp and Adrian "Buddy" King, often played Battle of the Band contests against Harrisburg's nine-member… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 7, 2008 at 1:40am — 13 Comments

Joe Bataan

Joe Bataan (also spelled Bataán) (born 1942 in Spanish Harlem, New York City) is an Afro-Filipino American Latin R&B musician from New York. He was born Bataan Nitollano and grew up in the 103rd and Lexington part of East Harlem where he briefly lead the Dragons, a local Puerto Rican street gang before being sent to the Coxsackie Correctional Facility to serve time for a stolen car…

Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 6, 2008 at 3:56pm — 4 Comments

Ralfi Pagan

Ralfi Pagan passed without making a significant mark in the music industry, but not because he

didn't try. Raised on the Lower East Side of New York City, he was part of the city's bubbling

salsa scene in the '60s and late '70s. His main body of work -- four albums -- was waxed for

Johnny Pacheco and Gerald Masucci's Fania Records. Though a major player in the studio, he

didn't achieve the notoriety of some… Continue

Added by Shelley "SoleMann" King on January 1, 2008 at 7:13pm — 1 Comment

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Remembering Q

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Quincy Jones is thoroughly entwined in the musical background of my young adulthood. A genius of unique quality. I have been posting blogs and music throughout the years and decided to embark on the arduous but satisfying task of gathering some of it to remember the excellent legacy that he left.