DESCRIPTION:
Recorded in 1955. In May of 1954, the first Penguins release was issued: "No There Ain't No News Today." (Strangely, the Penguins were put on only one side of the record, which had as its flip "When I Am Gone," by Dootsie Williams & his Orchestra, vocal by Willie Headen). It took the trade papers until August to review the record. The other demo, "I Ain't Gonna Cry," was later released on a Dootone EP in May 1955. Actually, Cleve was unhappy that Dootsie released either of these songs, which were just thrown together with no intent of having them released in that form.

They then did a session to record the street song "Hey Senorita" (led by Curtis) and the classic "Earth Angel" (with Cleve in the lead, Dexter on second bridge, and Curtis doing the piano intro). When the record was released, in September of 1954, it was "Hey Senorita" that was given all the airplay initially, and it started doing well. However, sometime in October, DJs started flipping it over, and "Earth Angel" started (slowly) climbing the charts. (Cleve gives credit to Charles Trammel, of KFOX, whose show was broadcast from L.A.'s 5-4 Ballroom.) Note that Dootsie Williams assigned master numbers at pressing time, which means that there's no reliable way to know which songs were recorded at which sessions.

Meanwhile, with "Earth Angel" only making some mild noise, they did another session, recording four additional tunes: "Love Will Make Your Mind Go Wild" (Cleve and Dexter), "Ookey Ook" (Curtis), "Baby Let's Make Some Love" (Dexter), and "Kiss A Fool Goodbye" (Curtis).

On October 2, they appeared at Johnny Otis' annual "Hep Cat Ball" at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium. Also on the bill were the barely-known Platters, Richard Berry & the Dreamers, the Medallions, Marvin & Johnny, and the Chuck Higgins orchestra. Also on October 2, "Earth Angel" first hit the Los Angeles regional charts, debuting at #4.

For much more information please see:
http://www.uncamarvy.com/Penguins/penguins.html