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The Cleftones Little Girl Of Mine Gee 1011 A 1956

Here are The Cleftones with "Little Girl Of Mine." A nice minty piece of shellac pressed back in March 1956, courtesy of Gee Records. Enjoy!

The Cleftones emerged from Jamaica High School in Queens, New York according to legend, via a political campaign for positions on the student council of the school. The singing politicos decided to stay together as budding entertainers after the elections were held (a successful one we are told) and were known as The Clefs. The members were Herb Cox, Berman Patterson, and Warren Corbin. Soon there was a unification of sorts with another local group and Charlie James and Buzzy McClain were added. The new quintet was now called The Silvertones and decided to give their budding talent a shot a neighborhood venues such as Hillcrest Jewish Center, Lost Battalion Hall, the Fresh Meadows Community Center, and the Jamaica YMCA. There was also some friendly competition mostly at Baisley Park with the likes of early versions of The Heartbeats, Cellos, and some of The Rivileers. Soon the vocalists changed their name to The Cleftones and the stage was set for some musical history.

A high school acquaintance of the group David Rollnick became the manager of the group and started making the rounds of the area R & B record labels, mostly without any success or encouragement. In the late fall of 1955 the boys hit pay dirt as George Goldner the head of Tico and Rama Records liked what he heard and set up the very first session for the Cleftones. Goldner announced the signing of the group in the trade press on November 19th. After some differences of opinion between the group and Goldner as to certain aspects of the written contract (certainly regarding royalty statements and copyright protection) the session was set. Jimmy Wright and his combo were the backup musicians as the Cleftones entered Mastertone Recording Studios in New York City that late November day. The 'A' side was to be an uptempo rocker written by group member Berman Patterson called "You Baby You". The jump tune (without a bridge) was totally infectious leading off with Herbie Cox and Berman Patterson on an a capella dual intro lead. The dual lead continues as the ferocious rocking beat takes over with hot guitar (possibly Kenny Burrell) behind the vocals until the "oh yes" leads into a scorching sax break by Wright. The torrid dance tune was released not on Rama as originally planned but on the new Goldner Gee label (either for the 'G' in Goldner or "Gee" his big Rama hit by The Crows, or both) on Gee #1000.

The recording of "You Baby You" moved out and made its mark almost at once. It was selling big on the East coast and also in Detroit. The flip side of the record was a forgettable ballad called "I Was Dreaming". Following up on the record's success in the motor city, the group is booked to play their first big out of town show at Detroit's Fox Theater in a big R & B show presented by Mickey Schorr called Rock 'n Rollerama and The Cleftones shared the bill with Bobby Charles, The Three Chuckles, Della Reese, The Cadillacs, Four Tunes, The Royal Jokers, and others. The show broke the all time house record and was a huge success.

In March of 1956 the second record by The Cleftones was released on Gee #1011 - "Little Girl Of Mine" and "You're Driving Me Mad". The 'A' side, the mid tempo rocker "Girl" took off running and never looked back. During the spring of that most prolific doo wop year of 1956, the song was practically a teenage national anthem. The secret of its appeal is the fact that it was able to breach barriers that few true R & B groups were able to do up to that time. Radio stations that would die before they would program The Moonglows, Penguins, or Spaniels, readily joined the Doo Wop Nation when it came to this record. For the ultimate proof of the effect of this record on the national face of young America, give a listen to the live version with Alan Freed from the summer of 1956. The crowd sings along on the scat background to Herbie Cox's lead vocal and all but drowns out the group, the band, and each other on the dit-dit-dit chorus on the bridge. The Cox written song sold well over a million and a half copies and was a national smash.


Turntable used: Audio Technica AT-LP120 USB Direct Drive inputted straight into the sound card using the built-in pre-amp from the turntable.

Cartridge used: ATP-2XN using 78 3 mil needle.