The Crests The Best Of The Crest (LP)

In order to examine the way rock 'n' roll began as a marriage of black and white popular musics, one need only look at the number of racially mixed vocal groups that emerged during rock's chaotic origin. The first to garner national recognition was Pittsburgh's Del-Vikings, who scored with "Come Go With Me" in late '56/early '57. But the group that would enjoy the longest run of hits with a mixed line-up was Johnny Maestro And The Crests. There would be others (The Marcels immediately comes to mind), but none succeeded in establishing a sound as well as Mr. Maestro and company. The Crests began as a black quartet in l955. Patricia Van Dross, Harold Torres, Talmadge (Tommy) Gough and J.T. Carter formed the group at P.S. l6O Junior High School in Manhattan, Carter, originally from Brooklyn, lived on Delancy St. and the rest (all from Staten Island) lived in the Alfred E. Smith projects in nearby Chinatown. Singing for local functions without a permanent name, the group naturally emulated the singing idols of the day, Harlem`s Cadillacs, Harptones, and Teenagers.

At the same time. Brooklyn-born Johnny Maestro (or Mastroangelo. as he was christened) from nearby Mulberry St. was already singing in a racially integrated group-a necessity, according to Maestro. There just weren't too many white kids interested in singing black REB in lower Manhattan at the time. Maestro met the future Crests at the Henry Street Settlement House in l956 and joined them soon after.

"Street" vocal groups would seek any place that offered a good echo to add timbre and depth to their a capella singing. One natural refuge was the subway. One day in l957 the group. recently named The Crests at the suggestion of member Carter, was in the subway practicing some of the gospel harmony they had been studying. A woman. riding the train from Brooklyn, heard them singing at the Brooklyn Bridge station.

The wife of orchestra leader Al Browne, she gave her husband's business card to the group at the subway station. The group knew that an Al Browne had backed up one of their favorite groups. The Heartbeats, and rushed to contact him. Browne knew the owners of a miniscule record label. Joyce Records. Maestro claims that Joyce Records was two guys who ran the company from the back of a record store in Brooklyn, something quite believable given the history of many of New York's small independent record operations at the time. The group wrote both sides of what would be their first single, "My Juanita"/"Sweetest Onel' and future royalty payments notwithstanding (Maestro claims the sum of $l7.50 for this single), "Sweetest One" actually made the national pop charts. peaking at #87 in July l957. Two other recordings from that session, "No One To Love" and "Wish She Was Mine?' were released on Joyce a few months later without fanfare or sales. While recording for Joyce, the group was introduced to singer/songwriter/arranger Billy Dawn Smith. Smith was impressed with the group and brought them to the attention of music publisher George Paxton. With the group now signed to him-minus Patricia Van Dross, who as a 15-year-old girl was not allowed to travel with the boys-Paxton formed Coed Records in early l958. Compared to Joyce. Coed was a big league operation. Paxton had contacts throughout the industry and provided the group with some of the best writers and arrangers on the scene, including Luther Dixon, Bert Keyes and Otis Blackwell.

Coed 501 -"Pretty Little Angeli' by The Crests- inaugurated the label. While it got local airplay and local chart placement, national attention was not to be. The group`s next release, however. was a different story, it would not only become one of the best-selling "oldies" of all time, but the source of some controversy in the payola hearings that would take place two years after its release.

That classic, "16 Candles?' was originally called "Twenty- One Candles" before someone with marketing sense aimed the song at the burgeoning teenage audience. Trade ads of the day state that the record "broke" immediately, it was later shown that when Dick Clark bought a share of the publishing in the song, the record began being featured almost daily on American Bandstand, and success followed directly. The song peaked at #2 on the national charts and The Crests were on their way. Appearances with Clark and Alan Freed. among others, strengthened the group's stage acumen: their show featured some fancy choreography from the group members. It was on “16 Candles” that Maestro's voice really came to the forefront. Group harmony predominated on earlier releases, but from this landmark recording on. Maestro's smooth. easy tenor became the trademark of The Crests' sound. "Six Nights A Week" followed " 16 Candles' onto me charts (#28), and over the next year The Crests would place three more in the national Top 30: "The Angels Listened In" (#22), "Step By Step" (# 14) and "Trouble In Paradise" (#20). Coed released a total of eleven Maestro~led singles from '58 to '60, along with an EP (featuring a photo of Maestro and line drawings of the rest of the group-the mixed group profile having presumably lost its novelty) and two LPs. One of the LPs, The Crests Sing The Biggies, featured their renditions of earlier rock 'n' roll hits, and two of these selections became the last single released by the original quartet.

By 196O, their managers at Coed began to think of Maestro more and more as a solo act-or at least. a singer with an uncredited backup group. Some talk of racial issues apparently surfaced at the time. but it seems more likely that simple economics dictated the move. For a short while, releases by both Johnny Maestro solo and The Crests sans Johnny were released, the only Crests release without Johnny. "Little Miracles"/"Baby l Gotta Knowl' featured J.T. Carter as lead on one side ("Baby") and new member James Ancrum on the other. A legal battle over use of the name "Crests" would continue for a year or so. and numerous releases in the mid-to- late '6Os would see that name on the label. "Guilty' released on Morty Craft`s Selma label in l963, actually reached the “Bubbling Under" charts at # 123, but beyond this none of the latter-day Crests singles charted.

The first Maestro solo release was recorded early in 1960-between the sessions that produced "Step B Step" and "Trouble In Paradise' With billing going to "Johnny Masters' the single failed to sell. His next three releases (credited to Johnny Maestro. although The Crests sang back-up), "What A Surprise?' "Model Girl' and Happiness" all charted, with "Model Girl" reaching #20 nationally. But after "Mr. Happiness"-from the last recording session with the original group, in June 1961 -no other Maestro single placed, despite the "Voice Of The Crests" notation that appeared on these records.

Maestro left Coed early in l962 and continued recording, with numerous cuts (with or without a "Crests" group) appearing on the Apt, Cameo, Parkway, Scepter and United Artists labels. None met with any success. Finally, in 1968, Maestro combined forces with The Del Satins, a popular vocal group who had backed up Dion on his "solo" recordings for Laurie and Columbia and who had recorded a local hit on their own ("Teardrops Follow Me") for Laurie in 1962. One night in April 1968, at a "battle of the bands" concert in Long Island, Johnny came across a seven-piece outfit called The Rhythm Method. led by sax man Tom Sullivan. The next day, Johnny. The Del Satins and The Rhythm Method all merged to form The Brooklyn Bridge—the subway stop that brought the original Crests into the recording studio for the first time! The story goes that when Maestro described the ll-piece group to his management, one of them sarcastically opined that the €|'0(,l|J would be "as easy to sell as the goddamned Brooklyn I' ge. The group signed with Buddah Records, whose president. Neil Bogart (of later disco fame with the Casablanca label}, had met Johnny when he recorded for Parkway in 1966. By 1969. the group had scored three major national hits: "The Worst That Could Happen’ "Welcome Me Love‘ and "Blessed Is The Rainin’ and Maestro was back on top again. The group, with minor personnel changes. continues to this day. John still appears by himself on occasion, and was part of WCBS-FM’s incredible l5th anniversary show (with Dion and The Del Satins) in l987. Former original Crest J.T. Carter has formed a new "Crests" singing group and performs with this group around the country as well.

The Crests’ sound was (and remains) unique. Johnny Maestro voice, simultaneously strong and mellow. and The Crests' superb black vocal harmony joined to produce one of the most distinctive and enjoyable vocal combinations in rock history. That they did not flourish together beyond the early '60s is more a symptom of that unsettling time in the record industry than it is a reflection of their individual and mutual talents. The very best of The Crests’ original Coed recordings (along with Johnny's solo sides) are showcased in this collection, with many mixed in true stereo from the original 3-tracks for the first time. The result rates among the finest vocal group collections money can buy.