The Native Boys to Perform on a West Coast Doo Wop Cruise
They originally they didn’t call themselves the “Native Boys”, they were the “Mellowtears” and in spite of being from Los Angeles, their records sold better in the East
Los Angeles, CA June 30, 2008 — Grant Williams CEO of Memory Lane Concert Cruises today announced. The prestigious Native Boys will be among the twelve groups appearing on the legendary West Coast Doo Wop Cruise. “The Native Boys history is an essential part of West Coast Rhythm and Blues that goes back to 1954. Their recording of Strange Love remains today as a perfect display of why the music of the time was so unique and will be timeless forever.†said Williams
The story of the Native Boys began in 1954 when four students who attended Cathedral High School in Downtown Los Angeles. They formed a group called the Mellowtears. They were: Fred Romain, William Vincent “Vince” Weaver, Edward “Sack” Saunders, and Harry Rosemont.
The Mellowtears specialized in writing their own songs, and started by practicing on two of them that Vince had written; “Native Girl” and “It Won’t Take Vary Long”. They would often sing while walking around the Sunset Strip and Hollywood Boulevard. Especially near the Brown Derby and Grumman’s Chinese Theater where most of the record companies were. .
The Mellowtears eventually hooked up with Maxwell Davis, a well-known sax player who helped them get an audition with Aladdin Records, which turned them down. Later Davis took them to Modern Records and finally given a contract to do a single session. At first the Mellowtears only dealt with Davis, and not any of the Bihari’s who owned Modern. There were two interesting facts about their first record they recorded for Modern, first was Vince Weaver’s name doesn’t appear as writer on either side. The Biharis took writer credit for themselves as they would often due on many occasions. But this time Joe Bihari took the credits on both sides. The second is the Mellowtears name did not appear on the record. Someone had the bright idea to rename them after their song, and the “Native Boys”. They had no say in this; they didn’t know about the name change until the release of the record. “It was a mindblower; we loved the name the Mellowtears. Says Vince.
Native Girl” was a real bouncing rocker, while “It Won’t Take Long” is a more mainstream up-tempo side. The Mellowtears didn’t think of themselves as the Native Boys but waited around for royalties to come pouring in. When nothing much happened with “Native Girl”, Harry Rosemont dropped out (subsequently attending Notre Dame University); George LeBrune replaced him. Although they have other jobs here and there, they mostly worked on their singing. Vince had a Webcor tape recorder which he used to record the guys so they could critique themselves.
Vernon “Jake” Porter of Combo Records listened to their tale of woe about Modern. He decided to groom them and help them work on their choreography. Jake had a studio in the basement of his house on North Virgil Avenue (near Los Angeles City College); where he listened to their tunes and helped polish them. At least, when Porter stuck his name on a song, he also included that of the original songwriter. There were no big shows, but they did once appear at a record hop with Hunter Hancock (whose “Hunting with Hunter” was one of the most popular radio shows in L.A.).”Strange Love” released in November 1955, did well in the east before making much noise in Los Angeles. While Jake told them it was doing well on the East Coast, he avoided any talk of “royalties”. It started showing up on local charts in March of 1956. Not one to miss an opportunity, Porter decided to release all the remaining Native Boys sides that same month. There was no surprise none of these records ever sold well. With fewer and fewer jobs coming in, the Native Boys drifted apart.
In 1957 Vince Weaver joined the Flairs. Meanwhile Fred Romain teamed up with a friend of his, Danny Kristian. They rerecorded “I’ve Got A Feeling” for Lee Rupe’s new Ebb label. Lee was the wife of Specialty owner Art Rupe now calling them the Ebbtones. While that was the end of the Native Boys, Weaver and Romaine kept at it in the music business with varying degrees of success into the nineteen sixties. Despite their short and mostly unremarkable history, “Strange Love” remains, as a perfect display of why the music of the time was unique and timeless forever. Today Fred Romaine and Charles Eledridge lead singer of the Youngsters continue perform as the Native Boys.
On April 19 2009, the Native Boys will perform on Carnival cruise lines newest and most innovative ship in the world the Splendor. Sailing from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera on a 7-day cruise. There has never been a Doo Wop event this spectacular on the West Coast in over fifty years.
Memory Lane Concert Cruises is musical theme cruise operator. Offering world-class concerts of performing artists in an array of music styles aboard luxury liners.
http://www.mlccruises.com
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Contact:
Grant Williams
Memory Lane Concert Cruises
Los Angeles, CA
Phone : 541-679-6298
Fax : 866-396-0808
[email protected]
http://www.mlccruises.com
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