Who was/is The Elegants ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more

The Elegants

Little Star

Just as New York was ground zero for black vocal groups, now a battalion of Italian-American aggregations from the same metropolis followed their lead. The Elegants hailed from Staten Island; lead singer Vito Picone and baritone Carman Romano had been members of Pat Cordel and The Crescents, whose 1956 kiddie sound single Darling Come Back, which Vito wrote, came out on the Club label.

When that ended without an encore, Vito and Carman found first tenor Artie Venosa, second tenor Frank Tardogno, and bass Jimmy Moschella to form The Elegants in 1957, taking their name from a liquor ad ("Schenley, the whiskey of elegance"). Vito and Artie brainstormed the mid-tempo Little Star as a nursery rhyme takeoff and talked Bea Kaslin of Hull and Mascot Records into recording their creation in April of 1958 along with the rocking flip Getting Dizzy (all five members penned it).

Kaslin had a habit of passing promising masters along to better-established concerns for national consumption. Instead of contacting her usual source, Leonard Chess (he'd picked up The Monotones' Book Of Love and The Pastels' Been So Long from her), Bea handed the record to ABC-Paramount, which put it out in June on its Apt (for American Paramount Theaters) subsidiary. That did the trick for The Elegants' debut: that August Little Star was the number one pop platter in the U.S. and followed suit on the R&B side.

Which makes it all the more amazing that The Elegants never cracked the Hot 100 again, despite their attractive encore Please Believe Me, taken at much the same mid-tempo clip as their smash, later in the year and a Tardogno-led True Love Affairin early '59. Kaslin put out The Elegants' Little Boy Blue on her Hull label in 1960, but that didn't regenerate their momentum. Neither did a pair of 1960 United Artists releases, nor the one-off Tiny Cloud for ABC the next year. A car wreck sidelined Vito; when he came back, he and The Elegants went their separate ways. At Laurie Records, Picone and his retooled Elegants sang on The Barbarians' 1966 rock hit Moulty. Vito later segued into the personal management biz.  . 

- Bill Dahl -

Various - Vol.10, Street Corner Symphonies 1958

Read more at: https://www.bear-family.de/various-vol.10-street-corner-symphonies-1958.html
Copyright © Bear Family Records

 

Copyright © Bear Family Records®. Copying, also of extracts, or any other form of reproduction, including the adaptation into electronic data bases and copying onto any data mediums, in English or in any other language is permissible only and exclusively with the written consent of Bear Family Records® GmbH.

More information about The Elegants on Wikipedia.org

Close filters
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
No results were found for the filter!
The Best Of The Elegants (LP)
The Elegants: The Best Of The Elegants (LP) Art-Nr.: LPMH000210

Item has to be restocked

(MURRAY HILL) 12 tracks (3 alt/unreleased) Quality Murray Hill pressings with discography and extensive notes -
$16.92 $20.31
Back In Time (LP)
The Elegants: Back In Time (LP) Art-Nr.: LPCB132

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

Vito Picone and the Elegants have been singing for over 30 years. This alone is an achievement very few groups can boast. The group has been singing for you, The Collector &, Doo Wop Music Lover! it is for you now that these rare...
$22.58
Complete Recordings 1956-1965
The Elegants: Complete Recordings 1956-1965 Art-Nr.: CDA25005

Item has to be restocked

$16.92
Hint!
The Acapella Album (CD)
The Elegants: The Acapella Album (CD) Art-Nr.: CDSPADES001

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

(Spade Records) 15 tracks - digipac THE MAGIC VOICE OF VITO PICONE AND THE TERRIFIC HARMONIES OF THE ELEGANTS MADE THEM ONE OF THE BIGGEST WHITE GROUPS OF THE 1950'S AND EARLY 1960'S. EVEN DION MENTIONS VITO AS ONE OF HIS MAIN INFLUENCES...
$20.31
A Knight With The Elegants
The Elegants: A Knight With The Elegants Art-Nr.: LPCB101

Item has to be restocked

All Songs Written By Al Brown and Groups. Thornett Music BMI In 1957 Al Brown became heavily involved in the N.Y.C. Group Harmony Sound of ”Do Wop". He was approached by a new record company "Joyce" and was asked to provide material and...
$16.92