UK Singles Chart

[Ulitzer95 12,622]

D and E finally completed on Page One.

No longer going to list lengthy round ups as this is already a time consuming exercise. There are plenty of gaps though, especially in E. Any help would be much appreciated! 

[YoungWillz 21,047]

Never found anything for previous posts. I'll have a trip through the acts soon.

 

[YoungWillz 21,047]

Ok, starting at the bottom and moving up if I can.

 

The Exciters.

 

Brenda Reid (Brenda Rooney) Carol (aka Carolyn) Johnson and Lillian Walker (now Lillian Walker-Moss) all were due to graduate high school in Spring 1963 in Jamaica, Long Island, NY: https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/60s/1963/Billboard 1963-03-09.pdf

 

That information might lead you somewhere (yearbooks etc).

 

Nice in depth interview from 2018 with Lillian Walker-Moss here: https://musicguy247.typepad.com/my-blog/2018/09/lillian-walker-moss-the-exciters-the-beatles-1964-us-tour-brenda-reid-leiber-stoller-civil-rights.html but no dob I'm afraid. However, it does say that she lives in Queens, NYC - so that might give you some information. She also has a LinkedIn Page, but you need to be a member to view it!!! (Some form of Therapist).

 

Just because you seem to be looking for dobs for Johnson and Walker.

[Ulitzer95 12,622]

36 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

Ok, starting at the bottom and moving up if I can.

 

The Exciters.

 

Brenda Reid (Brenda Rooney) Carol (aka Carolyn) Johnson and Lillian Walker (now Lillian Walker-Moss) all were due to graduate high school in Spring 1963 in Jamaica, Long Island, NY: https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/60s/1963/Billboard 1963-03-09.pdf

 

That information might lead you somewhere (yearbooks etc).

 

Nice in depth interview from 2018 with Lillian Walker-Moss here: https://musicguy247.typepad.com/my-blog/2018/09/lillian-walker-moss-the-exciters-the-beatles-1964-us-tour-brenda-reid-leiber-stoller-civil-rights.html but no dob I'm afraid. However, it does say that she lives in Queens, NYC - so that might give you some information. She also has a LinkedIn Page, but you need to be a member to view it!!! (Some form of Therapist).

 

Just because you seem to be looking for dobs for Johnson and Walker.

Cheers YW, I’ll have a look through Ancestry tomorrow when at my desk. 
 

I was able to find Walker’s FB page from the full name you’ve given. She was born in Feb. Still can’t find a full date.
 

Seems like a lovely woman judging from her posts. Sadly suffering from a rare form of cancer and in and out of hospital. 

[Ulitzer95 12,622]

@YoungWillz Crunched these through Ancestry.

Found a Lillian Walker, Jamaica NYC born 3/3/1944. When you change the surname to Moss the same records come up through Ancestry. On FB, she says "for my birthday this year" in a fundraising post in mid-Feb so I guess she was posting about it early. I've added the full date to her bio details.

Carolyn "Carol" Johnson... this is harder and I've left it blank for now. There is an Ancestry family tree for a Carolyn Ann Johnson born in Hartford, Connecticut 9/11/1945 and died 7/3/2007 in Amityville, New York. The attached record says she was African American and the Family Tree suggests they moved to Queens as this is where the mother died. Is it possible that sources online have her death wrong and she died 7/3 and not 7/5? Probably. Still not concrete enough for me to add though so will leave it for now. 

[YoungWillz 21,047]

Heavens all these are a nightmare. Anyway..

 

Duane Eddy and The Rebels.

 

Found this clipping online from 1958, which indicates Mike Bermani was from Los Angeles and Ike Clanton (born Gordon Clanton) was from New Orleans, Louisiana. That might help with a bit of research. Not sure if it's the same guy, but this page gives a date of death for Ike Clanton of 9 June 2004: http://www.45spaces.com/deaths-of-notable/a.php?a=ike-clanton as does this page: https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/ike-clanton

 

I think Buddy Wheeler is actually Buddy Wheller, as that's how he was credited on the albums I have seen.

 

Of little help otherwise.

 

Edit: Crap, missed the link to the newspaper: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8148357/grace-granger-and-duane/

[YoungWillz 21,047]

Joey Dee and The Starliters.

 

Not sure how reliable this is, but this page gives approximate dates of birth and probably more importantly places of birth for the band: https://strathdee.wordpress.com/2010/09/02/

 

Admittedly it is ten years ago....

[Ulitzer95 12,622]

3 hours ago, YoungWillz said:

Heavens all these are a nightmare. Anyway..

 

Duane Eddy and The Rebels.

 

Found this clipping online from 1958, which indicates Mike Bermani was from Los Angeles and Ike Clanton (born Gordon Clanton) was from New Orleans, Louisiana. That might help with a bit of research. Not sure if it's the same guy, but this page gives a date of death for Ike Clanton of 9 June 2004: http://www.45spaces.com/deaths-of-notable/a.php?a=ike-clanton as does this page: https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/ike-clanton

 

I think Buddy Wheeler is actually Buddy Wheller, as that's how he was credited on the albums I have seen.

 

Of little help otherwise.

 

Edit: Crap, missed the link to the newspaper: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8148357/grace-granger-and-duane/

Very helpful work this.

Found this awesome blog, confirms Bermani is deceased. I went to Ancestry, and used Los Angeles (put his DOB as 1935 +/- years as that is the span of the DOBs of all the other members), there is only one record for a Michael Bermani anywhere in the States meeting this criteria, never mind California. He was born 1/12/36 in CA and died 10/4/87 in MI. His notes also mention that he went by "Mike". 

Clyde Gordon Clanton was born 11/12/39, in the same part of south Louisiana as his brother Jimmy as per Ancestry. He died 9/6/2004, which matches your find on that link.

Changed Wheeler to Wheller. Now, Jim Horn, Jimmy Troxel and Duane Eddy himself are still alive. So this leaves Wheller as the only one with a question mark over his head. We just need to know his real first name.

[Ulitzer95 12,622]

3 hours ago, YoungWillz said:

Joey Dee and The Starliters.

 

Not sure how reliable this is, but this page gives approximate dates of birth and probably more importantly places of birth for the band: https://strathdee.wordpress.com/2010/09/02/

 

Admittedly it is ten years ago....

I've revised Carlton's age from c. 1939 to c. 1941 as this link seems more trusty than Wikipedia.

Sadly Ancestry turns up everything and nothing. Lattimore is a popular surname in NJ. Willie Davis born circa 1940 similar problems.

I've just finished "G" on page one. A few problems, not too many.

[YoungWillz 21,047]

Goldie and the Gingerbreads.

 

Ginger Panabianco became plain Ginger Bianco. Here is her LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginger-bianco-115351a. Probably not of much help, info turned up says she was originally from Long Island, but if you have the other family connections, that might not matter. Apparently she ran away from home to be a musician by all accounts.

[Ulitzer95 12,622]

20 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

Goldie and the Gingerbreads.

 

Ginger Panabianco became plain Ginger Bianco. Here is her LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginger-bianco-115351a. Probably not of much help, info turned up says she was originally from Long Island, but if you have the other family connections, that might not matter. Apparently she ran away from home to be a musician by all accounts.

Got all of that I'm afraid and still nothing. I must've spent half an hour on Ancestry for her alone and nothing. Similar problem to Buddy Wheller, it's the missing forename. I think hers may be Maria as there is a Maria G. Panabianco born around the same time she would have been, but I can't find a source online to match it to. 

[Sir Creep 7,070]

How is this not extra curricular.  An answer isn’t sufficient.  Only moving this treacle of a thread is.

[Toast 16,140]

5 hours ago, Sir Creep said:

How is this not extra curricular.  An answer isn’t sufficient.  Only moving this treacle of a thread is.

 

It's all about tracing and recording deaths.  How is that not relevant? 

Try to stop being an arsehole.

[Ulitzer95 12,622]

"J" is up on page one.

That was incredibly painful. So many blanks sadly.

[YoungWillz 21,047]

Jimmy James And The Vagabonds.

 

I feel your pain. Phil Chen went on to be in The Doors, he has a facebook page and a Wiki of his own, all of little assistance except he was born in Jamaica and now lives in Los Angeles.

 

Little more on Carl Noel however. His father was Cyrus Noel and his son is Jeremy (born 1967, where, who knows, probably the UK), Jeremy having been adopted and known as Jeremy Jobson. https://jeggmusicandsound.co.uk/page6/Music/index.html and https://jeggmusicandsound.co.uk/Bio/index.html Unsure if Carl Noel was born in Trinidad as per Cyrus' place or origin or Jamaica.

 

Nothing else despite a couple of hours search.

[Ulitzer95 12,622]

4 hours ago, YoungWillz said:

Jimmy James And The Vagabonds.

 

I feel your pain. Phil Chen went on to be in The Doors, he has a facebook page and a Wiki of his own, all of little assistance except he was born in Jamaica and now lives in Los Angeles.

 

Little more on Carl Noel however. His father was Cyrus Noel and his son is Jeremy (born 1967, where, who knows, probably the UK), Jeremy having been adopted and known as Jeremy Jobson. https://jeggmusicandsound.co.uk/page6/Music/index.html and https://jeggmusicandsound.co.uk/Bio/index.html Unsure if Carl Noel was born in Trinidad as per Cyrus' place or origin or Jamaica.

 

Nothing else despite a couple of hours search.

Cheers YW. I'm going to revisit Jimmy James and the Vagabonds and The Johnston Brothers after I flesh out the rest so I will revisit your notes then. I think these two were the worst acts I've come across to date to establish a lineup for.

I've just uploaded "N". Not perfect but much happier with it.

[YoungWillz 21,047]

Tommy James and The Shondelles.

 

George Magura seems to have been born (perhaps) in Greensburg, Pennsylvania as Juraj Magura. He was a music major at Latrobe at the same time as Joe Kessler (history major) and Ron Ransom so they are probably of similar age. In the 1970s he was in Pittsburgh playing in bands. He seems to have died aged around 47, so probably early 90s, possibly in Los Angeles while working with John Williams. All the comments here: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/tommy-james-the-shondells/hanky-panky

 

Not sure what happened to Joe Kessler.

 

Vincent Pietropaoli seems to have been living in the St Louis area in the 1990s: https://www.facebook.com/ShBoomBand/posts/tbt-march-1999-vinnie-pietropaoli-the-drummer-for-tommy-james-the-shondells-perf/10153104317604112/

 

How many Pietropaolis who lived in Penn State made their way to St Louis? Maybe he's traceable through census records.

 

All I got on the missing bods, all of whom were excised post Hanky Panky.

[waynet 9]

I think Alan Dean from the Johnson Brothers is this chap who became a singing coach in Australia.

He died 2018 @ the age of 94

 

https://tributes.smh.com.au/obituaries/23641/alan-dean/

[Ulitzer95 12,622]

2 hours ago, YoungWillz said:

Tommy James and The Shondelles.

 

George Magura seems to have been born (perhaps) in Greensburg, Pennsylvania as Juraj Magura. He was a music major at Latrobe at the same time as Joe Kessler (history major) and Ron Ransom so they are probably of similar age. In the 1970s he was in Pittsburgh playing in bands. He seems to have died aged around 47, so probably early 90s, possibly in Los Angeles while working with John Williams. All the comments here: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/tommy-james-the-shondells/hanky-panky

 

Not sure what happened to Joe Kessler.

 

Vincent Pietropaoli seems to have been living in the St Louis area in the 1990s: https://www.facebook.com/ShBoomBand/posts/tbt-march-1999-vinnie-pietropaoli-the-drummer-for-tommy-james-the-shondells-perf/10153104317604112/

 

How many Pietropaolis who lived in Penn State made their way to St Louis? Maybe he's traceable through census records.

 

All I got on the missing bods, all of whom were excised post Hanky Panky.

From your research, I managed to get full birth and death dates for Magura (added to page one) 

As for Vincent, this did actually help. I found his residency record for 1998-1999 in St Louis on Ancestry. It said born c. 1948 (which matches a Pennsylvania high school year book year estimate I came across at an earlier date). Anyway, it says on the record his wife is Kathleen. Punched that into Google and here they are. That's full name and estimated year of birth. If he dies, I'll be able to fork the record out one day.

Many thanks!

[Ulitzer95 12,622]

1 hour ago, waynet said:

I think Alan Dean from the Johnson Brothers is this chap who became a singing coach in Australia.

He died 2018 @ the age of 94

 

https://tributes.smh.com.au/obituaries/23641/alan-dean/

Yes, you're quite right, this is him. 

Here is a website for him, and it gives a full date of birth and talks about his time with the Keynotes (an associated Johnston Brothers act) and his time spent living in London, Miami and Australia.

I've updated the info on page one. Great find and seeing as that was your first post, welcome to the forum!

[YoungWillz 21,047]

Listening to an interview at the moment with Roy Hoather of The Naturals.

 

I'm excessively interested, given their relationship with Brian Epstein and their cover of The Beatles' number, which I'd say is a great if not superior version, full of drive and enthusiasm! Heresy, I know, right!

 

I've found print interviews everywhere, not one giving a hint of their ages. Not only that, but even though they were all from Harlow New Town, they weren't pals but a disparate group which sort of coalesced together. So they were hardly likely to chat about ages, long enough together to buy birthday presents I'd have thought.

[Ulitzer95 12,622]

2 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

Listening to an interview at the moment with Roy Hoather of The Naturals.

 

I'm excessively interested, given their relationship with Brian Epstein and their cover of The Beatles' number, which I'd say is a great version, full of drive and enthusiasm! Heresy, I know, right!

 

I've found print interviews everywhere, not one giving a hint of their ages. Not only that, but even though they were all from Harlow New Town, they weren't pals but a disparate group which sort of coalesced together. So they were hardly likely to chat about ages, long enough together to buy birthday presents I'd have thought.

I read a print interview myself... I think it was with Roy, and he was stressing that although Lennon and McCartney wrote the hit, The Naturals recorded their version first. The Beatles then supposedly liked the sound of it so much they ended up recording a version and it was released before The Naturals version was! Hence their version never got off the ground. You could say The Beatles made and destroyed them!

I found Hoather on Facebook. He's still fairly active and he's set up a page for The Naturals where he talks about later working with Curtis Cresswell on other projects, though none of the rest of the group appear to have interacted with the page and Hoather hasn't mentioned what became of any of them.

Once I finish the remaining 10 letters I'm going to send some emails out requesting info and I imagine he'll be someone I contact. I reckon this approach might help tick off another few acts, probably a few 60s British bands at the least. Sadly I think some acts have (or are about to) slip away from living memory which is why Collins/Guinness/Virgin shouldn't have given up on publishing chart books just because digital downloads came in!

[YoungWillz 21,047]

2 minutes ago, Ulitzer95 said:

I read a print interview myself... I think it was with Roy, and he was stressing that although Lennon and McCartney wrote the hit, The Naturals recorded their version first. The Beatles then supposedly liked the sound of it so much they ended up recording a version and it was released before The Naturals version was! Hence their version never got off the ground. You could say The Beatles made and destroyed them!

I found Hoather on Facebook. He's still fairly active and he's set up a page for The Naturals where he talks about later working with Curtis Cresswell on other projects, though none of the rest of the group appear to have interacted with the page and Hoather hasn't mentioned what became of any of them.

Once I finish the remaining 10 letters I'm going to send some emails out requesting info and I imagine he'll be someone I contact. I reckon this approach might help tick off another few acts, probably a few 60s British bands at the least. Sadly I think some acts have (or are about to) slip away from living memory which is why Collins/Guinness/Virgin shouldn't have given up on publishing chart books just because digital downloads came in!

Well, we got as far as "do you keep in touch with any of the others" to which Roy says "oh yes but we are spread far and wide, Spain, up North" and instead of pressing the point off they go at a tangent!

 

Apparently they get together every so often, sans the deceased Potter. But no idea which one or more is in Spain!

[Ulitzer95 12,622]

4 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

Well, we got as far as "do you keep in touch with any of the others" to which Roy says "oh yes but we are spread far and wide, Spain, up North" and instead of pressing the point off they go at a tangent!

 

Apparently they get together every so often, sans the deceased Potter. But no idea which one or more is in Spain!

Hoather's FB says he lives in Spain. Never understood the British mentality of moving to Spain personally (seems particularly popular amongst musicians and actors of a certain generation). It's an overrated place full of English pubs and all the villas look and smell the same but each to their own I suppose. 

[YoungWillz 21,047]

Nero And The Gladiators.

 

Colin Green seems to have been quite a prolific musician, becoming a member of, then leaving, then rejoining Georgie Fame And The Blue Flames. His home page is here: http://colingreen.co.uk/index.html says at the bottom he is living in South Oxfordshire with his missus Christine and son Morgan, so some family there.

 

Can't seem to find anything indicating his age.

 

Haven't been able to trace a Will and Probate for Laurence Jacobs aka Laurie Jay, or anything in the intestate estates. Maybe he died abroad?