Who was/is The Fi Tones ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
The Fi Tones
It Wasn't A Lie
The Fi-Tones Quintette acc. Ben Smith Orchestra
Brooklyn was home to The Fi-Tones, whose pop-slanted sound didn't translate into a national hit but delighted local audiences. Being on Tommy Robinson's small Atlas label probably didn't help their chances, but Robinson gave it his all, managing the group as well as releasing their singles.
They started out as The Cavaliers in 1952, the membership including lead Leroy Randolph, second tenor/baritone Cecil Holmes, tenor/pianist Lester Gardner, bass Ron Anderson, and first tenor Lowe Murray (born June 5, 1935). Old Town turned them down, but Robinson saw something that Hy Weiss didn't. The Cavaliers (or, as Atlas had it, The Caverliers Quintet) released their debut, pairing a Gardner-led You Thrill Me So and the Holmes-fronted Dynaflow, in August of 1953.
After a reshuffling of the group that dispensed with Randolph and Gardner, introduced baritone/guitarist Lloyd Davis and first tenor/pianist/vibist Gene Redd, Jr. (son of a veteran saxist who would spend an extended stretch at King Records in Cincinnati), and a name change, The Fi-Tones resumed recording for Atlas in 1955. Their first single under their new billing twinned the delicate ballad Foolish Dreams, written and led by Davis, and a jumping Let's Fall In Love, where the lead passed between Redd and Anderson. Atlas issued the single in September.
It Wasn't A Lie, their next Atlas offering near year's end, was a pristine ballad penned and fronted by Davis, with musical accompaniment by Ben Smith's combo. A peppy Lots And Lots Of Love sat on the B-side, Gene and Lloyd spotlighted. That pattern endured for the remainder of The Fi-Tones tenure on Atlas: a beautiful ballad on the A-side (I Call To You was followed by I Belong To You and Waiting For Your Call in 1956) and a frothy upbeat entry on the opposite side. The Fi-Tones were blessed with several lead singers; few groups split up the front role as democratically. Towards the end of '56, tenor Reggie Barnes came in.
The Fi-Tones switched over to Old Town for a '57 single, My Faith, but Robinson kept their name on wax by releasing three more singles from the stockpile on his Angle Tone logo in 1958-59. Barnes and Holmes were inducted into The Solitaires in 1959, signaling the end of The Fi-Tones. Redd later produced Kool & The Gang, while Holmes segued into record promotion at Cameo-Parkway and Buddah before joining Neil Bogart as one of the founders of Casablanca Records, Murray died December 11, 2008 in Brooklyn.
- Bill Dahl -
Various Vol.7, Street Corner Symphonies 1955
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