Oldies But Goodies Doo Wop Cruise

The story of the Harptones goes back to the streets of Harlem in the early 50s. First, there was a group called the Skylarks, comprised of William Dempsey James, always known as "William Dempsey”, Curtis Cherebin, and Freddy Taylor. They began their street-corner serenades around 115th Street and 7th Avenue in 1951. Soon the trio expanded into a quartet, with the addition of Eugene "Sonny" Cooke future lead of the Charmers on Timely, and then a quintet when "Skillum" joined. A trip to the Apollo Theater's Wednesday night amateur show ended in disaster when they were booed off the stage.

Another group around at the time was the Winfield Brothers, which consisted of Willie Winfield, his brothers Clyde and Jimmy, his brother-in-law Johnny Bronson, and William "Dicey" Galloway. Singing seems to be in the Winfield blood: one of Willie's cousins by marriage was Dickie Smith of the 5 Keys; another was George Winfield of the Chateaus group. The Winfield Brothers were one of the few Manhattan Doo Wop groups that didn't come from Harlem. All of them except Dicey were from the Lower East Side.  Members of both groups combined, under the tutelage of pianist and arranger Raoul Cita. When the dust settled, the members were: Willie Winfield (tenor), Billy Brown (bass) Claudie "Nicky" Clark (first tenor) William Dempsey (second tenor), William "Dicey" Galloway (baritone), and Raoul Cita accompanist, arranger, and occasional tenor and baritone.

The win almost led to the big time for the Harps. A representative from M-G-M Records was in the audience and asked them to look him up. They went down to his office and, to kill time while waiting for him to show up, they naturally started singing in the hallway. That hallway was in 1650 Broadway, and there were plenty of other ears around to hear them. Four of those ears belonged to Morty Craft and Leo Rogers who were partners with Monte Bruce in the newly-formed Bruce Records. Almost immediately, in November 1953, the three partners herded the Harps into a studio and, despite Willie having a bad cold, "A Sunday Kind Of Love" and "I'll Never Tell" became the first songs recorded by the group. Note that Cita wrote the two line introduction that Billy Brown sang: "I'm through with my old love; I loved her through and through, I'm searching for a new love; can that new love be you?"

At the last minute, to avoid confusion with a Harps gospel group, Cita had them change their name to the more familiar "Harptones" or "Harp-Tones" as it was spelled on the record. The two sides were released in December 1953, as the first Bruce record. "A Sunday Kind Of Love" started taking off, but was hampered by poor distribution. This was, unfortunately, to be a hallmark of Harptones' records for their entire career. The disc was distributed throughout the Northeast, down to Washington, D.C., and out to Chicago, doing well on local charts wherever it went. You have to wonder how R&B history would have been changed if only the M-G-M representative had been around when the Harptones showed up. .

The next Bruce record, released in March 1954, was "My Memories Of You" and "It Was Just For Laughs".  This coincided with their appearance at the Apollo Theater. That same month, the Harptones appeared at the "Festival of Music and Dance," held at Manhattan's Savoy Ballroom, and sponsored by WLIB radio station.

Once again, a Harptones release did very well locally; "My Memories Of You" made the local charts in New York and Newark. On May 1, 1954, the Harptones were one of the acts that appeared with Alan Freed in his triumphant "Moondog Coronation Ball" at the Newark Armory. They shared the stage with the Clovers, Charles Brown, and the Buddy Johnson Orchestra featuring sister Ella Johnson and Nolan Lewis. Then it was on to the Howard Theater (in D.C.) with Johnny Ace and Willie Mae Thornton one of Duke and Peacock's biggest acts, was barnstorming the whole country.

It was now that Bruce issued the third Harptones record two more songs late December: "I Depended On You" and "Mambo Boogie." In July 1954 saw the fourth Bruce disc: "Forever Mine" and "Why Should I Love You." With the Shytans back-up band, another Bruce act. Also in July, the Harptones were loaned out to Essex Records to back up female singer Bunny Paul's cover of the Drifters' "Honey Love." The flip was the Harptones own "I'll Never Tell". The rights to which were owned by Bruce, Craft, and Rogers, so if Bunny were to hit it big with "Honey Love". The record was released in August, but failed to take off because of the lyrics, which are mild by today's standards.

The record was banned by several radio stations and did not get the on air playtime.

Their next record released was in November 1954 "Since I Fell For You" and "Oobidee-Oobidee-Oo." When these had been recorded, William "Dicey" Galloway had been drafted; Cita sang his part at the session, after which former Skylarks member Freddy Taylor joined to replace Dicey. Shortly later the Harptones found themselves at the Apollo Theater, with the Buddy Johnson Orchestra. This was memorable because it was Buddy who'd written "Since I Fell For You" back in 1948 the first sung on record by his sister, Ella Johnson. The record did well locally again, but the Harptones were being cheated out of national recognition by Bruce's poor distribution.

The Harptones started the New Year in the company of Alan Freed which was Alan's first New York appearance, the "Rock And Roll Jubilee" at the St. Nicholas Arena. Acts included Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, the Clovers, the Moonglows, Red Prysock, Fats Domino, and the Buddy Johnson Orchestra.

March 1955 saw the release of two more tunes "I Almost Lost My Mind" and "Ou Wee Baby" The following month, those two songs, plus "Forever Mine" and "A Sunday Kind Of Love" appeared on the first Bruce Vinyl album. A second album, a bootleg issued in the early 60s, contained "My Memories Of You," "Mambo Boogie," "I'll Never Tell," and the previously-unissued "High Flying Baby."

In May, Bruce records broke up, with Leo Rogers picking up the company from Monte Bruce and Morty Craft. Rogers, who kept the Harptones, brought them to Hy Weiss, owner of Old Town Records. Weiss at first started up Old Town's Paradise subsidiary to handle the Harptones. They had their first session in May 1955, at which they recorded four more songs. The incomparable "Life Is But A Dream" ~ "You Know You're Doing Me Wrong" ~ "My Success (It All Depends On You)" and "You're Going To Need My Help Someday". In June, the first two titles were released as Paradise 101.

Once again, it was a matter of a Harptones record taking off in many local areas, but on a label that could not capitalize on it. While "Life Is But A Dream" was the Harptones biggest seller, it too failed to make the national charts. In truth, had they been with a company with coast-to-coast distribution. The Harptones could have been one of the group chart-toppers of the day, right up there with the Clovers, the Drifters, the Dominoes, the 5 Keys, the Flamingos, the Moonglows, and the Midnighters.

While at Old Town, the Harptones did some backup work for some female acts. There was "I Love You Baby" and "Dreaming Is No Good For You," behind Peggy Farmer, and "School Boy" and another version of "Dreaming Is No Good For You," with Ruth McFadden. "School Boy" was a female version of "Loving A Girl Like You," a song which the Harptones had recorded for Bruce, but which wouldn't be released until 1961. They had another session, held in August, which saw four more tracks laid down: "I've Got A Notion" ~ "On Sunday Afternoon" ~ "Mambo Boogie" and "School Girl". Another tune done for Rama was "I Got A Fine Little Girl," featuring William Dempsey in the lead.

In November, the second and final Paradise record by the Harptones was issued: "My Success (It All Depends On You)" and "I've Got A Notion." Also in November the Harptones played another week at the Apollo, this time, as part of a Dr. Jive show. They shared the stage with Bo Diddley, Bill Doggett, the Jacks, the Flamingos, Dakota Staton, the Heartbeats, Howling Wolf, Etta James, and the Willis "Gator Tail" Jackson Orchestra. By the end of the year, Leo Rogers had pulled the Harptones away from Old Town. He had just set up Andrea Records with his new partner Sid Arky , and the Harptones ended having a single Andrea release, issued in March 1956: "What Is Your Decision" and "Gimmie Some". Also, they recorded another version of "My Memories Of You" and "High Flyin' Baby."

But who were the Harptones at this point? Both Nicky Clark and Billy Brown had departed, and Cita had picked up Bobby Spencer, who had sung, formally or informally, with about half the New York groups around at the time. So for that session, the group was Willie Winfield, Raoul Cita, William Dempsey, Jimmy Beckum, and Bobby Spencer. This was the only session Bobby Spencer was on; Billy Brown returned soon after. Cita, who liked to make as many voices blend as possible, also decided to have the Joytones with Vicki Burgess, Margaret Moore, and Lynn Daniels join in on "What Is Your Decision." As usual, the latest Harptones release had poor distribution.

Sometime in the spring of 1956, the Harptones were selected to record some songs for a movie called Rockin' The Blues. "Mambo Boogie," "Ou Wee Baby," and "High Flying Baby"; songs not typical of the Harptones' sound, thus became the only visual record of the group. Audiences could see Willie Winfield, William Dempsey, Billy Brown, Raoul Cita, and Freddy Taylor, who had briefly returned because Jimmy Beckum had quit; his mother, in South Carolina, had become ill, and Jimmy had to care for her.

Rockin' The Blues was filmed at the Sunset Studios in Harlem. This film had the thinnest of plots, used to connect DJ Hal Jackson introducing several acts of varying popularity, although not singing their current releases. The story line centered on comedians Mantan Moreland who had played "Birmingham Brown" in many of the Charlie Chan movies. The movie was produced by music impresario Fritz Pollard who had been the first black All-American football player, and who was currently the manager of the Solitaires and Leslie Uggams. It contains some incredibly primitive editing (for example, much of Hal Jackson's speech is out of synch with the picture, and the scenes with Moreland and Miller seem to be inserted almost at random, instead of in any logical order). There is also some unintentional comedy when black actors and actresses are filing into the theater as the "audience," and then the camera cuts to a spliced-in stock scene of an all-white audience.

Soon after this, William "Dicey" Galloway was discharged from the army and returned to the Harptones, replacing Freddy Taylor. While Billy Brown had returned in time for the movie, Nicky Clark didn't; presumably he had rejoined the 5 Crowns at this time. The Harptones needed a replacement for Nicky because of scheduled appearances and turned to Harriet "Toni" Williams (second tenor and baritone).

Billy Brown was the one who suggested Toni to Cita, realizing that she knew all their arrangements. She auditioned and Cita liked the sound. Fortunately, her mother was amenable to having her travel with a bunch of guys and, within a few days, Toni was appearing with the Harptones at the Howard Theater. Since she was both a dancer and a girl, she brought a whole new dimension to the group (Billy and Dempsey also participated in the dance routines). The Harptones were now Willie Winfield, Billy Brown, William "Dicey" Galloway, William Dempsey, Toni Williams, and Raoul Cita. Toni's place in the Joytones had been taken by Vickie Burgess, who led their recordings; she would join the Harptones in the 1990s.

In May of 1956, Cita put together the "Royale Cita Chorus," consisting of the three groups he rehearsed: the Harptones, the Joytones with Vickie Burgess, Barbara Brown, and Margaret Moore, and the Lyrics. The Lyrics, who never recorded except as part of the chorus, consisted of Ronald "Tweetie" Ellis (lead), Willie Boddie (second tenor), Freddy Taylor (tenor/baritone/bass), and Curtis Cherebin (baritone/bass). Freddy and Curtis, of course, had been singing together since the days of the Skylarks.

Cita now had a dozen singers at his disposal and he brought them to the attention of George Goldner, owner of Rama and Gee; both the Harptones and the Joytones ended up with Rama recording contracts. The chorus first recorded on May 2, 1956, the day when the Joytones recorded "Gee What A Boy!" On that day, they backed up Mabel King on "Symbol Of Love." Their next session was on August 7, when the Harptones recorded "That's The Way It Goes" for Rama; Cita used the chorus to fill out the sound on that side but not on the flip, "Three Wishes". That same day, they backed up Mabel King again, this time on "Second Hand Love." Finally, they recorded "I Understand" and "Chang Chang A-Lang" under the name of the "Royale Cita Chorus." All of these songs were released in August 1956. A couple weeks later, the Harptones were part of Alan Freed's Labor Day show at the Brooklyn Paramount. Other acts included Mabel King, the Joytones, the Teenagers, theCleftones (all Goldner acts), Fats Domino, the Penguins, and Joe Turner.

In Sepember, the Harptones had another session for Goldner. The three songs recorded were: "On Sunday Afternoon,"~ "The Shrine Of Saint Cecilia," and "Ou Wee Baby". Before anything was released from this session, however, Leo Rogers issued "My Memories Of You" and "High Flyin' Baby" both of which had been recorded at the Andrea session in the spring. These tunes came out on Rogers and Arky's new Tip Top label in September.

Rockin' The Blues opened at the Apollo Theater on October 19, 1956, when the acts onstage were the Wheels, Sugar & Spice, Marie Knight, and Pigmeat Markham. Strangely, it wasn't nominated for any Academy Awards.

There was another Rama session held on October 26, at which Willie led the Harptones on "The Masquerade Is Over." It was released in November, with "On Sunday Afternoon" on the flip. Later that month, the Harptones backed up young Carol Blades on "What Did I Do Wrong" and "When Will I Know," which were released in February 1957. That same month, "The Shrine Of Saint Cecilia"and "Ou Wee Baby" were paired as the Harptones' third and final Rama releases.

January 17, 1957 saw another Rama session, from which nothing was ever released. The Harptones recorded the first version of "So Good, So Fine, You're Mine," the second version of "What Is Your Secret," and the first version of "Until The Real Thing Comes Along." At this point, the group had been stable for a year: Willie, Dicey, Dempsey, Cita, Toni, and Billy. But tragedy was about to strike. In the early spring of 1957, on the night before a recording session, Billy Brown died from a drug overdose. While their recording session was cancelled it was rescheduled for the following day.

The group was contractually obligated to make an appearance at Philadelphia's Uptown Theater, missing the funeral. Only Toni attended, taking a bus both ways and making it back for the show. Willie almost made it to the funeral, but got lost on the highway. Billy Brown was ultimately replaced by Curtis Cherebin, who had been recommended by Billy Brown for the job in the first place.Curtis joined just in time for the Harptones to appear at the Apollo for the week beginning on April 5. This was a "Disc Jockey Favorites" show, which also had Annie Laurie, Nappy Brown, the Federals, Al Jackson, and the Willis Jackson Orchestra. Right after that, they appeared at Alan Freed's Easter show at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater. Other acts included the Pearls, G-Clefs, Solitaires, Del Vikings, Cellos, and Cleftones. The other tragedy that occurred at this time was George Goldner selling his Rama, Gee, Tico, and Roulette labels to Morris Levy in March 1957 for the $250,000 needed to pay off his gambling debts.

Soon after Billy died, Raoul Cita left the Harptones. He teamed up with Washington D.C.'s Gloria Hawkins, waxing a couple of records for Deluxe, as "Roy and Gloria", including the original release of "So Good, So Fine" although the Harptones had already recorded an unreleased version in January. While Roy's performance was usually credited to Roy Gaines. In those days, his nickname was "Roy," although he is more usually known as just Cita. While Cita would continue to do some occasional arranging for the Harptones, he would not appear with them again until 1964, although he sang on their first couple of Warwick recordings in 1959.

In June, Rama had them record a second version of "Until The Real Thing Comes Along," but it was never released either. On August 30, they began a Labor Day week show at the Apollo with DJ Jocko Henderson. The other acts were: Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, Big Maybelle, Lee Andrews & Hearts, the Cookies, Little Joe & Thrillers, and the Reuben Phillips Orchestra.

On October 7, 1957 the Harptones returned to the studio to record "Cry Like I Cried" (Willie), the second version of "So Good, So Fine" (Willie & Toni), and the third version of "What Is Your Secret" which still wasn't felt to be worthy of release. That same month, "Cry Like I Cried," backed with "So Good, So Fine" was issued on the Gee label. Due to Rama suspending their operations. Also in October, Harriet "Toni" Williams became Harriet Brown when she married Billy Brown's brother, Bobby. All the guys were at the wedding and they all performed together.

Soon after this, William "Dicey" Galloway left the Harptones. He was replaced by Milton Love, lead of the Solitaires at some appearances, but that didn't work out, and within a few months the Harptones had broken up. Harriet "Toni" Williams ended up in the Solitaires. In 1964, divorced from Bobby Brown, she married their tenor/baritone, Reggie Barnes. She would go on to be a dance instructor in the 60s and a DJ in the 70s and 80s.

Toni says that Cita was missed in the Harptones. They got a guitarist to do the arranging, but he just wasn't Cita. Dempsey became their manager and Willie their road manager, but without a regular booking agent and a hit record, it got tougher to get gigs.

For about a year New York existed without the Harptones. But in early 1959, Morty Craft, who had just started his Warwick label, convinced the group to get back together. This time-out, the Harptones consisted of Willie Winfield, Nicky Clark, Curtis Cherebin, William Dempsey, and Raoul Cita; they were backed, once again, by the Joytones. Their first session for Warwick produced "Laughing On The Outside" a song that Jimmy Beckum had done, with his group the Majors, back in 1951 and "I Remember," which were released in March.

The group's second Warwick session yielded "Love Me Completely" and "Hep Teenager," two tunes that were released in June 1959. The next, and last, Warwick session was held around a year later. When "No Greater Miracle" and "What Kind Of Fool" were recorded; they were released in May 1960. By this time, Nicky Clark had departed again, to be replaced by one of his buddies from the old 5 Crowns, Wilbur "Yonkie" Paul who does lead on "What Kind Of Fool. Soon after, Yonkie was replaced by Hank "Pompi" Jernigan.

Next, songwriter Billy Dawn Smith signed the Harptones to the Coed label. They had a single release in September 1960: "Rain Down Kisses" and "Answer Me My Love." Smith was put in charge of Coed's Companion subsidiary, and that's where the Harptones' next session took place, in January 1961.

The four songs recorded were "All In Your Mind" an answer to Maxine Brown's smash hit "All In My Mind" , "The Last Dance," ~ "What Will I Tell My Heart," and "Foolish Me." All were led by Willie, except for "The Last Dance," which was fronted by Hank Jernigan. The first two were issued on Companion in January 1961. When these failed to take off, the other two were released in April. As poor a showing as "What Will I Tell My Heart" made, it the national charts (peaking at #96). It was a venerable tune, having been written in 1937 by, among others, Jack Lawrence (who would go on to write "If I Didn't Care").

Strangely, with their first chart hit under their collective belt, the Harptones left Companion for M-G-M's Cub subsidiary. On July 7, 1961 they recorded "Devil In Velvet" and "Your Love Is A Good Love" which were released the same month. By the time of this session, Jimmy Beckum had returned to the group, to replace Hank Jernigan.

In 1961, probably to celebrate the Harptones' new-found chart success, Leo Rogers, who still owned the rights to the Bruce material. He finally got around to releasing "Loving A Girl Like You" and "High Flying Baby," two songs which had been recorded in 1953. There's a group backing Mabel King on her 1963 Amy release, "Love" and "We Get The Word," but Cita says that was the Delta Four, not the Harptones.

Although the Harptones were being relegated to an "oldies" act by this time, there was one more original recording. In early 1964 they did "Sunset" and "I Gotta Have Your Love" for Warren Troob's KT label. This group consisted of Willie Winfield, Jimmy Beckum, William Dempsey, Nicky Clark, and Raoul Cita. After this, Willie Winfield, mainstay of the Harptones, decided to quit the group. There were few bookings anymore, and it was just better to concentrate on a paying job.

The Harptones tried it one more time. Hank Jernigan returned, and, with Nicky Clark, Curtis Cherebin, William Dempsey, Freddy Taylor, and Raoul Cita, recorded "The Little White Cloud That Cried" led by Nicky) and "I Believe In You", led by Hank. Possibly feeling that without Willie there was no Harptones, the group called themselves the "Soothers." The disc was released, in July 1964, on the Port label (a subsidiary of Jubilee).

In the early 70s, Willie and Cita teamed up with Curtis Cherebin, William Dempsey, and Jimmy Beckum to do some performances. When those met with some success, Willie and Cita decided to make it a semi-permanent To this end, they recruited Lowe Murray (formerly of the Fi-Tones) and Linda Champion, a lineup that would last for many years. This is the group that created in 1982 the Love Needs A Heart album for Ambient Sound. Than in 1983, through the efforts of their booking agent, they got to back up Paul Simon on a single-track on his Hearts And Bones album: "Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War." Cita couldn't remember how the deal was set up, but he thinks it's possible that Simon specifically asked for them.

In 1990, Lynn "Sugah" Middleton Grier who had been a member of the Joytones, replaced Linda Champion, but when Sugah died in 1994, Linda returned to the group. She remained until 1999, when she retired for good, to be replaced by another Joytone, Vickie Burgess who'd also been in the Charmers.

The Harptones were honored by UGHA as "Class Group of the Year" in 1990 and 1992, inducted into the Brooklyn Hall of Fame in 1991, received the Rhythm and Blues Foundation award in 1998 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002. In 1999 they performed on Doo Wop 50, which as televised across the country on most PBS stations, which they have shown many times since.

Today, Willie Winfield, Raoul J. Cita, William Dempsey James, Marlowe Murray, and Vickie Burgess continue to perform and thrill audiences all over the world. These musical pioneers have had significant influence and major impact on many other vocal groups. They have contributed to the growth of rock 'n' roll and have given the world a musical legacy that is second to none. Their credentials speak for themselves. Without question they unquestionably deserve to be nominated and inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.