Hello Doowop Lovers,
Today I am continuing my spotlight on the doowop groups which featured lead singer Anthony "Tony" Maresco. In my last blog I featured Tony's first two groups, the Dynamics and the Twighlighters. In this blog I will focus on the group Anthony & The Sophomores.
Following the release of their 2 singles in 1960, Tony & the Twilighters split up.
In 1963 Tony teamed up with members of the Fabulous Four to back up South Philly singer Carlo Gerace as the Secrets on his Throne single "Pony Party" b/w "100 Pounds of Potatoes".
I erroneously refered to the flip side as "100 Pounds of Clay" on my image in the video. The Gene McDaniels song popped into my head! lol!
Here is my video of "Pony Party".
Shortly after this back-up work, Tony and his original group the Dynamics regrouped and thus Anthony & The Sophomores were born. Bob Finizio of the Four J's/Fabulous Four also worked with the group as arranger and bass singer.
Their first recordings were for the Grand record label, which was a Philadelphia record label formed in 1953 and located on Lancaster Avenue. It was founded by Herb Slotkin and recorded a number of R & B vocal groups and a few solo acts and gospel artists.
Although the group recorded 5 songs for the label, only one single was released, "Embraceable You" b/w "Beautiful Dreamer" in early 1963. (Grand #163)
Here is my video of "Beautiful Dreamer". For videos of the other Grand recordings, see the link to my You Tube playlist linked at the end of this article.
After their stint with Grand records, the group signed with Mercury Records and it is where they enjoyed their biggest commercial success with the release of their classic, "Play Those Oldies Mr. Dee Jay" in March of 1963. They had originally recorded the song as "Play Those Oldies Mr. Bassman" as an answer to Johnny Cymbal's hit at the time, "Mr. Bass Man".
Here is my video of the unreleased song "Play Those Oldies Mr. Bass Man".
The group's videos of their singles released on Mercury in 1963 are in my You Tube playlist.
Mercury 72103 - Play Those Oldies Mr. Dee Jay b/w Clap Your Hands
Mercury 72168 - Swingin' At The Chariot b/w Better Late Than Never
By 1965 the group moved to the ABC-PARAMOUNT record label and with the move came a few personnel changes. John Donato and Bob Finzio both left the group and were replaced by Richie Benatti (Second Tenor) and Bob Beato (Bass) who were previously with Richie & the Royals.
Their initial release on ABC was a song written and given to the group by Joe Terry of Danny & The Juniors. Here is my video for this song:
The videos for the group's other ABC-PARAMOUNT recordings can be found in my You Tube playlist.
1965 - ABC-PARAMOUNT 45-10737 - It Depends On You b/w Gee (But I'd Give The World)
1966 - ABC-PARAMOUNT 45-10770 - Wild For Her b/w Get Back To You
1966 - ABC-PARAMOUNT 45-10844 - Heartbreak b/w I'll Go Through Life Loving You
In 1967 the group concluded their recording career with the Jamie record label. They had 2 singles released and my videos for all their Jamie recordings can be found on my You Tube playlist.
Anthony Maresco, born on June 20, 1945 sadly passed away from diabetes at the age of 53 on December 18, 1998. He left behind an incredible volume of doowop treasures and I hope you enjoyed this video blog feature.
You can find my complete library of the Anthony Maresco groups in my You Tube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL1dftZvjhQSjPAH07sCE8vcyQaU_W93B
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Till next time,
Regards,
Dave
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