Young And Foolish Heart-Del Vikings-'57-Mercury EP.wmv

All of the group members, other than Kripp Johnson, had been under 21 when they had signed their recording contract with Fee Bee (a tiny Pittsburgh label, which was later distributed by Dot Records). Having signed the contract as minors, they had the right to be released from it. In 1957, under the direction of their manager, Alan Strauss, they left to record at Mercury Records. Johnson, who was still bound to Fee Bee/Dot, stayed, thus creating two Del Viking groups. The original group replaced Johnson with Quick's friend William Blakely and recorded the Backus-led song "Cool Shake". Kripp Johnson constructed a new group with the returning Don Jackson, Chuck Jackson, Arthur Budd, and Ed Everette. This group recorded the Kripp Johnson-led "I'm Spinning", billing themselves as the Dell Vikings. Dot also released "Whispering Bells", featuring Quick on lead and Wright on bass. It had been recorded before the group split, as such, the record was sold with the label reading "Dell Vikings", but was recorded by the same lineup as on "Come Go with Me". It reached number nine on Billboard's Top 100 chart. Around this time, some old tracks had been sold to an up-and-coming record company, Luniverse, who re-released "Come Go with Me". This gave the Del(l) Vikings the rare distinction of charting three singles at the same time on three different record labels: "Whispering Bells", "Cool Shake" and "Come Go with Me". Johnson's group had an extra advantage - he had been discharged from the army and his group could tour freely, while the original group needed to seek military leave in order to tour.

Mercury sued, claiming it had sole rights to any spelling of the group's name, and the Dell-Vikings briefly became The Versatiles, with singles being billed to "Kripp Johnson and the Versatiles" or "Chuck Jackson and the Versatiles". The group broke up, with Chuck Jackson going on to a successful solo career. Meanwhile, the original group had begun to fall apart. Gus Backus was re-stationed, leaving the group a quartet. They broke up soon after. Quick restructured the group with new talent from the Pittsburgh area -- Willie Green, Douglass White, Billy Woodruff, and Ritzy Lee. By the end of 1957, with the breakup of the "Dell" Vikings, Kripp Johnson returned to the original group, making them a sextet. They signed to ABC-Paramount. While the nucleus of the group was back, they weren't able to chart any more hits, and the group split up in 1965.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Young
• And
• Foolish
• Heart-Del
• Vikings-'57-Mercury
• EP.

[harptone55]

NICE!

[raredoowop]

@harptone55 ..it's my pleasure

[1947AUGIE]

In Whispering Bells it was Johnson on lead and Quick on Bass.....Clarence Quick was the original bassman. Clarence can be heard doing lead on Watching the Moon in the bridge part.