The Calvanes

Silky Smooth and So Cool

The Calvanes were one of the sweetest sounding of all the harmony groups they were silky smooth and so cool. This Los Angeles group brought us some of the most beautiful group harmony music during their brief recording career. The original members first got together at Manual Arts High School in South-Central Los Angeles in 1954. They were Lorenzo "Bobby" Adams, Sterling Meade, Stewart Crunk and Jack Harris. One day Carlyle Dundee aka Robert Mosely overheard heard the than "wannabes" rehearsing and stated that he had contacts in the music industry and had two songs that he wanted to record, with him as lead singer. After a few rehearsals and an introduction to producer Lee Silver, we did his songs as The Dundees." After they recorded the two songs, "Never" and "Evil One" under the name Carlyle Dundee & the Dundees, Dundee himself left the group. The remaining four background singers stayed with Silver long enough to record two more songs, with "Bobby" Adams as lead under the name The Wonders. Shortly afterward, the quartet broke up.  

In the late spring '55 Crunk and Adams decided to get back together. After recruiting Jack Harris, they found Joe Hampton and than Herman Pruitt, who had a smooth, soulful way with ballads. They called themselves The Calvanes, an odd name that Crunk came up with because, as he said at the time, "It just sounded good." To prepare themselves for the big time, the quintet paid Cornelius Gunter of the then-popular Flairs (and later of The Coasters) to whip them into musical shape. "We could go out and sing R&B or straight pop music," said Pruitt. "We could sound completely white if we wanted to." But in August 1955, when they visited Walter "Tootsie" Williams, whose Dootone label, located at his home at 95th and Central Avenue, was hot thanks to the success of The Penguins' "Earth Angel," Williams wanted to hear only R&B, and more specifically their own material. Stewart Crunk, the group's bespectacled tunesmith, happened to have a song or two.

 

The Calvanes recorded at least seven original songs for Dootone. The first single was Crunk's ballad, "Don't Take Your Love (From Me)," backed by an uptempo number, "Crazy Over You," written by a local girl named Nellie Brown. Pruitt sang lead on both sides. The record did great business around California and landed them on a couple of TV shows, including Hunter Hancock's "Rhythm & Bluesville. Unfortunately, their second single, "Florabelle," pleased neither the group nor record buyers, or even Tootsie Williams, who later admitted that he had recorded the song as a form of payola to the disc jockey who had written it. Against the wishes of the Calvanes, that song went down the tubes and they broke up again in '57 after a dispute with Dootsie.

 The Calvanes regrouped as a quartet in 1958 when Bobby Adams, Herman Pruitt and Stewart Crunk and recruited Freddie Willis, and recorded two singles for Hite Morgan's Deck label. When Willis was drafted into the Army, Adams, Pruitt and Crunk picked up Sidney Dunbar and recorded for RCA as The Nuggets. However, by 1962 they were all fed up with the music business and departed to find regular jobs. Bobby Adams eventually became a decorated Los Angeles cop and professional bodyguard for Mayor Tom Bradley and later head of security for singers Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. Jack Harris went into private business and Joe Hampton worked for Los Angeles County.

In the late 1990, Bobby, Herman and Freddie resurrected The Calvanes by adding singer Jimmy Corbitt (replacing Stewart Crunk, who had died in 1967). They recorded a single for Bruce Patch's Classic Arts Records, performed at the Greek Theater and Universal Amphitheater in Hollywood, traveled east several times to sing in Pittsburgh and New Jersey, and recorded with vocalist Big Sandy on his acclaimed 1998 Hightone CD, "Dedicated to You", a tribute to Los Angeles R&B of the 1950s. Than in early 1991, the "Calvanes" became the "Tune Weavers," backing the late Margo Sylvia at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles. They were so impressive that the "Calvanes" were again invited back to the Amphitheater and provided the opening act for a Doo Wop show featuring the Spaniels, and the Flamingos. During the last few years the "Calvanes", in addition to performing their own recordings, have provided background vocals while performing with Richard Berry, Gaynell Hodge of the  Turks , George Grant of the Castelles, Jewel Akins, and Leon Peels of the  Blue Jays.  

In 1996, the "Calvanes" were voted the UGHA'S Group of the Year. The group was invited to the east coast, where they received the prestigious award and performed in New Jersey and Pittsburgh. The group has returned to the area on several occasions, and rendered outstanding performances to their many fans. Today the Calvanes are one of the most beloved of all Los Angeles groups. They weren't particularly successful back then, but they’re revered today.

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