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Wally Lester, The Skyliners, 73
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tr...@iwvisp.com
Apr 24, 2015, 11:02:19 AM4/24/15
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http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/2015/04/passings-wally-lester-of-skyliners-1941.html
Wally Lester, one of the original members of the group The Skyliners, died on Tuesday in Southport, NC after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 73.
Jimmy Beaumont, who still performs with the group, said on Facebook:
On April 20th my good buddy Wally Lester passed away.
I met Wally when I joined a doo wop group known as The Crescents. Wally was fourteen and I was sixteen, and I was immediately impressed by his talent and great sense of humor. Wally was singing top tenor when I joined The Crescents.
We soon became close friends, rehearsed every night having fun and becoming closer and closer.
In two years The Crescents broke up. Wally, Jack Taylor, and myself, joined Joe Verscharen and Janet Vogel, both from Carrick High School where we attended. Wally became second tenor, and Janet became top tenor. Joe Verscharen became baritone and Jack Taylor who was the guitar player with The Crescents sang the bass parts. We then became The Skyliners and recorded "Since I Don't Have You" in late 1958.
We began touring the country in 1959 with Wally keeping us laughing all the way I will miss you , but I won't say goodbye. I'll just say so long my friend.
Donna Groom, who has been a member of the group since 1982, wrote:
We always enjoyed when Wally was present for a performance or event. He was there at the beginning and gave all the Skyliner hits their "unmistakable sound." After 34 years I am still proud to represent the legacy of the original members. Wally was a super nice guy on top of it. He and his lovely wife Sissy came to hear Mark [Groom, also a member] and myself when we played an event in North Carolina at a winery. We had such a wonderful time and it was fun hearing stories about his early days on the road with the Skyliners. He surely will be missed and Mark and I send everyone our best.
As Jimmy Beaumont explained, he, Lester and Jack Taylor formed the Skyliners with Joe Versharen and Janet Vogel of the group the El Rios. Producer and manager Joe Rock took the group on, gave them their new name and had them signed to Calico Records where they recorded one of Rock's songs, Since I Don't Have You. The recording was a bit revolutionary for its time, combining the doo wop sound with a lush string arrangement. Now considered a standard, the song only made it to number 12 nationally and 3 on the R&B charts.
The Skyliners followed a few months later with This I Swear (1959 / #26 Pop / #20 R&B) and It Happened Today (1959 / #59). They made the top 40 a final time the next year with an updated version of Pennies From Heaven (1960 / #24 Pop).
The group initially broke up in 1964 but original member Rock formed a new version the next year. In 1970, Beaumont, Vogel, Lester and Versharen reformed the Skyliners to tour and record but, on January 1, 1976, the original Skyliners broke up for the last time when Lester and Versharen retired.
Wally Lester entered the business world and eventually ended up a Vice President at Clairol. Jimmy Beaumont went on to form a new version of the Skyliners in 1990's which tours to this day though Lester has rejoined them over the years on major anniversaries.
Lester is the third original member of the group to pass away. Vogel committed suicide in 1980 and Verscharen died from cancer in 2007. In addition, manager Rock died in 2000.
Ray Arthur
Wally Lester, one of the original members of the group The Skyliners, died on Tuesday in Southport, NC after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 73.
Jimmy Beaumont, who still performs with the group, said on Facebook:
On April 20th my good buddy Wally Lester passed away.
I met Wally when I joined a doo wop group known as The Crescents. Wally was fourteen and I was sixteen, and I was immediately impressed by his talent and great sense of humor. Wally was singing top tenor when I joined The Crescents.
We soon became close friends, rehearsed every night having fun and becoming closer and closer.
In two years The Crescents broke up. Wally, Jack Taylor, and myself, joined Joe Verscharen and Janet Vogel, both from Carrick High School where we attended. Wally became second tenor, and Janet became top tenor. Joe Verscharen became baritone and Jack Taylor who was the guitar player with The Crescents sang the bass parts. We then became The Skyliners and recorded "Since I Don't Have You" in late 1958.
We began touring the country in 1959 with Wally keeping us laughing all the way I will miss you , but I won't say goodbye. I'll just say so long my friend.
Donna Groom, who has been a member of the group since 1982, wrote:
We always enjoyed when Wally was present for a performance or event. He was there at the beginning and gave all the Skyliner hits their "unmistakable sound." After 34 years I am still proud to represent the legacy of the original members. Wally was a super nice guy on top of it. He and his lovely wife Sissy came to hear Mark [Groom, also a member] and myself when we played an event in North Carolina at a winery. We had such a wonderful time and it was fun hearing stories about his early days on the road with the Skyliners. He surely will be missed and Mark and I send everyone our best.
As Jimmy Beaumont explained, he, Lester and Jack Taylor formed the Skyliners with Joe Versharen and Janet Vogel of the group the El Rios. Producer and manager Joe Rock took the group on, gave them their new name and had them signed to Calico Records where they recorded one of Rock's songs, Since I Don't Have You. The recording was a bit revolutionary for its time, combining the doo wop sound with a lush string arrangement. Now considered a standard, the song only made it to number 12 nationally and 3 on the R&B charts.
The Skyliners followed a few months later with This I Swear (1959 / #26 Pop / #20 R&B) and It Happened Today (1959 / #59). They made the top 40 a final time the next year with an updated version of Pennies From Heaven (1960 / #24 Pop).
The group initially broke up in 1964 but original member Rock formed a new version the next year. In 1970, Beaumont, Vogel, Lester and Versharen reformed the Skyliners to tour and record but, on January 1, 1976, the original Skyliners broke up for the last time when Lester and Versharen retired.
Wally Lester entered the business world and eventually ended up a Vice President at Clairol. Jimmy Beaumont went on to form a new version of the Skyliners in 1990's which tours to this day though Lester has rejoined them over the years on major anniversaries.
Lester is the third original member of the group to pass away. Vogel committed suicide in 1980 and Verscharen died from cancer in 2007. In addition, manager Rock died in 2000.
Ray Arthur
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