Hello Oldies Lovers,
Today's singles are in honor of Larry Chance of the Earls, who celebrated his 81st birthday yesterday.
Larry was born Larry Figueiredo on October 19, 1940 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating high school in 1957 Larry moved with his family to the Bronx where Larry formed a group with some guys he met at the Tecumsa Social Club. They called themselves the High Hatters and they even donned hats and canes for dramatic effect. The group consisted of Larry on lead, Bob Del Din sang first tenor, Eddie Harder sang second tenor, Larry Palumbo sang baritone and John Wray sang bass. The guys sang on street corners and subway stations.
Larry Palumbo joined the Army in 1959 and unfortunately died in 1960 due to injuries he sustained while parachute jumping and never had the chance to record with the group.
In the fall of 1959 Johnny Powers heard the group singing in a subway station and brought the group to A-1 Studios to record some demos for the newly formed Rome label, which Powers and his partner, Trade Martin, were just getting off the ground. Trade Martin played all the instruments on those recordings. It was around that time that the group felt a name change was in order and settled upon the Earls after Larry opened a dictionary to the letter "E" and came across the name Earl.
Rome Records lacked the funds to promote the records until they teamed up with Bill Buchanan (of Buchanan & Goodman fame) and his Triodex label in 1961. From 1961-62 the Earls recorded several songs exclusively for the Rome label, which released a total of 5 singles by them during that period. Today's featured single is the last one released at the time on Rome.
The group moved on to Old Town after Rome Records went under and that is where they had their greatest success with their classics, "Remember Then", "Never", "Eyes", "Kissing" and "I Believe" between 1962-1965. Hy Weiss of Old Town Records christened and began promoting Larry as Larry Chance on the 1963 release of Kissin' b/w Cry, Cry, Cry and Larry has been using that name ever since. Larry & the Earls are still actively performing today and are loved and adored by fans all around the world.
Today's doowop single: Rome R 5117 - My Heart's Desire b/w I'll Never Cry was released in 1962.
Today's teen single also has a connection to the Earls. They provided the background vocals for James MacArthur on his moderate hit in 1962, a 2-part ode to the teenage experience. Released in September of 1961 on the Triodex label as "(The Story Of) The In-Between Years" Parts 1 & 2, Scepter released the single in October of 1962 using "Teenage Tears" as the title for part 2.
James MacArthur is best remembered as an actor with a long career in both movies and television. MacArthur’s early work was predominantly in supporting roles in films. Later, he had a starring role as Danny "Danno" Williams, the reliable second-in-command of the fictional Hawaii State Police in the long-running television series Hawaii Five-O.
He was born James Gordon MacArthur on December 8, 1937 in Los Angeles California. He began his career as a radio actor in 1948 on the Theatre Guild on the Air, which was the premier radio program of its day, producing one-hour plays that were performed in front of a live audience of 800.
MacArthur made his stage debut at Olney, Maryland in 1949 with a two-week stint in The Corn Is Green. His sister Mary was in the play and telephoned their mother to request that James go to Olney to be in it too. The following summer, he repeated the role at Dennis, Massachusetts, and his theatrical career was underway.
In 1955, at the age of 18, he played Hal Ditmar in the television play, '"Deal a Blow," in an episode of the series Climax! directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Macdonald Carey, Phyllis Thaxter, and Edward Arnold. The critical response was excellent, with the New York Times saying he "performed splendidly."
The following year Frankenheimer directed the movie version of the play, which was renamed The Young Stranger (1957), with MacArthur again in the starring role. Again, his performance was critically acclaimed, earning him a nomination for Most Promising Newcomer at the 1958 BAFTA awards.
As well as acting, he also released several records in the early 1960s, scoring two minor hits with "(The Story of) The In-Between Years" and "The Ten Commandments of Love," both of which peaked at number 94 in the Billboard Hot 100.
He remained acting in movies and television throughout the 60's until landing his most remembered role as Detective Danny "Danno" Williams on the television show Hawaii Five-O from 1968 to 1979.
He passed away October 28, 2010, at the age of 72, of natural causes.
Today's teen single: Scepter 1241 - (The Story Of) The In-Between Years b/w Teenage Tears was released in October of 1962.
I hope you enjoyed today's singles in honor of Larry Chance. Fans of Larry should check out this interview Larry gave to the folks at Remember Then Radio! It's well worth hearing!
Till next time, Rock On!
Dave
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