The Classics were an American vocal group formed in 1958 in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
.
The Classics first sang together in high school; two of them had previously sung in a group called The Del-Rays. In 1959, under the auspices of manager Jim Gribble, they recorded their first single, "Cinderella"; the record
Bubbled Under the US
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...
in early 1960. The follow-up, "Angel Angela", also narrowly missed the national charts, and the 1961 single "Life Is But a Dream" hit the lower regions of the
R&B Singles
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...
chart when
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...
picked it up for national distribution, but it wasn't until they released the single "
Blue Moon
A blue moon refers either to the presence of a second full moon in a calendar month, to the third full moon in a season containing four, or to a moon that appears blue due to atmospheric effects.
The calendrical meaning of "blue moon" is unc ...
" with
Herb Lance
Herbert J. Lance (June 12, 1925 – November 7, 2006) was an American jazz, blues and gospel singer, songwriter, record producer, recording studio owner and radio DJ. As well as recording several hits himself in the late 1940s, he co-wrote Ru ...
on lead vocals that they charted a hit. The song peaked at #50.
[ Billboard Singles Allmusic.com]
The group signed with Musicnote Records in 1963 and released "
Till Then
"Till Then" is a popular song written by Eddie Seiler, Sol Marcus, and Guy Wood and published in 1944.
Background
The song was a plea (presumably by a soldier, off to fight the war) to his sweetheart to wait for him until he could get back home ...
", which became their biggest hit, peaking at #20 on the pop charts and #7
AC.
[
The group was best remembered for its ]ballads
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
, and frequently sang versions of pop standards
Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...
from the 1920s and 1930s. They frequently changed labels over the course of their career, and parted ways about 1966. Member Emil Stucchio revived the name to tour in the 1970s and again in the 1990s and 2000s. In the 1990s, the group was Stuccio, former Mystic Al Contrera, Scott LaChance, and Michael Paquette. Later it was Stuccio, Contrera, LaChance, and Teresa McClean. LaChance later left the group.
Members
*Emil Stucchio
*Tony Victor
*Johnny Gambale
*Jamie Troy
Discography
Singles
References
External links
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Classics, The
Musical groups from Brooklyn
Doo-wop groups