Monday, January 10, 2011

The Aquatones - She's The One For Me


A nice little rocker from 1958 from the Aquatones. This is the flip to their hit 1st and only "hit" record "You". I prefer this side...

Here is the Wiki low down:

The Aquatones were a doo-wop group in the 1950s who charted just once with "You", a ballad which was also covered by Gale Storm.

The Aquatones were true one hit wonders whose subsequent singles for the Fargo label all failed to reach the Hot 100.

The Aquatones were a four part harmony band with a female lead vocal, Lynne Nixon. The group began as three guys from Valley Stream, New York. They formed in 1956 as the Rhythm Kings with Dave Goddard, Larry Vannata, and Gene McCarthy as members. They came together to record a song written by Dave for their junior class play at Valley Stream Central High School. All of the guys played instruments as well as sang - Gene the clarinet and tenor sax, Larry the alto and tenor sax, and Dave the piano. Bob Boden would play drums when they performed live. A classmates father, a record distributor, heard the group and suggested that they add a high falsetto voice. Shortly thereafter, Larry met Lynne Nixon at a dance and asked Gene and Dave to give her an audition. Upon hearing Lynne's voice they agreed to add her to the group. At first, Lynne only sang backgrounds, until Larry wrote the song "You" for her to sing.
The group later changed its name to the Aquatones (as Dave describes it "so the guys could wear a 'cool' shirt from the 1950s - aqua with a black velvet 'V' down the front). In 1957 the three original members - Larry Vannata, David Goddard and Eugene McCarthy, decided to add Lynne as a fourth member to give the group some versatility. It was not long after the group became a foursome that they found themselves performing at a talent contest at Malverne High School. The contest entitled Stairway to the Stars was just that for the group as local real estate mogul turned music promoter Lou Fargo heard the group and liked what he saw and heard. In December 1957, he signed the group and off to the studio they went to record on Fargo's own label.

Their first song was "You" (Fargo 1001 b/w She's the One For Me). It was a group harmony recording. The record hit on the Billboard chart in April 1958. Such classics as "I Met Him on a Sunday" by the Shirelles, "Zoom Zoom Zoom" by the Collegians, and "Sweet Little Sixteen" by Chuck Berry were out at the same time. While it did very well in the East, it only managed to hit #21 across America.

The Aquatones - She's The One For Me

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Dick, so glad you're here to share "You're the One for Me" with everyone. This is one of my all-time faves and one of the only tunes I know by them. Would love to hear more if you got 'em! Thanks DD and Happy New Year! SteveR, Phila