The Cadillacs
Encyclopedia
The Cadillacs were an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 and doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...

 group from Harlem, New York; active from 1953 to 1962. The group was noted for their 1955 hit "Speedoo", which was instrumental in attracting White
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...

 audiences to Black rock and roll performers.

History

The group came together as The Carnations in 1953, with members Earl Carroll
Earl Carroll (vocalist)
Earl Carroll is the lead vocalist for the doo wop group The Cadillacs. The group's biggest hit was "Speedo", Carroll's subsequent nickname. It was released in 1955. He later joined The Coasters...

 (lead vocalist), Bobby Phillips, Lavern Drake (bass vocalist), and Gus Willingham. As the group moved into the recording studios, James "Poppa" Clark was added as a fifth member, and the name "The Cadillacs" was given to them. The group's first recording came in July 1954, with Josie Records
Josie Records
Josie Records was a subsidiary of Jubilee Records in New York and was active from 1954 through to 1971. Single records were numbered from 760 through to 1031.Their best sellers were The Cadillacs, Bobby Freeman and The Meters....

 #765, featuring Gloria and Wonder Why
Wonder Why
Wonder Why? is a Canadian educational television program for children, produced by ATV in Halifax, Nova Scotia and aired nationally by CTV between 1990 and 1994. The program starred then-ATV chief meteorologist Richard Zurawski as the host and Liam Hyland as the young detective Question Mark...

.

In 1955, Willingham and Clark left the group and were replaced by Earl Wade and Charles Brooks. At this time, the group first began to experiment with choreography
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

, suggested by manager Esther Navarro. Later that year came the group's biggest hit, "Speedoo", Carroll's nickname. Lavern Drake left the group in 1956 and was replaced by J. R. Bailey
J. R. Bailey
- Biography :J. R. had been a member of doo wop groups The Halos, The Cadillacs, and The Crickets , and also recorded as a solo artist...

.

In 1957, differences in opinion caused the group to split. One group was initially known as The Four Cadillacs, with current bass J. R. Bailey, former bass Lavern Drake, and new members Roland Martinez and Bobby Spencer, writer of the song "My Boy Lollipop
My Boy Lollipop
"My Boy Lollipop" is a song written in the mid-1950s by Robert Spencer of the doo-wop group The Cadillacs, and usually credited to Spencer, Morris Levy, and Johnny Roberts. It was first recorded in New York in 1956 by Barbie Gaye...

". The other four current members - Carroll, Wade, Brooks, and Phillips - continued recording separately, later as Earl Carroll and the Cadillacs. Bailey's group also included former group saxophonist Jesse "Tex" Powell, and recorded in early 1958 as Jesse Powell and the Caddys. Both groups recorded simultaneously on Josie Records.

Later in 1958, the groups combined back into one. Carroll's backup vocalists, Wade, Brooks, and Phillips, all decided to retire and Carroll joined Bailey, Drake, Martinez and Spencer. Carroll's lead spot had been given to Spencer and Bailey, and he left shortly thereafter, creating a new group, Speedoo and the Pearls, which recorded briefly in 1959. In 1959, the Cadillacs are also featured in the movie Go Johnny, Go

The group split and re-formed in 1960, with Carroll, Martinez, Kirk Davis, and bass Ronnie Bright
Ronnie Bright
Ronnie Bright is an American R&B and doo wop singer of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...

. Later the group was Carroll, Martinez, the returning Bobby Spencer, Milton Love, and Reggie Barnes. Martinez, Love and Barnes were all members of The Solitares at one time.

In 1961, the group began to resemble The Coasters
The Coasters
The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group that had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and "Young Blood", their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller...

 in their music. The lineup shifted again, now with Carroll, Martinez, Curtis Williams, Ray Brewster, and Irving Lee Gail. Carroll was out by 1963 to enter the group they'd been emulating, The Coasters, with Carl Gardner
Carl Gardner
Carl Edward Gardner was an American singer, best known as the foremost member and founder of The Coasters. Known for the 1958 song "Yakety Yak", which spent a week as number one on the Hot 100 pop list, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.- Life and career :Gardner was born...

, Billy Guy
Billy Guy
-Biography:Billy Guy is best known as a member of The Coasters, singing lead on such hits as "Searchin'," "Little Egypt," "Run Red Run," "Wait A Minute," among others. Before Guy joined The Coasters in 1955, he was part of a comedy singing duo called "Bip and Bop." One single called "Ding Ding...

, and former Cadillac Ronnie Bright. 1963 also ended the group's run on Josie Records.

Brewster and Martinez brought in former members Bobby Spencer and J. R. Bailey and continued to record through 1963. The group split, with Bailey joining the Jive Five. Brewster brought in former Cadillac/Solitare Milton Love with Solitares Bobby Baylor and Fred Barksdale. This group recorded briefly in 1964. Spencer became lead vocalist, with Joey Levine
Joey Levine
Joey Levine is an American singer, songwriter and record producer of pop music, who has been active since 1966.-Career:...

 (Ohio Express, Reunion) as backing vocalist, for Crazy Elephant
Crazy Elephant
Crazy Elephant was a short-lived American bubblegum pop band noted for their 1969 hit single, "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'". Crazy Elephant was a studio concoction, created by Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz of Super K Productions...

, a bubblegum music group, in 1969.

The Cadillacs were back in 1970 with J. R. Bailey, Bobby Spencer, original member Bobby Phillips (who had retired from Speedoo's group during the split), and new member Leroy Binns, of The Charts. Steven Brown later replaced Phillips. Teddy Pendergrass came on as the groups drummer. The group split into the mid 1970s and some members joined Herold Melvin and the Bluenotes, including Teddy Pendergrass as drummer. In 1979 Earl Carroll, Earl Wade, Bobby Phillips, and Johnny Brown came together for a Subaru
Subaru
; is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries .Subaru is internationally known for their use of the boxer engine layout popularized in cars by the Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911, in most of their vehicles above 1500 cc as well as...

 commercial.

Carroll had remained with the Coasters during this time, and left in the early 1990s to permanently re-form the Cadillacs with Phillips, Brown, Gary K. Lewis, and musical director Eddie Jones. Brown left in 2003. Phillips died in March 2011.

Awards and recognition

The Cadillacs were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame
Vocal Group Hall of Fame
The Vocal Group Hall of Fame was organized to honor outstanding vocal groups throughout the world. It is headquartered in Sharon, Pennsylvania, United States. It includes a theater and a museum....

in 2004.

External links

  • 'The Cadillacs' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page
  • [ The Cadillacs at Allmusic]
  • http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/cadillacs.html
  • http://members.aol.com/tuneman56/east2.htm
  • http://www.goldenoldiesforever.com/gof9.htm
  • http://www.vocalgroup.org/inductees/the_cadillacs.html
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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