Hello Oldies Lovers,
Today's doowop single features one of my absolute favorite groups. The Jive Five featuring lead singer Eugene Pitt has been one of my favorite groups since I first heard "My True Story" on my 8-Track tape copy of the "Cruisin' '61" album back in the late 70's. That Cruisin' series was great!
I have collected everything I could find by the Jive Five since and have several of their singles, albums and CDs covering most of their recordings through the mid-80's with their 2 Ambient LPs. I am hard pressed to think of anything they recorded that I didn't like.
Eugene Pitt was from the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn and learned to sing harmony by his father, who was a gospel singer. Eugene and his sisters regularly sang in churches as youngsters. By the mid-50's he was in his first group called the Akrons. He then joined a group that was led by Claude Johnson, who later went on to lead the Genies of "Who's That Knocking" fame.
In 1959 Gene and some his friends formed their own group and called themselves the Jive Five. The original group featured Pitt as the lead singer and included Jerome Hanna (tenor), Richard Harris (tenor), Billy Prophet (baritone), and Norman Johnson (bass). "My True Story" was the group's first release and biggest hit. It was released on the Beltone record label which had just had success with the Bobby Lewis classic, "Tossin' and Turnin' ". Written by Pitt and Oscar Waltzer, "My True Story" was based on a real life experience of Pitt and inspired and was referenced in a few of the group's later songs. The song reached #1 on the R&B charts and peaked at #3 on the Pop charts.
The single I am featuring was their third release on the Beltone label, "Hully Gully Callin' Time" b/w "No Not Again" with "Hully Gully Callin' Time" bubbling under at #105 on Billboards Hot 100 chart. "No Not Again" is a great R&B ballad which hearkens back to the sounds of the great R&B vocal groups of the 50's.
Doowop Single of the Day: Beltone 45-2019 - Hully Gully Callin' Time b/w No Not Again
Released in February 1962 and credited to Jive Five with Eugene Pitt.
Today's teen single is a very hard to find and fairly expensive record to get if you are lucky enough to find it. I was introduced to the song by a collector friend I exchanged with back in the late 90's and never thought I would get my hands on a copy. A few years ago I brought the song up to my friend Bob Pegg, owner of Bob Pegg's Records in Tacoma, Washington. Bob introduced me to the possibility of having one-off dub plates cut for instances like this when the original is nearly impossible to find and quite costly if found. He also told me he had the single and offered to have a dub plate cut for me. Of course I jumped on the offer so having this in my collection is thanks to Bob.
The single in question is by Little Tommy and is called "Guiding Angel" b/w "Teacher" and was released on the Mr. Big record label. The only previous release on the Mr. Big label I could find was the doowop classic "School Girl" b/w "Letter From My Darling" by Little Tom & His Valentines.
Considering that the Little Tom & His Valentines single was the previous catalog release for the Mr. Big label, it is likely that Little Tom & Little Tommy were one and the same person.
Update: In my original post of this blog I made note of a 45cat entry that stated that this Little Tommy's real name was Tyrone Thomas, who was a soul singer with several releases from 1965-1980. That information appears to be incorrect as according to a couple reliable sources, this Little Tommy was from Detroit and Tyrone Thomas was apparently from North Carolina. Thanks to VintagwDawg2 and Bob Pegg for the clarification.
Todays Teen Single: Mr. Big B-223 - Guiding Angel b/w Teacher - Released in 1961.
I thought I should give a brief description of the video clip I used as the backdrop for the song "Guiding Angel". The clip scenes are from the 1985 movie "The Heavenly Kid" which was about a hip guardian angel named Bobby who died in a chicken car race back in the 50's in a scene straight out of "A Rebel Without A Cause". In a theme reminiscent of the guardian situation of Clarence in "A Wonderful Life", in order to be accepted "Uptown", Bobby is sent back to earth to help a nerdy teen win the girl of his dreams. So the leather jacketed hood in the scene is the guiding angel to the nerdy kid.
I hope you enjoyed today's selections. As always, you can purchase mp3 files of all my featured singles here: https://maltshop1963.wixsite.com/doowopdave/shop
Rock On!
Dave
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