The Crests

The Crests, one of the most popular of the '50s "doo-wop" vocal groups, formed in 1955 in Manhattan, NY. They were quite unusual for their time in that they were a thoroughly integrated group--two black males (J.T. Carter and Talmadge Gough), a black female (Patricia Van Dross, sister of Luther Vandross), a Puerto Rican (Harold Torres) and an Italian (John Mastrangelo, aka Johnny Maestro). They began performing at various hospitals, charity functions, dances and other venues in their neighborhoods (Gough, Vandross and Torres came from housing projects in Chinatown, and Carter came from the Delancey Street neighborhood). In 1956 Maestro, from Mulberry Street in the Italian section, met the group while they were singing at a neighborhood gathering place known as the Henry Street Settlement House. Maestro, who had previously sang in other integrated vocal groups, liked what he heard, and his strong voice and an instinctual feel for R&B impressed the group, so they joined forces. Calling themselves The Crests, they refined and polished their sound with the help of an old neighborhood singer known as Mr. Morrow and the cavernous spaces of the New York City subway system. One night they were practicing their harmonies while riding in a nearly empty car on the Lexington IRT line, and as the car pulled into the station a woman passenger got up, went over to them and handed them a business card--it turned out she was the wife of Al Browne, a well-known arranger and producer. The next day they called him, arranged an audition and it wasn't long before they were in a studio recording some of Maestro's original songs. Joyce Records released both of them, "Sweetest One" and "My Juanita", and "Sweetest One" hit the charts at #86. They released a third single, "No One to Love", and then went out and did shows for the next year. A fortuitous meeting with veteran music producer George Paxton resulted in a deal with Paxton's newly formed Coed Records (minus Patricia Van Dross, whose mother refused to let her go out on tour with the group).

Their first release for Coed, "Pretty Little Angel", started out well in the New York area, but then faded quickly. Their next release, "Beside You", was a ballad. Popular New York DJ Alan Freed and TV producer Dick Clark got their copies and, apparently, didn't care too much for it. However, they did care for the record's "B" side, "16 Candles". It got considerable airplay and hit the Billboard Hot 100 charts in late 1958 and the R&B charts in early 1959. It was a huge hit, reaching #2 on the charts, and resulted in the group's being added to the roster at Freed's Christmas rock-'n'-roll show at the Brooklyn Fox theater, along with such icons as Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. They also played the famed Apollo Theater and appeared on Clark's radio version of his famous "American Bandstand" TV show. They were in such demand that for almost two years, between 1958-60, they were continuously on the road. They continued pumping out hits ("The Angels Listened In", "Step by Step", "Trouble in Paradise"), and Coed Records soon let it be known that they wanted Maestro to go out on his own. He did so in 1960, and the group went through several personnel changes ("I Remember" was the last single with all the original members) over the next few years, and signed with a variety of labels, but never repeated their previous successes.