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Groupe
Vocals US de New York formé en 1949, les Three Chuckles comprenaient Tommy Romano,
Tommy "Russ" Gilberto et Phil Benti. A partir de 1953,
Teddy Randazzo a remplacé Phil
Benti. En 1957, Randazzo parti
pour démarrer en solo, entre alors dans le groupe Jackie Farrell.
The Three
Chuckles sounds like an improbable name for a rock 'n' roll act, and to hear
their sound and see them in action in one of the handful of movies in which they
appeared — Rock, Rock, Rock (which was shot in the Bronx, New York) —
they seem an equally unlikely group to be designated a rock 'n' roll act at all.
They were more of a harmony pop trio who happened to be young enough to "pass"
for a rock 'n' roll act at a time when that designation was a little less well
defined than it finally became.
Tommy Romano (Vocals, guitar) and Tommy Gilberto, aka
Russ Gilberto (Vocals, bass) hailed from Red Hook, Brooklyn in New York
City, and linked up with accordionist
Phil Benti to form the Three Chuckles, the name derived from a popular candy
bar of the early 1950's. This all pre-dated rock 'n' roll, and the group
established themselves in clubs, lounges, and bowling alleys up and down the
East Coast well before the new music was heard by a mass white audience. They
were contemporaries of
the Four Lovers and other Italian pop-Vocals ensembles of the period, and
were obviously good, because they were so busy that it cost them their keyboard
man, Bentl deciding he didn't want to spend so much time on the road. The group
found a successor in then 15-year-old
Teddy Randazzo, more than a decade younger than Romano and Gilberto but
already a fine player on the accordion. It was this version of the group that,
following a gig in New Jersey, were handed a song called "Run Around" by its
author, a truck driver named
Cinino Colacrais. A couple of years later, when they got their first
opportunity to make a record, they remembered the song, and it was cut as the B-side
of "At Last You Understand". Issued on Boulevard — the newly-christened pop
imprint of the r&b-oriented Great Lakes label — the record was good enough to be
bought out (along with the trio contract) by RCA Victor; it then got flipped
over and the B-side slightly revised as "Runaround", and made it to the number
20 spot on the national charts. The Three Chuckles were suddenly an act with a
following far beyond the East Coast, and Randazzo, who'd sung lead on the hit,
had emerged as the group's featured vocalist at the age of 17. He would soon
emerge as a songwriter as well, initially in collaboration with Colacrais on
their second single A-side, "Foolishly", which didn't hit. Their single "Times
Two, I Love You" became a minor chart entry, and after that they were moved over
to the label's Vik imprint, which had started out as an r&b-oriented label in
the early 1950's. And it was there that they topped the charts with "And The
Angels Sing", a pop Vocals piece with a beat and some emphatic electric guitar,
which led to their recording an entire self-titled LP. By this time, their sound
was rock 'n' roll of a sophisticated sort, nicely harmonized and elegant but
with Randazzo's lead singing and their choice of repertory achieving a kind of
white soulfulness that qualified — or if it didn't, it was a short jump to doing
so, and kids did eat up their records; their original LP reportedly sold 400,000
copies, a figure that one could easily doubt (although if the figure was even an
sixth of that, it would be a remarkable achievement for a rock 'n' roll act of
the period). In any case, they were good enough to attract the attention of
deejay/impresario
Alan Freed, who put them into Rock, Rock, Rock in 1956 — Freed made a
point, however, to also give Randazzo a featured spot on his own in the
movie.That move, which immortalized the group on film, also spelled their end.
Soon after the release of the movie, Randazzo decided that it was time for him
to leave the fold for a career on his own. He went on to fulfill all of the
promise that those early sides showed, working for a time as a singer and then
turning to songwriting and producing and enjoying decades of success. The Three
Chuckles soldiered on for a time with
Jackie Farrell as the third member, but it was soon apparent that their
moment and time had passed. They never recorded after Randazzo left, and had
broken up by 1958, though
Tommy Romano remained in the business into the 1970's, and eventually formed
a duo with
Karen Gayle, working as A Chuckle And A Chicklet. Their sound today seems
like a lost trail in the history of rock 'n' roll, most of it not quite hot
enough to fit in, but just passionate and soulful enough to qualify. In 1997,
Collectables Records issued
Golden Classics, an 18-song collection that showed off the group's range to
great advantage. Those late sides, including "And The Angels Sing", "Gypsy In My
Soul" and "We're Gonna Rock Tonight" — the latter as suggestive a piece as any
white group ever did, rivaling "Rock Around The Clock" (its obvious model) and
Chuck Berry's "Reelin' And Rockin'" — show their harder sound and are worth
the price of admission.
Talents : Tommy Romano : Vocals, Guitar - Tommy "Russ" Gilberto : Vocals, Bass - Phil Benti : Accordion - Teddy Randazzo : Vocals, Accordion
Style musical : Vocals, Doo Wop, Pop
RUNAROUND
(1953)
ANYWAY
(1955)
And The Angels Sing (1956)
Gypsy
In My Soul (1956)
We're Gonna Rock Tonight
(1956)
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Years in activity :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 |
DISCOGRAPHY
78 t., Singles & EP
| 1953 | 78 t. & SP BOULEVARD 100 (US) | . |
Runaround
/ At Last You
Understand |
| 09/1954 | 78 t. X X-0066 (US) | . |
Runaround
/ At Last You Understand |
| 09//1954 | SP X 4X-0066 (US) | . |
Runaround
/ At Last You Understand |
| 01/1955 | 78 t. X X-0095 (US) | . | If You Should Love Again / Foolishly |
| 01/1955 | SP X 4X-0095 (US) | . | If You Should Love Again / Foolishly |
| 05/1955 | 78 t. X X-0134 (US) | . | So Long / You Should Have Told Me |
| 05/1955 | SP X 4X-0134 (US) | . | So Long / You Should Have Told Me |
| 07/1955 | 78 t. X X-0150 (US) | . | Realize / Blue Lover |
| 07/1955 | SP X 4X-0150 (US) | . | Realize / Blue Lover |
| 09/1955 | 78 t. X X-0162 (US) | . | Still Thinking Of You / Times Two, I Love You |
| 09/1955 | SP X 4X-0162 (US) | . | Still Thinking Of You / Times Two, I Love You |
| 12/1955 | 78 t. X X-0186 (US) | . | The Funny Little Things We Used To Do /
Anyway
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| 12/1955 | SP X 4X-0186 (US) | . | The Funny Little Things We Used To Do /
Anyway
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| 12/1955 | 78 t. VIK 4X- 0186 (US) | . | The Funny Little Things We Used To Do /
Anyway
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| 12/1955 | SP VIK 4X- 0186 (US) | . | The Funny Little Things We Used To Do /
Anyway
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| 02/1956 | 78 t. X X-0194 (US) | . | Tell Me (Your Love Is For Me) /
And The Angels Sing
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| 02/1956 | SP X 4X-0194 (US) | . | Tell Me (Your Love Is For Me) /
And The Angels Sing
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| 02/1956 | 78 t. VIK X- 0194 (US) | . | Tell Me (Your Love Is For Me) /
And The Angels Sing
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| 02/1956 | SP VIK 4X-0194 (US) | . | Tell Me (Your Love Is For Me) /
And The Angels Sing
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| 06/1956 | 78 t. VIK X- 0216 (US) | . |
Gypsy In My Soul / We're Still Holding Hands |
| 06/1956 | SP VIK4X- 0216 (US) | . |
Gypsy In My Soul / We're Still Holding Hands |
| 10/1956 | 78 t. VIK X- 0232 (US) | . | Midnight Till Dawn / Fall Out Of Love |
| 10/1956 | SP VIK 4X-0232 (US) | . | Midnight Till Dawn / Fall Out Of Love |
| 12/1956 | 78 t. VIK X- 0244 (US) | . |
We're Gonna Rock Tonight
/ Won't You Give Me A
Chance |
| 12/1956 | SP VIK 4X-0244 (US) | . |
We're Gonna Rock Tonight
/ Won't You Give Me A
Chance |
| 1956 | EP VIK EXA-192 ((US) |
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The Three Chuckles - Vol. I - To Each His Own / Solitude / In The Still Of The Night / It's Been A Long, Long Time |
| 1956 | EP VIK EXA-193 ((US) |
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The Three Chuckles - Vol. II - How Deep Is The Ocean / Red Sails In The Sunset / Maybe You'll Be There / As Time Goes By |
| 01/1957 | EP RCA 75363 (US) |
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The Things Your Heart Needs / Won't You Give Me A Chance / We're Gonna Rock Tonight / Thanks To You |
| 11/1961 | SP ABC-PARAMOUNT 45-10276 (US) | . | CHUCKLES - Runaround / Lonely Traveller |
| 03/1966 | SP CLOUD CLOUD 507 (US) | . |
You Lied /
Runaround
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| 1986 | SP COLLECTABLES 4531 (US) | . |
Runaround
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Albums
| 1956 | LP 12" VIK LX-1067 (US) |
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THE THREE CHUCKLES - To Each His Own / Solitude / In The Still Of The Night / It's Been A Long, Long Time / How Deep Is The Ocean / Red Sails In The Sunset / Maybe You'll Be There / As Time Goes By / Where Or When / These Foolish Things / Marta / I Only Have Eyes For You |
| 19?? | LP 12" Patti 8005 (AUS) |
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We're Gonna Rock Tonight - We're Gonna Rock Tonight / Runaround / Blue Lover / Thanks To You / Anyway / Realize / Wont You Give Me A Chance / Midnight Til Dawn / Times Two I Love You / Fallen Out Of Love / So Long / You Should Have Told Me / Foolishly / The Things Your Heart Needs / If You Should Love Again / And The Angels Sing / Tell Me / Funny Little Things We Used To Do / Still Thinking Of You / At Last You Understand / We're Still Holding Hands / Gypsy In My Soul |
| 1993 | CD Globe CD 1067/15 (US) |
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Collectors Gold – Volume 35 - THE THREE CHUCKLES - Be My Kitten Little Chicken / We're Gonna Rock Tonight / You Should Have Told Me / Anyway / Tell Me / And The Angels Sing / Gypsy In My Soul / Little Serenade / Next Stop Paradise / Won't You Give Me A Chance / In The Still Of The Night / It's Been A Long Long Time / As Time Goes By / Where Or When / These Foolish Things / We're Still Holding Hands / Midnight Till Dawn / Fall Out Of Love / Foolish / If You Should Love Again / So Long / Blue Lover / Still Thinking Of You / Times Two I Love You / The Funny Little Things We Used To Do / Runaround / At Last You Understand |
| 04/1997 | CD COLLECTABLES 5835 (US) |
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GOLDEN CLASSICS - At Last You Understand / Runaround / Foolishly / If You Should Love Again / So Long / You Should Have Told Me / Blue Lover / Realize / Times Two, I Love You / Still Thinking Of You / Anyway / The Funny Little Things We Used To Do / Tell Me (That Your Love Is For Me) / And The Angels Sing / Gypsy In My Soul / We're Still Holding Hands / Midnight 'Till Dawn / We're Gonna Rock Tonight |
| 2002 | CD VIK 0100 (GER) |
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The Three Chuckles Featuring Teddy Randazzo - Runaround / Foolishly / If You Should Love Again / Times Two, I Love You / We're Still Holding Hands / Next Stop Paradise / Gypsy In My Soul / At Last You Understand / Realize / The Funny Things / Won't You Give Me A Chance / You Should've Told Me / Still Thinking Of You / And The Angels Sing / Fallen Out Of Love / How Could You Know / Tell Me / Midnight Till Dawn / Anyway / Blue Lover / We're Gonna Rock Tonight / So Long / Big Wide World / The Way Of A Clown |
© Rocky Productions 3/07/2019
