0ne of the first female R&B vocal groups to have
nationwide success, the Chantels are also considered by many to have
been the best female group of all time. Their choir-like sound and
close-knit harmony brought a
new dimension to rock and roll and R&B songs.
Arlene Smith (lead), Lois Harris (first tenor), Sonia
Goring (second tenor), Jackie Landry (second alto), and Rene Minus
(alto/bass) began their musical journey in their preteens while
attending choir practice at St. Anthony of Padua school in the Bronx.
By 1957 the members, aged 14 through 17, had been singing together more
than seven years. A staple of their musical diet had been Gregorian
chants taught to such perfection that changing notes and trading parts
were second nature.
In contrast to their male counterparts, the girls
weren't able to "hang out' on a street corner at all hours practicing;
five young Catholic schoolgirls live a more restricted lifestyle. So in
1957 much of their practice took place in the unlikely surroundings of
the girls' locker room at St. Anthony's. Being one of the taller girls
in school, Arlene Smith became a member of the girl's basketball team
and, win or lose, the group would sing after each game. The choir-like
quintet began doing talent shows with the Sequins (Red Robin Records)
and The Crows (Rama Records) at the PS.
60 Community Center and at St. Augustine's church. That same year their
school
team went up against the hoopsters of St. Francis de Chantelle.
One of the
girls (to this day no one remembers which) suggested they end their
long
search for a group name by calling themselves the Chantelles. It soon
became
the Chantels.
The girls had a strength apart from their angelic
vocal presence:
the writing ability of lead singer Arlene Smith. There weren't many
girl
groups around in the mid-'50s and even fewer
that contributed
to the recording process with their own lyrics and
melodies (although THE BOBBETTES come to mind, but all five of their
members
pooled their writing resources). Arlene
contributed
both words and music, and the combination of her classical and gospel
background
with simple yet poignant lyrics would make her
more
successful than she could possibly imagine at the tender age of 16
"He's Gone," Arlene's first song, was written with a
boyfriend in mind while she was working her way through piano practice. Legend has it that the five classmates were on
the second floor of the Broadway Theatre building on Broadway and 53rd
Street in Manhattan when several of THE VALENTINES passed by underneath
the window. The girls recognized them from an Allen Freed Show
performance and scampered down to hunt for autographs. Amid the chatter
it came to Valentines member David Clowney's
attention that the girls were a singing group. Producer writer/arranger
and Valentines' lead Richard Barrett entered the conversation. Thinking
he
was putting the girls on the spot he asked them
to
sing right there under the Broadway Theatre
marquee,
and sing they did. He was floored at the sound of the girls singing a
hymn,
and with his leaning toward rhythm and blues, he perhaps wondered how
they would sound singing that kind of music. He
took their phone
number.
The girls were thrilled at Barret's interest; they
knew he
was the right-hand man of record entrepreneur George Goldner,
owner of Gee
and Roulette Records. Ironically,
they had tried
to sing for Gold ner only weeks before, but he
hadn't
been in when they showed up for their audition at Gee Records' 42nd Street office. Several
weeks
passed after the Broadway Theatre meeting without a call from
Barrett. Not
being timid, Jackie Landry told a friend of hers in THE TEEN CHORDS of
their
encounter and he gave her Barrett's address. The
entire
Chantels cast dropped in on Barrett and reminded him of their
meeting. This
time the multi-talented producer wasted no time in calling rehearsals,
meeting
the group's mothers, and arranging the teens' first two songs, the
Arlene
Smith compositions "The Plea' and "He's Gone.
By the early summer of 1957 the girls were signed to
Goldner's End label, which he had just formed after selling off the
Roulette/Rama/Gee organization. In fact, the girls' first single was
the second release (Malcolm Dodds and the Tunedrops' "It Took a Long
Time" was the first) on the label that was to be the future home of
such stalwarts as LITTLE ANTHONY AND THE IMPERIALS, THE FLAMINGOS, THE
MIRACLES, Little Richard, THE TEENAGERS, the Bobbettes, THE VELOURS,
THE DEL-SATINS, and the one and only Wilt "The Stilt' Chamberlain ("By
the Riverside," 1960).
The Chantels' first single was "He's Gone," released
in August
1957. From the four-part a cappella chime harmony intro topped by
Arlene's
floating falsetto to its duplicate ending, "He's Gone" instantly set a
new
standard of quality for female group recordings. By September 30, the
record
was on the Billboard national Top 100 charts but
inexplicably
stopped at number 71, spending a mere six weeks in competitive company.
Still,
it was a major breakthrough. This record charted only seven weeks after
the
Bobbettes hit the top 100 with their first release, the infamous "Mr.
Lee."
Ironically, these two trend setting groups of the '50s lived less than
a
few miles from each other.
The Chantels' first live performance was at a Jocko
show at the Apollo Theatre (Jocko was a legendary New York disc jockey
at the time)
in which the group was not even on the bill. Richard Barrett brought
them
backstage and waited for an opportune time for Jocko to present them to
the
world. For Arlene, her classical recitals at Carnegie Hall must have
felt
like a far cry from this; the Chantels' wowed the enthusiastic audience
with
"He's Gone."
Their next recording session, on October 16, 1957, was
scheduled not at a regular studio but at a refurbished church in
midtown Manhattan, apparently for its acoustics. Richard Barrett played
the piano along with supportive bass and drums for this Chantels
recording of the Arlene Smith composition "Maybe." The single was
released in December; by January 20, 1958,
it was heading up the pop charts and a week later was climbing the
rhythm
and blues charts. "Maybe" reached number 15 Pop by late winter and
number
two R&B. Interestingly (though not uncustomarily for the time) the
original
record's writer credits read Casey (whoever he was) and Goldner (we
know
who he was). Later issues and reissues had "Arlene Smith and Goldner."
As
recently as 1987 a Chantels compilation appeared on a Murray Hill
three-LP set with "Maybe" listed as being written by R. Barrett.
Two days after "Maybe" hit the pop charts the group
was recording
again. Barrett was now heavily devoting his attention to the girls,
even
dropping his own group the Valentines by summer 1957. On January 22,
1958,
the most productive recording session of the Chantels career generated
five
sides, all eventually released on singles or EPs: "Sure of Love," "I
Love
You So," "Every Night," "Whoever You Are," and "Memories of Nod' (the
old
HARPTONES classic). (In the girls' sessions, Barrett would always
rehearse the Chantels, to perfection, yet when it came to the
musicians, on-the-spot arrangements and one or two rundowns would
suffice.)
The Chantels' third single for End was "Every Night (I
Pray)," another gem that sounded suspiciously like Arlene's writing
style although it showed George Goldner's name on the record. "Every
Night" hit the pop charts
on March 31, 1958, and reached number 39 (#16 R&B).
That spring the Chantels became the first female
rhythm and
blues aggregation to release an EP; it included "Sure of Love,"
"Prayee," "I Love You So," and "How Could You Call It Off." The latter
two became their fourth single in April. "I Love You So" was the first
non-Arlene Smith composition to be released as an A side. It was
written by Watkins and
Davis, the latter a member of the Crows (it was featured as the B side
of their April 1954 hit
"Gee"). A further piece of information in the continuing "whats
in a name" game has an early '60s 45 rpm pressing listing G. Goldner
and Davis as writers, while a 1972 LP containing "I Love You So" as
performed by the Crows lists writing credits of M. Levy (the now
deceased president of Roulette Records, Morris Levy) and D. Norton
(Daniel "Sonny" Norton, lead singer of the Crows).
Regardless of who wrote it, "I Love You So" was
another perfect
Chantels musical confection (#42 Pop, #14 R&B), but it would turn
out
to be their last hit on End. After "I Love You So," the label released
a
second group EP, an unprecedented move for an act that had only
released four
singles. It was an honor usually reserved for acts like THE CLOVERS or
COASTERS
who had been having hits for years. End seemed to be trying to
capitalize
on the group's current visibility (rather than planning on a long-term
justification
for an EP release). The cuts included "Memories of You' from the
January
22 session, along with "Congratulations," "I'll Walk Alone," and "C'est
Si
Bon," all cut on July 24. "Sure of Love" and a reworked gospel song
entitled
"Prayee" were released in July and became the first Chantels single to
fail.
Three more singles followed (and failed) through the end of 1958 and
early
1959, including a beautiful recording of "Goodbye to Love,"
immortalized
in 1961 in a powerful arrangement by THE MARCELS.
The success of Little Anthony and the Imperials and
the Flamingos
kept End Records preoccupied in late 1958 and 1959, meaning less
promotional
support for the Chantels. (End stood to earn more from a touring group
of
male vocalists than they could from five high school girls still tied
to
their parents.) Although the Chantels became one of the first female
vocal
groups of the rock era to have an LP under their own name (We
Are the Chantels in September 1958), they were dropped from End by
April
1959.
Arlene Smith decided to go it on her own
while Lois Harris went on to college. Chantels records were still being
issued, except that the lead was one Richard Barrett and the label was
Gone, an affiliate of End. In May 1959 "Come Softly to Me" (the former
FLEETWOODs hit) came out and quickly failed. In July 1959 a most
unusual record hit the marketplace entitled "Summer's Love." The label
again read Richard Barrett and the Chantels. Recorded in late 1958, the
ballad had all the earmarks of a hit but only went to number 93 Pop
(#29 R&B). It has shown up on three different labels over the
years, with three distinctly different background vocal arrangements.
Each included the Chantels with Richard
Barrett on lead, but that's where the similarity ended. The original
Gone
release had the Chantels holding sustained chords behind Barrett's
lead. An
End "battle of the groups" EP from the early '60s had a male group
doing a
call-and-response backup with an occasional "shoo-do" and "shoo-be-do?'
(similar
to THE FIVE SATINS' "In the Still of the Night") while the Chantels
held
their sustained harmony. A third version on Crackerjack Records in 1963
had
the girls without the male backup vocals, but the 'Chantels were now
singing
"shoo-do' and "shoo be-do" along with their sustained harmony.
In 1960 Barrett started his own label and recorded a
new girl group similar to the Chantels which he called the Veneers.
Their release of "I" b/w "Believe Me (My Angel)" went unnoticed but it
helped him solve his Chantels problem by matching Veneers lead singer
Annette Smith (no relation to Arlene) with the three remaining
Chantels, Sonia, Jackie, and Rene. In April 1960, still trying to
capitalize on the group's name, End released "Whoever
You Are," formerly the B side of "Every Night"; it had all the original
Chantels
magic but still lacked the driving commitment of the label.
In the summer of 1961 George Goldner
apparently got wind of Barretts move to take the revamped Chantels to
Carlton Records; running low on Chantels tracks in the can, he decided
to pass off a bogus group to the public, issuing the Veneers recording
"I" under the name of the Chantels. His move didn't work but Barretts
did. "Look in My Eyes," the first release on Carlton for Annette and
company, went all the way to number 14 on the pop charts (#6 R&B).
The ballad was reminiscent of the Chantels' early classics though the
arrangement
was a more modern string-laden affair. Annette's lead, which was very
similar
to Arlene's, blended well with the group and only the most discerning
ear
could tell that a switch had taken place.
The group's fortunes were once again on the rise, and
everyone connected tried to get a piece of the action. End Records
released an LP of
canned tracks that including the Veneers' two cuts (as the Chantels, of
course),
entitled There's Our Song Again (End LP 312). By 1962
Carlton
had released their own more honest LP entitled The
Chantels on
Tour that contained seven Chantels cuts and songs by Chris Montez,
the
Imperials, and Gus Backus. Gus Backus was a member of the DEL-VIKINGS,
and
the Imperials recording was without Little Anthony. The LP included
their second Carlton single, an answer to Ray Charles' number one
record "Hit the Road Jack" called "Well, I Told You." It was the
Chantels' first up-tempo single, and from a creative standpoint would
probably have served their reputation better had it never been
released. The song had the group confined to unison call-and-response
vocals while a Ray Charles imitation sang the lead. Still, it made
number 29 Pop by December 1961 and the group wasn't about to argue with
success.
They couldn't have known it was to be their last big
record. One more single for Carlton, the ethereal jazz tinged ballad
"Summertime," and they were off the recording scene until landing at
Luther Dixon's Ludix label.
Meanwhile, Arlene Smith had hooked up with a young
hotshot producer named Phil Spector for a Big Top Records one-off of
the Clovers hit
"Love Love Love" backed by the Paris Sisters song "He Knows I Love Him
Too
Much."
The Chantels began their Ludix association with the
song "Eternally" (#77, March 1963), produced by longtime believer
Richard Barrett. It was the third time in six years that their initial
release on a label had
charted. Still, there were more Chantels records coming out and failing
than
there were successes. George Goldner released "I'm the Girl" (October
1961)
and "Mon Cherie Au Revoir" (February 1963), and Ludix tried again with
"Some
Tears Fall Dry" (April 1963). Then it was on to 20th Century-Fox,
Verve, and
finally RCA before the group disbanded in 1970. The charts had become
almost
oblivious to fine harmonies and melodic ballads, now favoring records
with
a harder edge.
By the early '80s Sonia Goring, Lois Harris, Rene
Minus, and Jackie Landry were all married and living in the New York
area.
WEB AUTHORS NOTE
THE CHANTELS WERE INDUCTED INTO THE UNITED IN GROUP HARMONY HALL OF FAME IN 1995. LOIS, SONIA, JACKIE AND RENEE REFORMED THE GROUP WITH NEWCOMER AMI ORTIZ AND HAVE BEEN PERFORMING STEADILY EVER SINCE.
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