The Astors

[Edie Antoinette]

The Astors are; Curtis Johnson (lead / tenor); Eliehue Stanback, (tenor / lead); Sam (Byrnes) Jones, (baritone/bass); and Richard Harris, (1st/2nd tenor); all came together along with Richard Griffin (tenor), while attending Melrose High School, growing up in the Orange Mound community in Memphis, Tennessee. The group was organized by a neighborhood pianist, Herman "Red" Arnett.

The group was called The Duntinos during the late 50's and sang at school functions, talent shows, and local clubs in the Memphis-area, Beale St., Mississippi, and Arkansas. After traveling to Buffalo, NY., for several months in 1960, performing in local Bars, they returned to Memphis at the suggestion of friend, Carla Thomas, and began by contributing background vocals for many artist at this new recording studio, Satellite Records (later changed name to Stax Records). The group performed backup vocals for Rufus & Carla, Nick Charles, William Bell, and other artist before getting a chance to record their own records.

In 1961 the group recorded their first release "You Make Me Feel So Good"(Curtis -lead), a song that Curtis wrote b/w "As You Can See"(Eliehue-lead), written by Eliehue Stanback. The group's name was changed to The Chips for this release, named after our producer, Chips Moman. In 1961, Curtis joined the Air Force, but continued to record when on leave from the Military. In 1963 the group's name was changed again to The Astors for the next release, written by guitarist, Larry Lee who played with Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock and later played with Al Green for years. That record was " What Can It Be" b/w "Just Enough To Hurt Me"(Curtis-lead). "What Can It Be is my favorite of all the songs we recorded", says Curtis.

In 1965, Stax released a song on the group "Candy" that was recorded while Curtis was on leave.

"Candy"(Curtis-lead), written by Booker T & MG's guitarist Steve Cropper and Isaac Hayes, was their biggest record. The song b/w "I Found Out" , written by Eliehue, climbed to #12 on the Billboard Top 100 R&B charts, and #63 on the Top 100 Pop charts. As "Candy" moved up the charts, The Astors performed on shows at the Uptown Theater in Philly, the Howard Theater in D.C., The Regal Theater in Chicago, and The Apollo Theater in New York. The other performers on these shows included The O'Jays, The Coasters, Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions, and Redd Foxx to name a few. The Astors also spent nearly 2 months performing on tour with The James Brown Review.

In late Summer of 1965, the group traveled to Los Angeles, CA with the first (Watts) Stax Review and spent 13 days their filming TV shows during the day ("Where the Action Is" a Dick Clark production, and "Hollywood A-Go-Go", a syndicated dance show) and at night, performing at nightclubs. A 2-night stand at the 5/4 Ballroom Club in Watts was the climax of this tour, and was recorded live.

The complete Stax Review included Carla and Rufus Thomas, Booker T. and The MG's, William Bell, The Mad Lads, Wilson Pickett, and The Mar-Keys. These shows were recorded and can be heard on "Funky Broadway: Stax Live At The 5/4 Ballroom" (SCD-8567-2). The 1965 "Watts Riot" started about this time. "We could see the smoke from the riot while we were flying out of LA."

The follow-up record to "Candy" was "In The Twilight Zone" (Curtis-lead) written by Isaac Hayes, David Porter, and Sidney Bailey b/w "Mystery Woman" written by Cropper & Hayes.

Later, Richard decided to leave the group to spend more time with his family, and Curtis' brother, Harold Johnson, joined the group. In 1967 the group recorded and released a song written by Booker T. Jones and William Bell, "Daddy Didn't Tell Me" b/w More Power To You" written by David Porter and Curtis. Eliehue and Sam were drafted into the military thereafter, and the group broke up.