The Fidelitys
By Marv Goldberg
Based on an interview with Earl Thorpe
© 2006, 2009 by Marv Goldberg
The Fidelitys were a very talented group that has managed to avoid
the glare of the spotlight all these years. We were simply looking in
the wrong place: they were from Albany, New York.
The Fidelitys started life in 1956, when Earl Thorpe relocated to
Albany after his high school graduation in Jacksonville, Florida. He had
a dream to start a group and wanted to be near New York City, which was,
of course, one of the big recording centers in the country.
Fortunately, Earl had relatives in Albany and he immediately hooked
up with his cousin Emmett Smith. They put the word out and soon the
Mellow-Tones were born: Emmett Smith (lead tenor), Clarence Carter
(tenor), Robert McCann (tenor), Arthur Morning (baritone), and Earl
Thorpe (bass/baritone). They were all around 17, except for Arthur, who
was a couple of years younger.
While they started working around town pretty quickly, Clarence had
to content himself with being a short-timer: Earl had told them from the
start that tenor Maurice Newton, a friend from Jacksonville, would be
joining them soon as an additional lead.
Once Maurice joined (and Clarence had left), they changed their
name to the Fidelitys and they were on their way. They admired the
Flamingos, the Dells, and the Spaniels, all groups that would help them
out with their stage presence over the years. They put together
arrangements of all the Top 40 songs until they were "carbon
copies" of the originals.
One day, in December 1957, they went down to Manhattan to see about
the Apollo Theater's amateur show. Their contact was Ernest Bell, who
had attended school with Earl's mother. He, in turn, introduced them to
Reuben Phillips, who led the house band for the Apollo. In an amazing
turn of events, Bell and Phillips offered to manage the Fidelitys, and
then immediately had them audition for Ben Bart, owner of Universal
Attractions. Bart (who had once owned Hub Records and managed the
Ravens) told them they were too good to bother with an amateur show and
signed them on the spot (although the signing wasn't announced until the
following April, when Universal also trumpeted the pacting of Jackie
Wilson, Etta James, and Little Jimmy Scott). They thus had a booking
agent before they had a record label! Bart then took them to meet
Sol Rabinowitz at Baton Records.
Rabinowitz listened to them and decided that, instead of letting
them do what they did well, he'd make them into another Platters. Big
mistake. Not that they didn't have the talent, but there already
was a Platters!
In January 1958, the Fidelitys held their first session. This
produced "The Things I Love," "Can't You Come Out,"
and "Hold On To What'cha Got," all led by Maurice Newton.
"The Things I Love"/"Hold On To What'cha Got"
were released in February 1958. "The Things I Love" was an
oldie, written in 1941 by Harold Barlow and Lew Harris, and based on a
Tchaikovsky melody. The Fidelitys version was heavy-duty Pop, in the
vein of the Platters. This was actually a bad move for Rabinowitz, too,
since he didn't have any clout with the Pop label distributors. If he'd
had, the song would probably have been a monster hit.
Rabinowitz arranged a stunt where Joe Finan (KWT in Cleveland)
would play "The Things I Love" once an hour, in an attempt to
stir up interest in the song. Actually, it worked. When the record was
reviewed, on March 3, "The Things I Love" received an
"excellent" rating. Other reviews that week were for Larry
Williams' "Dizzy, Miss Lizzie," the Chantels' "Whoever
You Are," the Miracles' "Got A Job," the Duponts'
"Screamin' Ball (At Dracula Hall)," the Heartbeats' "Down
On My Knees," the Dubs' "Beside My Love," the Velvets'
"Dance, Honey, Dance," the Valiants' "Walkin' Girl,"
the 5 Discs' "I Remember," the Mighty Jupiters' "Hy Wocky
Tumba," and Ed Townsend's "For Your Love."
Later in March, the Fidelitys had their second Baton session.
Another three tracks were led by Maurice Newton:
"Captain Of My Ship," "My Greatest Thrill," and
"Memories Of You." "Memories Of You" was another
oldie, dating back to 1930, when it was penned by Andy Razaf and Eubie
Blake. Introduced in Lew Leslie's Blackbirds Of 1930, the tune
had been popularized by Louis Armstrong.
April 4 found the Fidelitys beginning a week at the Apollo, as part
of a Dr. Jive show. Others on the bill were Fats Domino, the Coasters,
the Dells, the Flamingos, and the Spaniels. Over the years, the
Fidelitys would also play the Howard, the Royal, the Uptown, and the
Regal. They ended up appearing all over the East, South, and Midwest,
but never made it to the West Coast.
On May 12, 1958, "The Things I Love" was rated a Tip in
New York City. In June, it entered the national Pop charts. The only
national hit the Fidelitys would ever have, it rose to #60 and remained
for 3 weeks. On June 20, the Fidelitys were back at the Apollo, this
time sharing the boards with Little Willie John, the Danleers, the Kalin
Twins, Sonny Til, the Upsetters, and Etta James. This was timed to
correspond with the release of their second Baton record: "Memories
Of You"/"Can't You Come Out."
"Memories Of You" was reviewed on June 30 and received an
"excellent" rating. Other reviews that week were for Chuck
Berry's "Beautiful Delilah," the Hollywood Flames'
"Chains Of Love," the Monotones' "Zombi," the
Olympics' "Western Movies," the Ivy Tones' "Oo Wee
Baby," the Cufflinx' "Zoom," and the Kings' "Come On
Little Baby."
When "Memories Of You" failed to take off (although Cash
Box named it the "Sleeper Of The Week" on July 12), Baton
issued "Captain Of My Ship"/"My Greatest Thrill" in
August. Reviewed on September 29, both sides received "good"
ratings. Other reviews were for the Silhouettes' "I Sold My Heart
To The Junkman," the Swallows' "Beside You," and the
Unique Teens' "At The Ball."
On November 28, 1958, the Fidelitys began another week at the
Apollo with Dr. Jive. Others in the cast were Lavern Baker, Jackie
Wilson, Bobby Day, the Emersons, Lee Andrews & the Hearts, Nappy Brown,
the Fi-Tones, the 5 Chanels, and Frances Burnette.
And then things were quiet for almost a year. Sol Rabinowitz
claimed he was being driven out of business by the distributors, who
weren't paying him for records shipped. Baton's final release (#269) was
issued in April 1959. He would come to blame the big movie studios that
started up their own labels and had the clout to put the independents
out of business. In spite of this, it only took a couple of months for
him to team up with Morty Craft and start SIR records (as in Sol
I. Rabinowitz), another tiny indie. SIR's record numbers
and master numbers were a continuation of Baton's.
The Fidelitys' next session was held on July 11, 1959. The four
songs recorded that day were: "Only To You" (Maurice),
"Walk With The Wind" (Emmett), "Marie" (Maurice and
Earl), and "The Invitation" (Maurice).
"Marie" and "The Invitation" were issued, on
SIR, in July 1959. "Marie" was their oldest oldie yet. Written
by Irving Berlin in 1928, it has the distinction of being the first
Berlin tune to appear in a movie (My Awakenings) and was
popularized by Rudy Vallée. "Marie" was rated
"excellent" on August 17, along with the Flamingos' "Love
Walked In," the Falcons' "You're Mine," Ocie Smith's
"Song Of The Dreamer," the Saucers' "Cha Wailey
Routa," and Joe Lyons & the Arrows' "Shufflin' Jive."
In spite of the great review, "Marie" failed to click and
SIR issued "Walk With The Wind" and "Only To You" in
October 1959. Both sides were rated "good" on November 16,
along with Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me To Do," the
Falcons' "This Heart Of Mine," Rudy West's "As Sure As I
Live," and Luther Bond & the Emeralds' "Old Mother
Nature."
It was getting increasingly quiet for the Fidelitys. Their last
Apollo appearance was on February 19, 1960, once again with Dr. Jive.
This was kind of an odd engagement: not only hadn't they had a hit in a
while, they hadn't even had a record out in months. However, they were
favorites of Dr. Jive (and it didn't hurt that Reuben Phillips was still
their manager). The other acts on that show were: Johnny Nash, the
Flamingos, Nappy Brown, the Hollywood Flames, Tiny Topsy, the
Centurians, Eugene Church, Barrett Strong, and Jean Sampson.
The Fidelitys' last session was held sometime around April 1960.
They weren't working all that much at this point, so to get a new sound,
all the sides were led by Emmett Smith: "Wishing Star,"
"Where In The World," "This Girl Of Mine," and
"Broken Love." In May, "Where In The World" and
"This Girl Of Mine" became their next release.
Those sides failed to take off and SIR released the final two masters in August: "Wishing Star" and "Broken Love."
Sadly, it was not only the last Fidelitys disc, but also the last record
released on SIR. Promotion was probably pretty dismal at that point.
In spite of this, the Fidelitys continued on, although they gave up
recording. Around 1962, Emmett Smith was drafted and replaced by Kenny
French.
Marriage and responsibilities began to take their toll, but the
group remained together until around 1970, doing mostly Soul sounds in
local venues.
Finally, they went their separate ways. Maurice Newton and Earl
Thorpe then formed Miss Maggie's Children (two singers and an 8-piece
band). This Soul group played all over Albany (as well as Syracuse,
Rochester, Buffalo, and Cape Cod) well into the 80s.
Robert McCann is now deceased and Arthur Morning has given up
singing. All the other members (Earl Thorpe, Maurice Newton, Emmett
Smith, and Kenny French) re-formed in 2005 and the Fidelitys appear
occasionally in Albany.
Special thanks to Ronnie Italiano. Ads are from Galen Gart's First Pressings series. Discography courtesy of Ferdie Gonzalez.
BATON
252 The Things I Love (MN)/Hold On To What'cha Got (MN) - 2/58
256 Memories Of You (MN)/Can't You Come Out (MN) - 6/58
261 My Greatest Thrill (MN)/Captain Of My Ship (MN) - 8/58
SIR
271 Marie (MN/ET)/The Invitation (MN) - 7/59
274 Walk With The Wind (ES)/Only To You (MN) - 10/59
276 This Girl Of Mine (ES)/Where In The World (ES) - 5/60
277 Wishing Star (ES)/Broken Love (ES) - 8/60
LEADS: MN = Maurice Newton; ES = Emmett Smith; ET = Earl Thorpe