Molly Mae ~ The Crests (1959) Coed # CO-511
The flip side of, Flower Of Love
Words & Music by: Watts & Mosely

Guilty by The Crests from 1962. Movie clip from the 1962 Movie Phaedra staring
Anthony Perkins, and Mercouri Melina.

1961

The Golden Voice of Johnny Maestro

Pure Gold from the Crests

Formed in New York City, USA, in 1956, the Crests soon became one of the most successful of the ‘integrated’ doo-wop groups of the period, after being discovered by Al Browne. Headed by the lead tenor of Johnny Mastro (Johnny Mastrangelo, 7 May 1930, USA), the rest of the band comprised Harold Torres, Talmadge Gough, J.T. Carter and Patricia Van Dross. By 1957 they were recording for Joyce Records and achieved their first minor pop hit with ‘Sweetest One’. Moving to the new Coed label, the Crests (without Van Dross) recorded their signature tune and one of doo-wop’s enduring classics, ‘16 Candles’, a heartfelt and beautifully orchestrated ballad. It became a national pop hit at number 2 in the Billboard charts, paving the way for further R&B and pop successes such as ‘Six Nights A Week’, ‘The Angels Listened In’ and ‘Step By Step’. At this time the band was almost permanently on the road. Following ‘Trouble In Paradise’ in 1960, the band’s final two chart singles would be credited to The Crests featuring Johnny Mastro. However, this was evidently not enough to satisfy their label, Coed, whose priority now was to launch the singer as a solo artist. Mastro’s decision to go solo in 1960 (subsequently calling himself Johnny Maestro) weakened the band, although they did continue with James Ancrum in his stead. Their former vocalist made the charts with ‘Model Girl’, still for Coed, in the following year, before re-emerging as leader of Brooklyn Bridge, an 11-piece doo-wop group who are best remembered for their 1968 single ‘The Worst That Could Happen’. After ‘Little Miracles’ failed to break the Billboard Top 100 (the first such failure for the Crests in 10 singles), Gough moved to Detroit and a job with General Motors. He was replaced by Gary Lewis. However, the Crests were now entangled in legal disputes with Coed over the ownership of their name. They eventually moved to Selma, although the songs made available to the group were now of significantly inferior quality, including ‘You Blew Out The Candles’, a blatant attempt to revisit the success of ‘16 Candles’. The band continued to tour throughout the 60s, though Torres had left to become a jeweller, leaving a core of Carter, Lewis and Ancrum. Later line-ups were organized by Carter for lounge sessions (although there are no recordings from this period), and in June 1987 the original line-up (minus Van Dross) was re-formed for a show in Peepskill, New York.

In the late 50s and early 60s, the Crests were one of the top Doo Wop groups around. In 1961, Johnny Maestro (Mastrangelo) left the group to start a solo career. In those few short years, the Crests produced many hit songs like this one from 1959.

great 1959 doowopp by Johnny Maestro..this is the flip side of "Six Nights A Week"...

JOHNNY MAESTRO Y THE CRESTS FOR COLLECTORS ONLY DISCO 2

The Crests were a New York R&B doo-wop group in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their most popular song, "Sixteen Candles," rose to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1959, selling over one million copies, earning a gold disc. The interracial group had three black members (one female), one Puerto Rican, and one Italian-American.


Founded by J. T. Carter, the group included Talmoudge Gough, Harold Torres, and Patricia Van Dross, (older sister of R&B great Luther Vandross). Carter selected vocalist Johnny Mastrangelo (shortened to Johnny Mastro and later to Johnny Maestro) as lead vocalist. Maestro's recorded vocal style became instantly recognizable, and a juke box favorite of national teen audiences. Maestro's quality vocals, great song selections, and recordings, with dance-easy beats, made for charted hits. The group had several Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s on Coed Records, including "16 Candles," "Six Nights a Week," "The Angels Listened In," "A Year Ago Tonight," "Step By Step", and "Trouble in Paradise." They also charted with "Sweetest One" (Joyce label) in 1957. In the late 1950s, the Crests appeared and performed on several, national, teen dance television shows.

After recording two singles for Joyce Records, Van Dross left The Crests in 1958. Maestro left for a solo career in 1961. Maestro would briefly rejoin the band recording under the name Johnny Maestro & the Crests producing a single for Scepter Records, in 1965, and three singles, for the Parkway label, in 1966. He later joined The Del Satins, which would merge with The Rhythm Method to become Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge. In 1969, they had a Top 5 hit with "The Worst That Could Happen". New lead James Ancrum, took his place in The Crests. The group recorded a new single, "Little Miracles." It was the first single not to chart in the Top 100. They also recorded "Guilty" (Selma label). Gough quit the group after the single, and was replaced by Gary Lewis (not to be confused with Gary Lewis of Gary Lewis & the Playboys fame). Subsequently, the group failed to find success throughout the decade.

By the late 1960s, Torres was gone. The group continued until 1978 as a trio of Carter, Ancrum, and Lewis, when the group split. Carter went on to sing with Charlie Thomas' Drifters.

Carter reformed the group in 1980, auditioning over 200 singers, finally settling on: lead Bill Damon, Greg Sereck, Dennis Ray, and New York drummer Jon Ihle. The group continued well into the 1990s. Carter sold the trademarks to The Crests name to Tommy Mara in the late 1990s. Mara was Carter's lead vocalist at the time, and now continues the group without Carter. Currently, Carter performs as part of the three person group, Starz.[3] Lewis is now singing with The Cadillacs.

The 1984 John Hughes teen film, Sixteen Candles, took its title from The Crests' song, which was re-recorded by The Stray Cats for the Sixteen Candles soundtrack.

In 1987, for a concert in Peekskill, New York, Maestro, Carter, Torres, and Gough reunited as The Crests.

In 1993, Patricia Van Dross died of complications from diabetes. Hal Torres is deceased; Tommy Gough lives in Flint, Michigan.

Johnny Maestro died of cancer on March 24, 2010, at his home in Cape Coral, Florida. He was 70 and had lived in Islip, New York, until 2003.

In April 2010, the Los Angeles-based rights-management firm Beach Road Music, LLC, acquired the Coed Records catalog, subsequently re-releasing the Maestro song "The Great Physician" on the 2011 compilation album From The Vault: The Coed Records Lost Master Tapes, Volume 1. "The Great Physician" was originally released in 1960 as Coed 527, under the pseudonym "Johnny Masters."

Stereo mix by jacob6657.
The song was written by Allyson R. Khent & Billy Dawn Smith.
It was Recorded on May 4, 1960 and released as a single by The Crests later that month.
The single had reached #20 on the US Hot 100.

1. The Angels Listened In #22 in September 1959.
2. Step By Step #14 in April 1960.
Both songs on the Coed label in great stereo.

*STEREO* The Crests sing one of my special favourites with "The Angels Listened In". Just wonderful!

I Love this Classic

The Crests performing Sixteen Candles

Lyrics:
Happy Birthday, happy birthday baby
Oh, I love you so
Sixteen candles make a lovely light
But not as bright as your eyes tonight
Blow out the candles
Make your wish come true
For I'll be wishing that you love me too
You're only sixteen but you're my teenage queen
You're the prettiest, the loveliest girl I've ever seen
Sixteen candles in my heart will glow
Forever and ever
For I love you so
You're only sixteen but you're my teenage queen
Oh, you're the prettiest, the loveliest girl I've ever seen
Sixteen candles in my heart will glow
Forever and ever
For I love you so
Oh, I love you so
--

(C) 1958 Coed Records, Inc

#TheCrests #Oldies

JOHNNY MAESTRO Y THE CRESTS FOR COLLECTORS ONLY DISCO 2

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