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

The Fireflies

A self-contained quartet from Philadelphia with every member doubling on an instrument, The Fireflies launched the career of Ritchie Adams, whose later solo vocal exploits were overshadowed by his success as a songwriter. Adams was their original lead singer and guitarist, joined by bassist Lee Reynolds from Knoxville, Tennessee, New Yorker Paul Giacalone on drums and guitarist Carl Girasoli.

Their 1958 debut A-side for Roulette, The Crawl, was co-written by Girasoli, with Where The Candlelights Glow on the flip; the group was billed as The Fireflys. Producer Gerry Granahan was the leader of Dicky Doo and The Don'ts, who waxed a series of upbeat 1958 hits for Philadelphia's Swan Records (Click-Clack, Nee Nee Na Na Na Na Nu Nu and its B-side Flip Top Box, and Leave Me Alone [Let Me Cry]). Under his own name Granahan also scored a rocking 1958 hit for Sunbeam Records, No Chemise, Please.

Granahan produced The Fireflies' ballad You Were Mine, written by Giacalone and featuring Adams' lead in front of mixed-gender vocal backing. Once again Rudy West stepped up to cover it for King. The flip, Stella's Got A Fella, was basically twangy rockabilly. As the very first release on the fledgling New York label Ribbon, You Were Mine rolled up to #21 pop in the autumn of 1959. On their encore for the label, I Can't Say Goodbye – another ballad, which made #90 early the following year with What Did I Do Wrong on the other side – Adams got featured billing. The Fireflies tried once more on Ribbon with Because Of My Pride b/w My Girl (not the Temptations' song, which was still some way off).

After that Ribbon launched Adams as a solo artist, issuing Lonely One b/w Tell Me Baby Did You Wait? and Back To School b/w Don't Go My Love, Don't Go, while The Fireflies moved to Canadian American for 1961's Marianne b/w Give All Your Love To Me before calling it quits for a while. In 1961 Adams took his voice to Joe Rene's Beltone label, another New York imprint. His two singles there paled in comparison with his co-writing of Bobby Lewis' pop chart-topper for Beltone, Tossin' And Turnin'. That didn't stop Adams from extending his own singing career with three 1962 singles for Imperial, five more for Congress and a Teddy Randazzo-produced remake of You Were Mine for MGM in 1966.

Reynolds re-formed The Fireflies with new members for four singles and an album on the Taurus label that stretched through much of the sixties; the first was a 1962 take-off on their biggest hit, You Were Mine (For Awhile).

Bill Dahl

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