The Native Boys

They never made any money from their records.  Heck, they didn't even get to choose the name of their group!!!  But they sure made some great music during their short time together.  In some ways, The Native Boys of Los Angeles were like a lot of lesser-known west coast groups but they managed to find a way to create their own sound in the world of group harmony singing.

The group formed in the Watts area of Los Angeles in 1952-3 as the Mellowtears.  They didn't do any recording at first and basically started singing "to woo the girls," recalls original member Fred Romain.  The group consisted of Fred, Vince Weaver, George Le Brune, Edward Saunders and Charles Mathis.   "We all went to Cathedral High School in Los Angeles and that's how we met.  A couple of us went to grammar school together (St. Patrick's)," says Fred.   Fred remembers that:  "we all started talking about singing and we all thought maybe we can get recorded one day.  We'd go to the local parks, or the local gym and see if we could sound like this group or that group."  They liked the Coasters, the Jacks and the Flairs and were friends with the members of that later group.  Some of the Native Boys later went on to perform with Cornell Gunter.

They finally found a sound of their own.  "We were always looking to be discovered," says Fred, and were picked up by Modern Records - a Southern California mainstay for group harmony recordings.   Sax man Maxwell Davis worked for Modern and lived in the neighborhood and started working with the group.  He can be heard playing the sax on their first record - Native Girl.  Modern took them into the studio to record Native Girl b/w It Won't Take Long (Modern 939 - 1954).  That same session, Fred recalls, Shirley Gunther and the Queens recorded "Oop Shoop."  After the session, the group went over to a studio in Culver City and watched the Platters finishing up on "Only You."  Quite a day for a group of high schoolers!  Native Girl was a Vince Weaver and Edward Saunders composition although they are not given credit on the record (not surprising for the time).  It was the executives at Modern that gave the group their name, based on their first single, but the guys always thought of themselves at the Mellowtears.  "I think most of us were pretty ashamed of (the name Native Boys) for a while," says Fred.

  
The record did moderately well but the guys never saw a dime of the profits.  "We didn't hear much about it, it wasn't moving and that was the end of that," says Fred.    Fred later ran into Jake Porter who ran Combo records and Jake took the group and had them work on their sound.  He later took them back into the studio to record Strange Love b/w Cherrlyn (Combo 113 - 1955).  Fred, Vince and Porter are given credit on the record for their respective compositions.  The record never did much but years later, in 2000, Fred started hearing about how many people, ourselves included, loved it.

Following the release of Strange Love, the group did some local appearances but Fred recalls "looking back, it wasn't really a great time for working."  They did a record hop with Hunter Hancock, a show at a theatre in Huntington Park and some private parties.  Porter then released additional Native Boys records - Tears b/w When I Met You (Combo 115 - 1956); Laughing Love (another Fred composition) (Combo 119 - 1956); and Oh Let Me Dream b/w I've Got a Feeling (Combo 120 - 1956).  I've Got a Feeling was a favorite for Fred.

Following the additional Combo releases, the group drifted and eventually broke up.  They really made nothing off the records.  "You got some copies of your records and that was it," says Fred.  Vince Weaver joined the Flairs.  Fred recorded as the Ebbtones in 1957 doing I've Got a Feeling b/w Danny's Blues (Ebb 100 - 1957) and later as a solo artist in 1963 doing Be My Girl on Spindletop records.  Backing him up on the 1963 record were Brenda Holloway (of "Echo" fame), and two of Brenda's relatives.

In 2000, the Southern California Doo-Wop Society contacted Fred to see if his group was still together.  "I was totally surprised," says Fred.  He had not sung for years ("other than in the bathtub," he jokes) but he got back in touch with Vince Weaver and joined up with a couple of the Calvanes to do a show for the Society.  On the show were the Penguins, Gene and Eunice and Jewel Akens.  A fantastic show!   At the show, Fred met some folks from England: "I was shocked and I signed an autograph for a guy that had a third pressed copy of Strange Love!"

Recently, Fred had a problem with his kidney and underwent replacement surgery.  After a loving donation of a kidney from his wife, we are happy to announce that Fred is back and healthy as ever.  Fred and Vince have started to put together a new Native Boys group!  Joining them are Kevin Carol and Rene Beard (one of the original Jayhawks).  They are working on new material and new versions of their original songs.  They are planning on recording a new CD which may be a "then and now" type CD - including both new material and their original recordings.  What a treat that will be when its finally released!

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