The Pipes were one of the many minor groups on Dootone. Actually, as
I have pointed out before, Dootone only seemed to get nationwide hits
with the first release of even his major groups ("Earth
Angel," "Heaven And Paradise," "Buick 59").
Dootsie Williams may have had a lot of groups, but they never seemed to
amount to much as far as hits went.
The origins of the Pipes can be traced back to the Cool Notes, a
group that formed at McClymonds High School, in Oakland, California,
around 1953. All the members had a background in both the school choir
and in neighborhood churches. At the outset, they were: Louis Candys
(lead tenor), Irving Swanigan (lead tenor), Harold Foreman (tenor), Huey
Roundtree (lead baritone and manager), Leevern Ball (bass), and Ed Kelly
(piano).
Sometime in 1954, Irving Swanigan dropped out, and they decided to
remain with four voices. At this point, they visited Los Angeles, the
hotbed of the California recording industry, to try to stir up some
interest. They went to a bunch of companies, among them Capitol,
Imperial, Modern, and Specialty, but were told, in each case, that they
were too young. (They probably should be congratulated for not sticking
closer to home to be abused by Oakland's Music City Records.)
So they returned to Oakland, disheartened, but not discouraged.
They practiced and practiced, even after graduating from McClymonds in
June 1955.
Finally, towards the end of the year, they returned to Los Angeles,
and this time went to see Dootsie Williams, owner of Dootone Records.
This time they weren't turned away and Dootsie recorded them. [Note that
there is the possibility that Dootsie discovered them on a trip to Northern
California.] However, they'd grown tired of the "Cool Notes" name and traded it in
for the "Pipes" (from the line in "Danny Boy":
"the pipes, the pipes are calling"). Amazingly, on December 3,
Dootsie, covering all the bases, issued a press release that trumpeted
the signing of two new groups: the Cool Notes and the 4 Pipes!
Their idols were the Swallows and Clyde McPhatter. While they were
heavily influenced by these artists (especially their mellow and soulful
recordings), they developed their own sound and their own original
material.
At their first Dootone session they waxed "Be Fair" (led
by Louis Candys and Huey Roundtree) and "Let Me Give You Money
(fronted by Huey). Accompanied by Ernie Freeman's band, these were
recorded in Ted Brinson's garage studio. Louis, who was somewhat short,
remembered having to stand on a box to reach the microphone. For the entire session, he worried about falling off!
Dootsie Williams knew how to push a record locally (although his
national hits seemed more like accidents) and "Be Fair,"
released in February 1956, did well in California. In spite of the song
title "Let Me Give You Money," the guys were only paid a few
dollars each ("so few I can't recall the amount," said Louis).
Advances that wiped out royalty payments were for "sessions and
traveling."
The trades gave both sides "good" ratings on March 17,
along with Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally," the Charms'
"Ivory Tower," the Turks' "I'm A Fool," the
Midnighters' "Open Up The Back Door," the 5 Royales' "I
Could Love You," the 5 Notes' "Park Your Love," the
Barons' "So Long My Darling," and the Carpets' "Let Her
Go."
Although the Pipes never had all that many appearances, they
covered the state of California: Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, San
Francisco, and Oakland. Louis remembered tours with Roy Milton and
Little Willie John.
For their next session (back to the garage and Ernie Freeman), they
recorded "You Are An Angel" (led by Louis Candys and Huey
Roundtree) and "I Love The Life I Live" (led by Huey). These
were released in July 1956. Louis always preferred "You Are An
Angel," which he claimed was "too advanced" for the time.
The record was reviewed on August 25 (again, both sides were ranked
"good"). Other reviews that week went to the 5 Keys' "Out
Of Sight, Out Of Mind," the Channels' "The Closer You
Are," the Emanons' "Blue Moon," the Blue Notes' "If
You Love Me," the Medallions' "Pushbutton Automobile,"
and the Duponts' "Must Be Falling In Love." This time, Dootone
barely pushed the record at all, and it promptly sank out of sight.
After their year's contract with Dootone expired, they took a long
hard look at things and decided that a career in music just wasn't going
to happen. So from then on they pretty much contented themselves with
occasional local appearances on weekends.
Around 1958, they did a couple of recordings that they paid for
themselves. Backed up by Johnny Heartsman's band, "So Long"
and "Baby Please Don't Go" were both led by Louis, and
released on Jacy, a label that they owned (Huey Roundtree is listed as
the president of the company). Only a few hundred copies were pressed
up, and it was a rarity even when it was new.
In 1959, they returned to Dootsie Williams and recorded some more
sides for him. However, these were never released, and that was the end
of the Pipes as professional singers.
When I interviewed Louis Candys in 1978, he told me that they were
all still friends 20 years later. By that time, Louis had become a
minister, Leevern Ball was an account representative for Kraft Foods,
Harold Foreman was an aquatics instructor in a recreation program, and
Huey Roundtree was president of a mail-order record company (from which
you could have, presumably, ordered a few copies of their Jacy
release).
While the Pipes' records are now collectors' items, I'm sure they
would have preferred that the discs were less valuable today simply
because there had been more of them sold.
Discography courtesy of Ferdie Gonzalez.
DOOTONE
388 Be Fair (LC/HR)/Let Me Give You Money (HR) - 2/56
401 You Are An Angel (LC/HR)/I Love The Life I Live (HR) - 7/56
JACY
001/002 So Long (LC)/Baby Don't Go (LC) - ca. 58
LEADS: LC = Louis Candys; HR = Huey Roundtree