The Impalas
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The Impalas was an American vocal group that enjoyed doo-wop songs in the 1950s and 1960s .
Members
- Joe "Speedo" Frazier (born September 5, 1943, † April 1, 2014; front singer)
- Tony Carlucci (1st tenor)
- Lenny Renda (2nd tenor)
- Richard Wagner (baritone)
history
The group began in 1958 with the white singers Tony Carlucci, Lenny Renda and Richard Wagner as street musicians in the south of Brooklyn, New York . In the course of the year, the Afro-American Joe "Speedo" Frazier joined them, he became the lead singer, and the quartet was named "The Impalas". It was the name of a Chevrolet model popular at the time . In late 1958 they produced their first single with the titles I Was a Fool and First Date at the small Hollywood- based record company Hamilton . After the record went unnoticed, songwriters Ardie Swern and Harry Giosasi took on the group and wrote the tracks Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home) and Fool, Fool, Fool for them . Through the mediation of the prominent disc jockey Alan Freed , their production took over the production of the New York label Cub Records, founded the year before .
The single with the two titles was launched in early February 1959. The A-side title Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home) first appeared on the Hot 100 of the US music magazine Billbord on March 16 . Starting at number 84, the song rose to number two and stayed in the charts for 18 weeks. It reached number 14 in the rhythm and blues charts , and the Impalas also made it into the charts in Great Britain, where they landed at number 28 on New Musical Express . Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home) sold over a million copies and was awarded a gold record . In the summer of 1959, Cub released the Impalas, a long-playing record that received the same title as the hit song.
The title Oh What a Fool of the follow-up single also got into the Hot 100, but only reached number 86. After that, Cub only produced two more Impala singles, the last one (Cub No. 9066) being the interpreter "Speedo and The Impalas" was specified. In September 1963, the Impalas' last single was released on 20th Century Fox . Then the group split up, but got back together again in 1980 as part of an oldies tour.
In 1961 a girl band appeared in the USA for a short time, also called The Impalas. In 1962 the band changed its name to The Four Jewels, later to The Jewels.
US discography
Vinyl singles
| From page | Catalog no. | published |
| Hamilton | ||
| I Was a Fool / First Date | 50026 | 1/1959 |
| Capitol | ||
| I Ran All the Way Home / Fool, Fool, Fool | 9022/1 | 2/1959 |
| Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home) / Fool, Fool, Fool | 9022/2 | 2/1959 |
| Oh What a Fool / Sandy Went Away | 9033 | 6/1959 |
| Peggy Darling / Bye Everyone | 9053 | 10/1959 |
| All Alone / When My Heart Does All the Talking | 9066 * | 3/1960 |
| 20th Century Fox | ||
| There Is Nothing Like a Dame / Last Night I Saw a Girl | 428 | 9/1963 |
* Speedo and the Impalas
Vinyl album
 The Impalas - Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home) Cub 8003, 7/1959 |
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A: 1 Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home), 2 Sandy Went Away, 3 Woodchuck Song, 4 Fool, Fool, Fool, 5 She Belongs to Me, 6 Cupid / B: 1 Oh What a Fool, 2 The Loves We Share, 3 Chum, 4 All But the Memory of You, 5 Mommy-O, 6 (You Want) Too Much Too Soon |
literature
- Frank Laufenberg: Rock & Pop Lexicon . Econ Taschenbuch Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-612-26206-8 , Volume 1, p. 727.
swell
- ↑ Chart sources: The Impalas at chartsurfer.de