Throughout the 50's and 60's, there were numerous Rock and Roll bands, vocal groups
and solo artists. Many went on to have successful music careers, but unfortunately for
others, lasting popularity did not always materialize. Some groups managed to achieve
brief recognition, sometimes with just one hit, only to vanish from the music scene. A
few managed to achieve some success, but only regionally, never quite gaining
significant national attention. Those artists have come to be known as One Hit Wonders.
During the 1950's and 1960's several artists attained that label. In this episode of One Hit Wonders, I will focus on the brief careers of The Hollywood Argyles and The Checkmates.
The Hollywood Argyles were a group put together by producer and songwriter Kim
Fowley and with fellow musician and friend Gary S. Paxton. At the time Gary was one
half of the vocal duo Skip and Flip who had success with the hits “ It Was I” and “Cherry
Pie”. One of the recording sessions produced by Fowley, yielded “Alley Oop”, a country
song composed by Dallas Frazier.
At the time the studio group had no name. Gary recalled that at the time he and Fowley
were living in Hollywood in a 15 dollar a week room. Since he was under contract with
Brent Records, he couldn’t use the name of Flip on the “Alley Oop“ single. Since the
recording studio was located on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Argyle Street,
Gary decided on the name The Hollywood Argyles. Interestingly, initially he was the
only member of The Hollywood Argyles. All others on the recording were either a friend or studio musicians, who Gary paid twenty-five dollars apiece. Once “Alley Oop“ was released it went straight to number one. This caused a dilemma when they were asked to perform in concert, since there wasn’t an actual performing group.
The musicians that recorded “Alley Oop“ included Gaynel Hodge on piano, Harper
Cosby on bass Ronnie Silico on drums and Sandy Nelson on tambourine and a garbage
can. The background screams that are heard in the song were provided by Nelson. Dallas Frazier, Scott Turner, Buddy Mize and a female named Diane provided the backing vocals.
“Alley Oop“ holds an interesting place in the history of AM radio station WLS in
Chicago, Illinois. It was the first song that was played once the station changed format to rock and roll on May 2nd, 1960. The song remained on the Billboard Hot 100 for 15
weeks, reached number one on July 11th, 1960, sold over one million copies and earned a gold disc awarded by the RIAA.
Background singer Dallas Frazier is best known as the writer of “There Goes My
Everthing” was became hits for Jack Greene in 1966 and Engelbert Humperdink in 1967. He also wrote “Elivra” which was recorded by the Oak Ridge Boys and became a country hit in 1981. Gary eventually formed Garpax Records and later became a gospel artist. In 1963 Kim Fowley produced “Popsicles and Icicles” by the Murmaids, which reached number 3 in the US. After the success of “Alley Oop“, The Hollywood Argyles vanished from the music business.
The Checkmates were a Rhythm and Blues group from Fort Wayne, Indiana. The group,
which included black and white members, was discovered by singer Nancy Wilson. The
group consisted of lead vocalist Bobby Steven, vocalist Sonny Charles, Jimmy Milton,
Marvin Smith on drums and vocals, guitarist Harvey Trees, Bill Van Buskirk on bass and
Calvin Thomas on drums. Instead of performing in rock clubs they appeared in the Las
Vegas lounges. By the end of the 60s decade, legendary producer Phil Spector was
looking for another group to work with. He had the group record and release a single
titled “ Love Is All I Have to Give”. Once the single was released it stalled at number 65.
For the follow up release, Spector decided to switch lead vocalists from Bobby Stevens to Sonny Charles. The group is best known for their one major hit in 1969 “Black Pearl”,
which was written by Phil Spector , Toni White and Irwin Levine and produced by
Spector. The single became a top 20 hit peaking at number 13.
By this time Phil was using the A&M recording studios instead of Gold Star Studios, where he gained his fame as a producer during the earlier part of the 1960's. The record listed the artists as Sonny Charles and the Checkmates, which did not go over too well former lead vocalist Bobby Stevens. This would cause a rivalry between Sonny and Bobby, which resulted in abandoning a planned album. They also recorded a cover of “Proud Mary” which managed to reach number 30 in the UK Singles Chart in late 1969. The next year, the group disbanded, but reunited in 1974 for a short period. The group also appeared in performances with Frank Sinatra and Herb Alpert. Later Sonny Charles performed as a solo artist and enjoyed moderate success, also working with The Steve Miller Band as a vocalist. Sonny and Marvin then reunited, touring through out the US into the 2000s. While on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, Marvin and Sonny were scheduled to perform, but unfortunately before the performance, Marvin suffered a heart attack and died on December 15th, 2007 at the age of 68.
This has been a look back at two of Rock and Roll’s one hit wonders from the 1960's, The Hollywood Argyles and The Checkmates.