- The Flairs
The Flairs were an American
doo wop group.In
1952 , a group calling themselves "The Debonaires" had formed inLos Angeles , with members Arthur Lee Maye,Pete Fox , Obediah Jessie,Joe Winslow , andA.V. Odom . Winslow dropped out, leaving the qroup a quartet. Bass man Odom was out soon after, and was replaced byRichard Berry . Maye began puttingbaseball ahead of singing (he would later be a professional baseball player for theMilwaukee Braves ), and the group brought inBeverly Thompson to replace him.Cornell Gunter , who had recently left the earliest lineup ofThe Platters , came in to make the group a quintet. The Debonaires made a handful of recordings forRecorded In Hollywood Records with no real success.The group then found
Modern Records , and were transferred toFlair Records , owned by a brother of the owner of Modern. At this point, they changed their name to "The Flairs". Although they were named after the label, they had little success there. They recorded several singles through 1953, beginning with "I Had a Love ". The next was "Rabbit On A Log ", which was credited to "The Hunters", to avoid competition with "I Had A Love". More singles followed into1954 . Thompson left in the summer of '54. The group performed as a quartet, and brought inCharles Jackson as a fifth member on recordings.Shortly after Thompson's departure, Berry left as well. He had been working with Arthur Lee Maye's new group, The Crowns, as well as his own second group,
The Dreamers . This caused friction in the Flairs. His replacement wasRandy Jones (who also did some bass spots with the Crowns). The group continued recording, with one of their singles, "Love Me, Love Me, Love Me ", being credited toThe Chimes . Jackson left to join The Chimes at this time, and Jones left to fill the bass spot inThe Penguins . Gunter, Jessie, and Fox continued as "The Jac-O-Lacs", recording forTampa Records . The group broke up at this point. Jessie recorded one more Jac-O-Lacs single, "Mary Lou ", backed byThe Cadets . He got to know this group, and, when a baritone was needed a few years later, recommended fellow Flair Pete Fox for the job. Jessie continued as a soloist.With Fox joining the Cadets and Jessie recording solo (as "
Young Jessie "), Cornell Gunter formed a new group, "The Ermines", with new membersGeorge Hollis ,Thomas Miller , and his cousin,Kenneth Byley . After a brief stint withLoma Records , they signed up with managerBuck Ram , and moved toABC-Paramount Records , taking the name "The Flairs". After recording for ABC a short time, they moved to Modern, then toAladdin Records . Old Ermine's tracks continued to be released by Loma. Also, during this time, they frequently backed up Gunter's sister, Shirley.Gunter was out in late
1957 , and was replaced byVince Weaver . The group recorded into the summer of1958 for Ram'sAntler Records . Later that year, Weaver and Byley both left the group. The Cadets were again associated with the Flairs- they had just split, and CadetsWillie Davis andAaron Collins joined the Flairs. Former Flair Pete Fox was also a member of the Cadets when they split, and he did not join the Flairs. The fourth Cadet, Will "Dub" Jones, filled one of two recent vacancies inThe Coasters , the other being filled by recent Flair departee Cornell Gunter.Miller, Hollis, Davis, and Collins recorded only briefly as The Flairs, before changing their name to "
The Flares ", in1959 . Buck Ram had actually proposed a different name, "The Peppers". After a two year break, the Flares began to record again. By this time, however, both of the former Cadets had left, and the group was now Miller, Hollis,Eddie King ,Robbie Robinson , andBeverly Harris . This lineup recorded forFelsted Records . Then the lineup returned to Miller, Hollis, Willie Davis, and Aaron Collins (possibly featuring Harris). They recorded as "Bennie Bunn and The Cadets" forSherwood Records in1960 .At that time, Hollis left and was replaced by a former Flair, Randy Jones. Patience Valentine was added as a fifth member. Once again as "The Flares", the group recorded for
Jan-Lar Records . The groups lineup shifted rapidly at this point- later, Davis was out and Hollis was in. Then, Jones and Valentine were out, and Davis and Collin's sisterRose Collins were in. Rose was only in shortly, then she and Aaron's sisterBetty Collins . Then, Davis was out again, replaced by the returning Vince Weaver for a short time, before Davis returned.As The Flares, their biggest hit was the 1961 release "Foot Stompin' Part 1", which hit #20 on the Black Singles chart and #25 on the
Billboard Hot 100 . [ [http://wc06.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:39fyxqy5ldae~T5 Billboard Singles] , Allmusic.com]In
1961 , the group took Buck Ram's previous suggestion and recorded as "The Peppers" forEnsign Records . Then it was back to "The Flares" for Ram'sPress Records . They alternated between "The Peppers" and "The Flares" through1964 . At that point, the group split.References
External links
* [http://home.att.net/~marvart/Flairs/flairs.html Marv Goldberg article on The Flairs]
* [http://www.electricearl.com/dws/randyjones.html Article on Randy Jones]
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