The Mello-Kings
 

For just a second - lets take you back to 1957 - just imagine the scene - guys in their leather coats, chicks in their fancy pink dresses with their hair in a pony tail.  Folks driving around in those classic '57 Chevys.  And the radio blasting out the hits of the day.  If you were around during that time, or if you can imagine the scene, then you will remember that on the radio that summer came a song.  A song that everyone remembers and that is synonymous with the summer of '57 - the Mello-Kings' "Tonite, Tonite."  Sung by five white guys from Mount Vernon, New York.  It would register with many a teenager that summer and would go down as one of the greatest slow doo-wop tunes of all time.

The Mello-Kings were buddies at George Washington High School in Mount Vernon (just outside of the Bronx).  Bob and younger brother Jerry Scholl and Ed Quinn tried out for the show South Pacific and after the show was completed the musical director, Dick Levister, thought that the guys might be successful as a rock and roll group.  He envisioned the group becoming like the Four Lads or the Four Freshman.  Its interesting that the group's sound actually was more like the original Black groups then the newer, rock and roll white groups.  Jerry Scholl confirms that this was because Levister was Black and that his own musical style helped to influence the sound of the group.  Dick was a veteran of the big band era fronting the King Levister Orchestra.

Jerry recalls rehearsing several times a week at the Mount Vernon boys club.  Later, a tryout was scheduled to find additional members and the group found Neil Arena, and Larry Esposito.  They called themselves the Mello-Tones at the time.   They spent about a year or so doing amateur shows around Westchester.

Levister started looking for a record company for the group.  Levister met with Al Silver of the powerhouse label Herald Records which put out so many great records at the time by groups like the Nutmegs and Turbans.  Silver liked what he heard and took the group into Herald's studios to record.  "Believe it or not, it was only a 4 track studio," recalls Jerry, "4 microphones - two for the back up band, one for the lead singer and one for the rest of the group."  Despite such minimal facilities, the group was able to turn out a very well produced record.  And that record was the famous Tonite, Tonite which was released as Herald #502 b/w Do Baby Do.  Al Cayola was the guitarist, and Gary Chester was on the drums - both seasoned veterans of the big band era.  The song was written by one of the label's in-house writers who sat down at the piano with the group to work out the arrangement.  It was a huge hit for the group.  As to what it was like to be a kid in a recording studio, Jerry says "we didn't think much of it, we were so young and inexperienced.  Little did we know what was in store for us.  It happened so quickly.  Within 60 days we were doing the Dick Clark show. "

The group started performing regularly and were one of  the most sought after acts in the summer of 1957.  Bob and Jerry returned to their high school for field day and were promptly swamped by fans.  Jerry thought he could calm the kids down by offering to sign a few autographs.  Instead, this almost created a riot and they found themselves expelled.  Being an all-white group singing a song that had the appeal of a black group harmony selection certainly increased the group's chances for success at a time when the record industry was looking for competing white artists.  They did the Alan Freed Brooklyn Paramount and Fox shows and they were a big hit on Dick Clark's television shows appearing 8 times.  Dick was also a Mount Vernon product and the group did a ticker-tape parade with Dick in 1960 back in their hometown.

As record collectors will tell you, Tonite, Tonite was first released by Herald as by the Mello-Tones.  But another Mello-Tones group (on Gee) had just released a record Rosie Lee and so as to eliminate the confusion the Mello-Tones were renamed the Mello-Kings after Levister's big band name (King Levister) and the record was re-released making the original release a collector's item.
 


Later in 1957, the group returned to Herald to record their follow-up record.  The record was Chapel on the Hill b/w Sassafras (Herald #507).  Like so many follow-ups, it didn't do as well as the original hit.  But it was another beautifully recorded product that helped forge the group's sound.  The group went on the record Baby Tell Me Why Why Why b/w The Only Girl For Me (Herald #511) in 1958 and in the spring of '58 She's Real Cool b/w Valerie (Herald #518).  The B side Valerie turned out to be one of the groups' most memorable records, if not their biggest seller.  Its one of those records that shows up on doo-wop aficionados lists of favorites.

The Mello-Kings showed up on a Herald compilation album in 1958 called Herald the Beat.  While the album didn't include any new material from the group, it helped sell the group's previous releases.  Later in 1958, the group went through some personnel changes.  They released five more records for Herald from 1959 to 1961 including Chip Chip b/w Running To You (Herald  #536), Dear Mr. Jock b/w Our Love Is Beautiful (Herald #548), Kid Stuff b/w I Promise (Herald #554), Penny b/w Till There Were None (Herald #561), and Love At First Sight b/w She's Real Cool (Herald #567).  The group then went on to record for Lescay and in 1962 released Walk Softly b/w But You Lied (Lescay 3009).

Additional personnel changes occurred in 1962.  At that point, a guy by the name of Eddie Robbins joined the group.  Eddie was born in the Bronx and started his singing career at the age of 9 was a member of the Star Time Kids who sang with Connie Francis.  While attending William Taft High School, Eddie became a member of the Neons and can be heard singing first tenor on the Neon's "Angel Face."  Later, in 1958, Eddie went solo and released A Girl Like You on the Power (and later Dot) record label and performed on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.  Early in 1962, he released a second solo record Janice on the David record label.  He joined the Mello-Kings later in '62 and appeared on the group's re-release of Tonite, Tonite and Chip Chip that they released that year on the Lana record label.  Eddie stayed with the group for many years.

                                                                                        
The group appeared in revival shows in the late 60's and early 70's.   In 1975, lead singer Bob Scholl was tragically killed in a boating accident.  The group disappeared from the scene for a couple of years until around 1977 when Jerry Scholl started it back up again.   Recently, two Mello-Kings groups have emerged.  Jerry's group continues to perform and his Mello-Kings recently appeared on the 2002 PBS doo-wop special.  Eddie Robbins' group is also actively performing.  Both groups have CD's that feature a version of Tonite, Tonite as well as versions of other Mello-Kings classics.

Current Information

Click here for Jerry Scholl's Mello-Kings Web Site:  Web Site

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