Little Anthony and the Imperials
Tom Simon
recorded in different decades, with different personnel, and for different
labels, but always came up with a good sound and some good songs.
Anthony Gourdine was born in New York City in 1940. At age fifteen he
joined a doowop group called the Duponts, but it folded a short time
later. He then founded his own group with Clarence Collins, Tracy Lourd,
Glouster "Nat" Rogers and Ernest Wright, Jr.; they called themselves
the Chesters. They made one record, performed at the Apollo, and then
changed the name of the group at the suggestion of DJ Alan Freed -- to
the Imperials.
Little Anthony and the Imperials then proceeded to sign a record deal with
End Records. Their first single on that label -- which proved to be
their biggest song ever -- was Tears On My Pillow in 1958. Two years
later they had another top forty song for End with Shimmy, Shimmy,
Ko-Ko-Bop. Then the group split up.
In 1964 the group re-formed with a slightly different line-up. This time
it was Anthony, Wright, Collins and Sammy Strain. They signed with the
DCP label and came up with a string of hits in 1964 and 1965: I'm On The
Outside [Lookin' In], Goin' Out Of My Head, Hurt So Bad, and others.
From 1958 to 1974, Little Anthony and the Imperials placed ten songs in
the top 100, and only one on the British charts [Better Use Your Head in
1966]. They recorded for a variety of labels over the years.
Sammy Strain left in 1975 and joined the O'Jays, and was replaced by
Kenny Seymour. Anthony finally left the group to go on his own and
became a born-again Christian. In 1980 his inspirational album Daylight
was produced by B. J. Thomas. The Imperials on their own managed to put
one song on the British charts in the 70's. Some compilations have been
put together by Liberty.
Little Anthony is still active in the music business. He is a link to
the glory days of rock-and-roll.
Margaret R Thomas
>As a disc jockey during that era, I kept noticing the name
>"Teddy Randazzo", as both the songwriter and producer
>on Little Anthony records. I assumed he was the creative
>brains and force behind their sound. I never saw his name
>on any other records ... nor have I never seen any info on
>him. Do you have any?
Dan...
It's weird that you bring this very observation up...I was playing my
Little Anthony Greatest Hits album last weekend and noticed the very
same thing when reading the back of the album.....I *do* know that
Mr. Randazzo recorded, "Big, Wide World" around 62-63 (?)...don't
know if he recorded anything else that charted....I'll leave that to
the "experts"...
Margaret
>
>I bought a cd collection of Little Anthony a couple days ago,
>there's something hilarious about Little Anthony, who sounds
>like an early version of today's Michael Jackson, not the epitome
>of macho, on Take Me Back: "I promise never to be ...
>JEALOUS ... anymore ..."
>
>My daughter put it best ... "and you think MY music is weird!"
>
dog...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
: In article <4h0ee0$8...@news.onramp.net>, Dan Cutrer <can...@onramp.net> wrote:
: >As a disc jockey during that era, I kept noticing the name
: >"Teddy Randazzo", as both the songwriter and producer
: >on Little Anthony records. I assumed he was the creative
: >brains and force behind their sound. I never saw his name
: >on any other records ... nor have I never seen any info on
: >him. Do you have any?
: Dan...
: It's weird that you bring this very observation up...I was playing my
: Little Anthony Greatest Hits album last weekend and noticed the very
: same thing when reading the back of the album.....I *do* know that
: Mr. Randazzo recorded, "Big, Wide World" around 62-63 (?)...don't
: know if he recorded anything else that charted....I'll leave that to
: the "experts"...
: Margaret
Teddy Randazzo had two charted hits that I recall (and have), "The Way of
a Clown" (1960) and the aforementioned "Big Wide World" (1963). He was
also featured prominently in the 1957 Alan Freed movie "Rock! Rock!
Rock!", which also featured Chuck Berry, Tuesday Weld, Laverne Baker,
Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers. The movie was released on video by The
Nostalgia Merchant, and shouldn't be too hard to find.
- Brian
--
John Frank
>il...@cc.Helsinki.FI (Jyrki T Ilva) wrote in
><4h9iev$6...@oravannahka.helsinki.fi>:
>| [Teddy Randazzo] also produced the Royalettes on MGM - they had only two
>| charted songs ("It's Gonna Take a Miracle" and "I Want to Meet Him", both
>| in 1965),
...if you don't count the Bubbling Under Charts:
Blue Summer #121
Poor Boy #113
You Bring Me Down #116
>but they made lots of great records, many of them co-written by
>| Randazzo. They were probably the most sophisticated of all sixties girl
>| groups, and also one one of the best.
>| I think that Ichiban is planning to release a collection
>| of their recordings - that's really something to look forward to!
>Not planning: have done. Ichiban Soul Classics SCL 2110-2 is in my hands as
>I type; I bought it Thursday (and plan to listen to it this afternoon). It
>has eighteen tracks from the Royalettes' time with MGM:
There's also a German import on Mar:The Velvelettes Meet the
Royalettes (absolutely NO liner notes while Ichiban's notes are,as
always, in depth) which includes:
There He Goes*
It's a Big Mistake
Lonely Girl*
Can't Stop Running Away*
Don't You Cry
Yes I'm Ready*
It's Gonna Take a Miracle
I Want to Meet Him
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Take My Love (And Hide It from My Heart)
(He Is) My Man
Come to Me*
Blue Summer*
It's Better Not to Know
River of Tears*
*not on Ichiban CD--may have been done for other labels...
Being a chart fanatic, it was interesting to me that "I Want to Meet
Him" charted two points higher on the R&B charts than "It's Gonna Take
a Miracle" (26,28), whereas on the Hot 100 fortunes were reversed with
"Miracle" getting to #41 and "meet Him" only to #72. I never even
heard "Meet Him" until I found their album in the early 80s, but found
it haunting and beautiful.
John
Mike Arcidiacono
Its very good, but not outstanding. Still, I'll take any good girl groups
on Cd these days...and these girls were one of the best...too bad the songs
really were not up to it, but I like them anyway!!
--
Mr.Action