Donny Conn born 29 March 1930

Donny Conn (born Donald Claps, 29 March 1930 – September 2, 2015) was a singer and drummer of the late 1950’s music and comedy trio The Playmates. Other members were pianist and arranger Chic Hetti (born Carl Cicchetti, 26 February 1930)  and Morey Carr (31 July 1932 – 1987).

Donny Conn, Morey Carr and Chic Hetti rank among the most outstanding popular singers of the mid-20th century. Their individual vocal chops were impressive enough; when it came to harmonizing, this trio from Waterbury, Connecticut approached perfection. A popular touring act in Canada in the early '50s they staked a claim early as a novelty act, going by the name The Nitwits, singing silly songs or humorously altering existing hits while acting up in front of audiences.

They started out as The Donny Conn Trio while attending the University of Connecticut . Chic, whose real name was Carl Cicchetti, played piano; Donny, whose real last name was Claps, played drums. Going largely unnoticed, they started doing funny bits to attract attention. Attempts at landing a recording contract went unfulfilled until Conn's trio joined Roulette Records as The Playmates (the labels first vocal group). Switching to a more "normal" name than Nitwits was a smart move, but it was not without certain drawbacks as a rhythm and blues girl group from Newark were also called the Playmates (Gwen Brooks and sisters Lucille and Alma Beatty) and appeared 

on Savoy at the same time Roulette's guys put out their first single.

Easing off on the silly stuff, Donny and Chic composed a light little ditty called "Pretty Woman" for the group's debut. Next they went totally romantic with a cover of The Lovers' late-'57 R&B hit, "Darling it's Wonderful." Neither song caught on. The third single was "Jo-Ann," a rock and roll ballad” that hit the top 20 in February 1958,  Savoy's Playmates, meanwhile, changed their name to The Three Playmates.

                             

The trio confidently began moving in a slightly more wacky direction as their Nitwit background was difficult to shake. The most famous of all Playmates records (and, unfortunately, the only one many people are familiar with) is "Beep Beep."  

The popularity of this late-'58 top ten hit caused an unintentional windfall for American Motors, the manufacturer of the Nash Rambler.  As soon as the record became a hit, sales of the Rambler American increased sharply. In England, though, the BBC denied airplay to songs with brand names, so the Playmates rerecorded it, changing the Cadillac and Nash Rambler references to "limousine" and "bubble car," obscuring much of the song's humour in the process.

The group then teamed up with composers  Pockriss and Paul Vance, the creators of Perry Como's top-selling "Catch a Falling Star." The fresh new songwriting team with a knack for penning pop-rock songs that teens could relate to would be behind all of the group's remaining hit singles. The breaking point came in the summer of '62 with "Keep Your Hands in Your Pockets"  kooky way to kiss!'), the group's final single to appear on the national charts.

Leaving Roulette in early 1963, they signed with ABC-Paramount and continued putting out semi-novelties. A couple of singles for Colpix in 1964 and '65 preceded a novelty 45 on Congress. By this time their records proved too dated to sell and "The Ballad of Stanley the Lifeguard," composed by the trio, ended their recording endeavours for several years. 

After four albums for Roulette, the novelty group broke up. They performed together off and on, then in 1971 produced a single "Dayenyu (That Would Be Enough For Me)," released by Bell Records. A permanent split occurred at some point resulting in Chic Hetti becoming a school teacher and Morey Carr going  into real estate.

Donny Conn worked in sales while keeping one foot in show business, singing and doing stand-up comedy and occasionally appearing on television. One of his routines was a take-off of a typical pompous speaker who says nothing, but with great authority. An association executive caught his act one night and asked him to appear at a convention. The success of that appearance opened up a new frontier for Donny Conn who became a professional speaker. He died in Malibu, California on September2, 2015 at the age of 85.

As for the other Playmate members; Morey Carr died from lung cancer in 1987. I am unable to find any news regarding Chick Hetti who was 90 this year.

(Edited mainly from Way back Attack)