The Exciters

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The Exciters, 1964

The Exciters were an American singing group from the United States and Jamaica, formed in Queens , New York City in 1962 and best known for their hit Tell Him .

history

The previous group was called Masterettes and consisted of Brenda Reid, Carol Johnson, Lillian Walker and Sylvia Wilbur. When Herbert Rooney (* 1941) was kicked out of their sister group Masters , he joined the Masterettes in 1962 as a replacement for Wilbur . These were then renamed to Exciters . Rooney was four years older than the other three members of the quartet, as Brenda Reid, Carol Johnson and Lilian Walker were all born in 1945.

Pretty soon the four got a record deal with United Artists and recorded the repetitive Tell Him (United Artists 544), which would become their only major success. In England , Billie Davis was successful with the song in 1963. There are other cover versions of , for example, Alma Cogan (1963), Hello (1974), The Glitter Band (1974), Kenny Loggins (1988) or Vonda Shepard (1998). A French version by Claude François appeared in 1963 under the title "Dis-lui" , a Spanish ( "Dile" ) also in 1963 by the singer Rosalia .

After their hit Tell Him , the Exciters had several placements in the US Top 100 between 1963 and 1966, but always remained in the lower half of the charts. Her hits between 1962 and 1964 were produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and released on United Artists Records , including the title Do-Wah-Diddy (United Artists 662), which reached number 78 in the US charts in 1964. Manfred Mann released the song in late 1964 , making it a number one hit in the US and UK.

At the beginning of 1965 the group switched to Roulette Records , but had a modest chart success there with the single I Want You To Be My Boy . The title was a response song to Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers' hit I Want You To Be My Girl .

In early 1966, the group changed labels again and signed a contract with Bang Records , but their single A Little Bit Of Soap (Bang 515) only reached number 58 on the singles chart.

Another great success was not to be achieved, so that the group separated at the end of 1966.

Members

  • Brenda Reid
  • Carol Johnson
  • Lilian Walker
  • Herbert Rooney

Discography

Albums

  • 1963: Tell Him (United Artists)
  • 1965: The Exciters (Roulette)
  • 1969: Caviar And Chitlins
  • 1971: Black Beauty
  • 1976: Heaven Is Where You Are
  • 1977: The Exciters

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK US US R&B R&B
1962 Tell Him
Tell Him 		UK46 (1 week)
UK 		US4 (13 weeks)
US 		R&B5 (11 weeks)
R&B
1963 He's Got The Power
Tell Him 		- US57 (8 weeks)
US 		-
Get Him
Tell Him 		- US76 (3 weeks)
US 		-
1964 Do-wah-diddy
 - US78 (4 weeks)
US 		R&B47 (2 weeks)
R&B
1965 I Want You To Be My Boy
The Exciters 		- US98 (1 week)
US 		-
1966 A Little Bit of Soap
 - US58 (6 weeks)
US 		-
1969 You Don't Know What You're Missing
('Til It's Gone)
Caviar And Chitlins 		- - R&B49 (2 weeks)
R&B
1975 Reaching for the Best
Heaven Is Where You Are 		UK31 (6 weeks)
UK 		- -
1978 Tonight I'm Gonna Make You A Star
 - - R&B70 (4 weeks)
R&B
as Brenda & Herb

literature

  • Laufenberg, Frank / Hake, Ingrid: Rock and Pop Lexicon. Vol. 1: ABBA - Kay Kyser . Düsseldorf / Vienna: Econ Verlag, 1994, p. 480f.
  • Warner, Jay: The Billboard Book Of American Singing Groups. A History 1940-1990 . New York City / New York: Billboard Books, 1992, pp. 378f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The record reached number 4 on the Billboard charts. For this and the other US single chart placements see: Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 200.
  2. ↑ Tell him at Coverinfo.de
  3. ^ Nugent, Stephen / Fowler, Anne / Fowler, Pete: Chart Log of American / British Top 20 Hits, 1955-1974 . In: Gillett, Charlie / Frith, Simon (eds.): Rock File 4 . Frogmore, St. Albans: Panther Books, 1976, p. 235
  4. ↑ The single reached number 98; US catalog number: Roulette 4591
  5. ↑ This title reached number 13 on the best-selling charts in 1956; US catalog number: Gee 1012
  6. ↑ Chart sources: UK US

Web links