Group of the Month

The Cleftones

The Cleftones were formed in 1955 by a group of friends at Jamaica High School in Queens, New York. They were Herbie Cox, Charles James, Berman Patterson, Buzzy McClain and Warren Corbin . According to Herbie, the guys volunteered for the "GO" or government organization in school to help out with the school elections. Herbie was painting scenery for an election campaign. Actually, Herbie says, they did it to get out of having to go to class! They were helping out on the student elections and they started singing together. Herbie says they were helping to support the "nerd party." To help out with the election, the guys came up with a campaign song sung to the tune of "Gee" by the Crows. The school had actually banned rock and roll music on the premises but the guys managed to sneak it into the campaign song. The song was such a hit, it helped propel the "nerd party" to an election win!

Off their early success in school, the guys started singing together and started calling themselves the Silvertones. They later changed their name to the Clefs and then later the Cleftones. They had a friend named David Ralnick who always wanted to sing with them. Herbie says that Ralnick couldn't sing but asked if he could be the group's manager. They agreed and Ralnick started getting some local record-hop shows for the guys. "We'd get $25 a show - $5 a man and we'd each give Ralnick $2," recalls Herbie. Ralnick went down to "Tin Pan Alley" in Manhattan and started inquiring at various labels. The group auditioned for Apollo Records, Old Town Records, and others. One day, Ralnick suggested that the group check out a new label - Rama Records on the west side of Manhattan. Herbie remembers that day - "we went way over on the west side and we went into a randshackled building....there was a guy smoking a stubby cigar, loading freight. We told him we were looking for George Goldner and he told us to go upstairs and ring the bell. We did that and no one answered. A few minutes later, the same guy comes upstairs and says that he is Goldner!" Goldner auditioned the group that day and said "okay - we're gonna record in two weeks." In retrospect, Herbie says that Goldner had a real ear for popular music. "He had his thumb on the public's pulse. We had a lot of tunes and he right away picked out You Baby You and Little Girl of Mine as the ones that would work," says Herbie. And those indeed became the group's first hits.

In the fall of 1955, the Cleftones released You Baby You (Gee #1000), an uptempo song written by Berman Patterson. The flip side was a ballad entitled "I Was Dreaming." The record was a huge hit. "These were amazing sessions," recalls Herbie. "First of all, things were done almost spontaneously, there were never any charts. We had the benefit of working with some of the best musicians like Jimmy Wright and Big Al Sears." "We were kids and they were patient with us." In March 1956, the second record by the Cleftones was released on Gee (#1011) - "Little Girl Of Mine" and "You're Driving Me Mad". Little Girl of Mine was another huge hit as the song became a standard on radio stations nationwide. This one was written by Herbie Cox and it sold over a million and a half copies. The guys sound like they were having a lot of fun making these records. Herbie says that if you listen carefully to the end of Little Girl of Mine, he almost starts laughing during the last verse. Later, the Cleftones released their third record on Gee (#1016) entitled "Can't We Be Sweethearts" and "Neki-Hokey" both written by Herbie Cox and Berman Patterson. Can’t We Be Sweethearts was another big hit for the Cleftones. It sold a quarter of a million copies in the first two weeks alone! "Although we had a hit right off the bat with You Baby You and Little Girl of Mine, we were still basically high school kids," says Herbie. "It wasn't until after the release of Can't We Be Sweetheart and we went back to the Apollo Theater for the second time, and we got our first standing ovation - that's when I thought we belonged," says Herbie.

Finally, in October of 1956, Gee released another Cleftones classic (#1025)"String Around My Heart" and "Happy Memories". This one did not do as well. And so ended 1956 for the Cleftones. It was now 1957. Time to release another record. This time it was an uptempo tune (Gee #1031) entitled “Why You Do Me Like You Do" written by Berman Patterson. Again, it was not a huge hit. Later in 1957, the Cleftones released a ballad on Gee "See You Next Year." This one also did not sell well. They had a follow up record on Gee (#1041) "Hey Babe" and "What Did I Do That Was Wrong." The Cleftones then had one additional record on Gee (#1048) entitled "Lover Boy" and "Beginners At Love" before leaving Gee and moving to Roulette Records.

In the summer of 1958 the Cleftones recorded their first Roulette record (#4094) "She's So Fine" and "Trudy". Once again it was not a big hit. They made another record on Roulette (#4161) called “Cuzzin Casanova" and "Mish Mash Baby" and then in late 1960 (#4302) "She's Gone" and "Shadows On The Very Last Row." Again no bit hit.

At this point, two members of the group left - Buzzy McClain and Berman Patterson (to join the military) and Gene Pearson (lead singer of the Rivileers) came out of the military joined the group. They then added Henry Glover and George Treadwell. Pearson suggested that they follow the trend of the girl groups and add a female member. An acquaintance of Person, Patricia Spann, was added. The Cleftones went back onto the Gee record label. In 1961, they released (#1064) "Heart And Soul." It was a bit hit. The Cleftones were back! "We were very proud of being one of the only groups to have hits in both the 50's and 60's," says Herbie.

They followed it up later in the fall of ’61 with “ For Sentimental Reasons" Gee (#1067). It did okay but not as well as Heart and Soul. The group then was recorded on the Rama record label with "Vacation In The Mountains" and "Leave My Woman Alone" however the record lists the artist only as Herbie Cox and not the Cleftones. It never really got much airplay.

Back on Gee, the Cleftones released the following records - 1962 (#1074) "Earth Angel" and "Blues In The Night"; (#1077) "Again" and "Do You?"; (#1079) "Lover Come Back To Me" and "There She Goes"; and (#1080) "How Deep Is The Ocean?" and "Some Kinda Blue." The Cleftones released two LPs on Gee – (#705) "Heart And Soul" and (#707) “For Sentimental Reasons." The recorded one additional single in 1963 on the Ware record label (#6001) called "He's Forgotten You" and "Right From The Git Go." It was not successful.

Herbie Cox, Yukon Jack and Tony Gaines (1982) Jungle Jim with Herbie and Tony (1982)

The group kept on performing. They were at the first revival shows with Nader and the other in the late 60's and early 70's. In fact, Herbie says that apart from one year (1966) they have been performing every year since 1955! "The guys that we've worked with are such great guys. And its easy to keep it going. A singing group is a lot like a marriage. Except its between 4 or 5 people and not 2. They made it easy to stay married." In 1982, Yukon Jack and Jungle Jim caught up with the Cleftones, at that time Herbie Cox, Tony Gaines, Nicky Saunders and Charles James, at a doo-wop festival at Spec Pond in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. We spoke at length with Herbie interviewing him for an oldies radio show that we were doing at the time.

In 1990, the Cleftones recorded a 45 on the Classic Artists record label including the tracks "You Lost The Game Of Love" and "My Angel Lover". More recently, in 1999, the Cleftones appeared on the PBS special “Fifty Years of Doo Wop” singing their classic “Heart And Soul". We caught the Cleftones in June 2001 at Westbury Music Fair and again at the Richard Nader tribute to Alan Freed in NYC in October 2002 and Herbie and the guys were still moving and shaking just like in the old days. Their rendition of Heart and Soul was sweet and their version of Blue Velvet was nothing short of incredible! It was great to see Herbie again - the first time in 20 years! He is truly a gentleman and one of the nicest guys from the original days of group harmony singing.

In 2003, the Cleftones announced the release of a new CD - Live Today. Its a fantastic live CD recorded at a club on Long Island. The music is fantastic and the recording quality is excellent. Herbie's voice sounds as good as ever. Its a nice collector's item which includes a detailed booklet with group history and photos and a sturdy holding case. Definitely worth the modest $20 price tag for Cleftones fans and anyone that enjoys the "Heart and Soul" of group harmony music. To order the CD - click the above flyer to enlarge and then print out the above flyer and mail to address listed. Or call 1-888-5MUSIC5.

To keep in touch with the Cleftones and their latest activities and shows, send an email to: thecleftones@aol.com.

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