Groupe Doo
Wop US, les Cadillacs ont été formé en 1953 à Harlem sous
le premier nom des Carnations. Il comprenait : Earl Carroll, Robert Phillips, Papa Clark et Gus Willingham.
La voix de basse était tenue par Earl Carroll qui deviendra ensuite, en 1958,
membre des Coasters. Ils ont enregistré pour Jubilee, Capitol, Mercury et Polydor Records.
Earl
Carroll, LaVerne Drake, and Robert Phillips were already singing together in the
early '50s as the Carnations, whose lineup also included "Cub" Gaining.
Carroll and Phillips were nearly as close as brothers, Carroll having been taken
in by Phillips' family after the death of his own mother. The group — based in
New York's Harlem in the area around 131st St. and Seventh and Eighth Avenues —
had an energetic approach to music, but somewhat threadbare harmonies, and they
were popular at dances held at the local public school they all attended. Their
main influence was the Orioles,
whose slow romantic numbers went over very well with the group members and the
audiences of the period. Carroll's own musical roots included gospel,
specifically the Five Blind Boys, the Swanee Quintet, and the
Soul Stirrers, but also R&B vocal outfits such as
the Clovers, the Ravens,
the Swallows, and the Five Keys.
The Carnations were heard in a performance at Public School 43 by Lover
Patterson, a one-time associate of the
Orioles who had organized a group called the Five Crowns (whose
1958-era membership would become the new
Drifters, of "There Goes My Baby" fame), who was impressed enough with
their singing to introduce the group to Esther Navarro, a secretary for the Shaw
Artist Agency who also wrote songs.
The audition itself brought about changes in the Carnations' lineup.
Baritone Bobby Phillips wanted to switch to bass, partly to see if the novelty
value of a 5' 4" bass singer would have some value (most basses were big guys),
but Cub Gaining didn't like the idea and quit before the audition. Patterson
replaced him with James "Poppa" Clark of the Five Crowns and Johnny "Gus"
Willingham. It was this group — Earl Carroll (lead tenor), LaVerne Drake (tenor),
James Clark (tenor), Johnny Willingham (baritone), and Bobby Phillips (bass) —
that auditioned for Navarro. They were duly signed but had to give up their name,
as the Carnations was already being used by a professional outfit. The
Cadillacs was chosen for its association with automotive elegance and to
separate the group from the spate of bird and flower names that were common
among singing groups.
The group brought a pair of songs, Navarro's "Gloria" and Patterson's "I Wonder
Why," to Jubilee Records, an independent outfit owned by former bandleader Jerry
Blaine. Their first single was in stores by the end of July 1954, and it proved
to be a regional success, with strong sales on the East Coast from Baltimore to
Boston, especially (no surprise) in New York. Patterson's more up-tempo "I
Wonder Why" had more success than the more restrained and romantic "Gloria." By
the time of the release of the group's second single, "Wishing Well," issued
later that summer, the lineup had changed, with James Clark and Johnny
Willingham replaced by baritone Earl Wade and tenor Charles "Buddy" Brooks.
The group experienced modest success during the latter part of 1954 and early
1955, and then they had their breakthrough record, "Speedo." There have been
several stories associated with the origins of the song, all of which surround
Earl Carroll's attributes: Carroll has claimed that it originated with a
nickname he got as a child, but also said that the beat and background were
influenced by the group's appreciation of a Regals song called "Got the
Water Boiling." Esther Navarro, whose name is signed to the song as writer,
claimed at the time that it derived from Carroll's derisive nickname "Speedy,"
earned by his slow-moving demeanor; she claimed that he said to her, "They often
call me Speedy but my real name is Mr. Earl."
The song was recorded in September of 1955, and released in October of that year.
It became a monster hit, but only after laying dormant for weeks. The turning
point came when Cleveland-based disc jockey Alan Freed booked the group onto his
Christmas show at the Academy of Music. The group by that time was completely
professional, and had added dance routines choreographed by Cholly Atkins, who
later trained most of the Motown acts in their stage presentations. The group
swept the board during the two weeks of appearances in the Freed show, which,
itself was a major turning point in the history of rock & roll. There had been
showcases of that kind going on for several years, but mostly before black
audiences; the Freed show broke the theater's box-office record, and in the
process drew in a major contingent of white teenagers.
"Speedo" finally broke out in early December, and it entered the Billboard pop
charts before it reached the R&B charts, something that had never happened
before with an R&B single. The music industry began taking notice not only of
this phenomenon, but also of the Cadillacs. The song rode the charts for four
months, well into 1956, by which time the Cadillacs were established as one of
the top R&B groups in the country. They also had a membership change early in
that year, with Jimmy Bailey replacing founding member LaVerne Drake. Their
attempts at a follow-up hit failed despite some initial encouraging signs from
the trade papers, but this didn't slow their momentum on-stage; they remained
one of the most heavily and prominently booked groups among the package tours
that were the norm, and the bookings were still good into the late winter of
1957.
Unfortunately, nothing was that straightforward for the group itself. At some
point, they split with Esther Navarro, and the group also split into two rival
sets of Cadillacs. Earl Carroll led the Original Cadillacs, as they
became known — consisting of Carroll, Charles Brooks, Bobby Phillips, and Earl
Wade — while Navarro had Jimmy Bailey leading Bobby Spencer, Bill Lindsay, and
Waldo "Champ Rollow" Champen under the name the Cadillacs. The groups both
continued recording, both on Jubilee (which was caught in the middle of the
dispute), and effectively canceled each other out.
Navarro's Bailey-led Cadillacs (who only recorded once officially, doing "My
Girlfriend" in May of 1957) went on the road in an abortive attempt to carry on,
but they were pulled out of the late-1957 package tour before it was half over.
By November of 1957, the two groups had made a sort of peace: Champ Rollow and
Bill Lindsay were out, and Carroll, Bailey, Brooks, Phillips, and Wade were
working together in the studio as the Cadillacs. Brooks was soon replaced by
Bobby Spencer, but there were other changes as well: Earl Carroll was pushed
into the background of the group's vocals by Jimmy Bailey and Bobby Spencer. Of
course, it didn't matter that much, because in their search for a sound that
would sell, the group had changed into a comedic doo wop outfit in the mold of
the Coasters, specializing in
humorous novelty numbers. They hardly resembled the outfit that Earl Carroll had
co-founded in the early '50s.
The sad thing, in some respects, is that this worked. They were back on the
national charts for the first time in over two years in October of 1958 with "Peek-A-Boo,"
a sort of "Yakety Yak"-type number that made the Top 40 and gave the group a new
lease on life as a concert attraction. Having succeeded once with a comic
novelty tune, they mined this vein again with a pair of singles, "Jay Walker"
and "Please Mr. Johnson." Both were recorded early in 1959 and featured (in very
effective performances) in the 1959 Alan Freed-starring jukebox classic Go
Johnny Go, which also featured Jimmy Clanton, Sandy Stewart,
Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson,
Eddie Cochran,
Ritchie Valens, and
Jo-Ann Campbell.
The group's string of hits had ended, however. Earl Carroll left the group that
he had founded in 1959; the Cadillacs kept working for a few more years,
recording unsuccessfully for a number of labels before packing it in during the
early '60s. Carroll fared reasonably well, however, remaining in music and
eventually joining the Coasters
in 1961, where he remained for more than 20 years. He later re-formed the
Cadillacs, with Bobby Phillips the only other veteran member of the group, and
he kept the new group going throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, even doing
a well-received comeback record early in the '90s.
http://www.history-of-rock.com/doo.htm
Style musical : Doo Wop
GLORIA
 |
|
Années en activité :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 |
DISCOGRAPHIE
Singles
| 02/1992 | CD COLLECTABLES 8109 (US) |
Speedo
/ ? |
Albums
| 1957 | LP 12" JUBILEE JLP-1045 (US) |
 |
THE FABULOUS CADILLACS - Zoom / I Wonder Why / Sympathy / Woe Is Me / That's All I Need / Wishing Well / Speedoo / Down The Road / You Are / The Girl I Love / No Chance / Sugar-Sugar | |||||
| 1959 | LP 12" JUBILEE JLP-1089 (US) |
 |
THE CRAZY CADILLACS - My Girl Friend / Broken Heart / Betty My Love / Shock-A-Doo / Gloria / Zoom- Boom-Zing / Don't Be Mad With My Heart / Window Lady / Why / Carelessly / Baby's Comin' Home To Me / Let Me Explain | |||||
| 1960 | LP 12" JUBILEE JGM-1117 (US) |
 |
THE CADILLACS MEET THE ORIOLES - Baby Please Don't Go (The ORIOLES) / Hurry Home / Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me (The ORIOLES) / Buzz Buzz Buzz / A Kiss And A Rose (The ORIOLES) / Lucy / Deacon Jones (The ORIOLES) / It's Love / I Don't Want To Take A Chance (The ORIOLES) / Let Me Down Easy / You Belong To Me (The ORIOLES) / C'Mon Home Baby | |||||
| 1962 | LP 12" JUBILEE JGM-5009 (US) |
|
TWISTING WITH THE CADILLACS - Romeo / Speedo / Woe Is Me / Buzz Buzz Buzz / It's Love / I Wonder Why / Peek-A-Boo / Shock-A-Doo / Dum Dee Dum Dum / Still You Left Me Baby / Sugar Sugar / My Girl Friend | |||||
| 197? | LP 12" HARLEM HITPARADE 5009 (US) |
|
CRUISIN' WITH THE CADILLACS | |||||
| 1983 | LP 12" MURRAY HILL M6 1250 (US) |
|
THE BEST OF THE CADILLACS, VOLUME ONE - Betty My Love / I Wonder Why / Window Lady / Shock-A-Doo / Gloria / If You Want To Be A Woman Of Mine / I Want To Know About Love / Carelessly / Peek-A-Boo / Romeo / Buzz Buzz Buzz / My Girlfriend | |||||
| 1983 | LP 12" MURRAY HILL M6 1269 (US) |
|
THE BEST OF THE CADILLACS, VOLUME TWO - Speedo / The Girl I Love / You Are / Zoom / Broken Heart / No Chance / Sympathy / Sugar Sugar / That's All I Need / Wishing Well / Oh Whatcha Do | |||||
| 1984 | LP 12" DR. HORSE 801 (US) |
|
PLEASE MR. JOHNSON | |||||
| 1983 | 5 LP 12" MURRAY HILL M6 1285 (US) |
|
FOR COLLECTORS ONLY :
|
|||||
| 04/1990 | CD RHINO 70955 (US) |
 |
THE BEST OF THE CADILLACS - Gloria / No Chance / Down The Road / Window Lady / Speedoo / Zoom / You Are / Woe Is Me / Betty My Love / Sugar-Sugar / My Girl Friend / Speedoo Is Back / Peek-A-Boo / Zoom-Boom-Zing / Please, Mr. Johnson / Romeo / Tell Me Today | |||||
| 11/1991 | CD COLLECTABLES 5412 (US) |
 |
THE CADILLACS MEET THE ORIOLES - Speedoo / Gloria / Zoom / Girl I Love / Sugar-Sugar / My Girlfriend / + The ORIOLES | |||||
| 02/1992 | 3 CD COLLECTABLES 8800 (US) |
 |
THE CADILLACS FOR COLLECTORS ONLY :
|
|||||
| 05/1995 | 4 CD BEAR FAMILY BCD 15648 (D) |
 |
THE COMPLETE JOSIE SESSIONS :
|
|||||
| 06/1996 | CD REMEMBER 75038 (US) |
 |
PEEK-A-BOO - Gloria / No Chance / Down The Road / Window Lady / Speedoo / Zoom / You Are / Woe Is Me? / Betty My Love / The Girl I Love / Sugar-Sugar / My Girl Friend / Peek-A-Boo / Let Me Explain / Sympathy / I Wonder Why? / Wishing Well | |||||
| 1996 | CD MILLROSE ? (US) |
|
HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS ? | |||||
| 08/1998 | CD WESTSIDE 528 (UK) |
 |
THE FABULOUS CADILLACS - THE CRAZY CADILLACS - Zoom / I Wonder Why / Sympathy / Woe Is Me / That's All I Need / Wishing Well / Speedoo / Down The Road / You Are / The Girl I Love / No Chance / Sugar-Sugar / My Girl Friend / Broken Heart / Betty My Love / Shock-A-Doo / Gloria / Zoom- Boom-Zing / Don't Be Mad With My Heart / Window Lady / Why / Carelessly / Baby's Comin' Home To Me / Let Me Explain | |||||
| 2004 | CD COLLECTABLES 7628 (US) |
 |
THE FABULOUS CADILLACS - THE CRAZY CADILLACS - Zoom / I Wonder Why / Sympathy / Woe Is Me / That's All I Need / Wishing Well / Speedoo / Down The Road / You Are / The Girl I Love / No Chance / Sugar-Sugar / My Girl Friend / Broken Heart / Betty My Love / Shock-A-Doo / Gloria / Zoom- Boom-Zing / Don't Be Mad With My Heart / Window Lady / Why / Carelessly / Baby's Comin' Home To Me / Let Me Explain |
© Rocky Productions 11/05/2005
