V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

                                   

Well Music Lovers, It’s that time of the year when I’m off to charge up those depleted batteries. Hopefully I will be back in two weeks. Bon Voyage!

Cleo Page born 25 May 1928

Cleo Page (May 25, 1928 – February 19, 1979) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, whose recorded work was released on several singles and an album in his lifetime, with a compilation album issued in 2022. Details of his life are sketchy, and he has been a subject of conjecture among blues historians. 

He was born Cleo Mallard near Shamrock, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Little is known of his early life, but it is thought he relocated to Los Angeles by the early 1950s. His musical career appears to have commenced in 1955 when, in the June of that year, Federal Records released a single credited to the C. Page Orchestra with Ernest Johns. It had "Aline" written by Page as the A-side. In September the same year, Aladdin Records issued a single with the accreditation given to Rolling Crew with Orchestra, with Page writing and singing on the A-side "Home On Alcatraz". "If You Ever Get Lonesome" was co-written by Johnny Otis and Page and recorded by Preston Love and His Orchestra (with vocals by Roy "Happy" Easter) and released in December 1955. 

Johnny Otis

In 1956, Page and Otis co-penned the track "Bad Bad Bulldog", which appeared on the B-side of a single credited to 'Little Arthur Matthews Featured with Johnny Otis Orchestra'. Around the same time another Page penned track, "I've Been Blind, Blind, Blind", was recorded by the singer Robert McKirby, although it remained unreleased for many years. It finally appeared on the 1992 compilation album, Dapper Cats, Groovy Tunes & Hot Guitars (Ace Records). 

In 1958, a single credited to Curley Page and Band, was released on Dalton Records. The A-side was the instrumental track, "East Imperial". In 1963, another single similarly credited and published by the same label, included the tracks "I Believed in a Woman" and "Boot Hill" It is the latter release that has been the subject of continuing debate and speculation. 

                                   

In 1970, Page reappeared playing guitar on a one-off single, "Boo Bam" / "Pages of Time", credited to Pages of Time. It was released by CB Records. A year later, the two-part composition "Black Man (Too Tough To Die)" appeared on Wonder Records. It was credited to Page, and Page's humorous comments were balanced throughout with lyrics sprinkled with curses and threats. The single's label explained that it was recorded by 'Black Man Power in the heart of the ghetto "Watts" California'. By this time, Page had become the owner and operator of the small Goodie Train and Las Vegas labels. His next single was issued in 1972. "Goodie Train - Part One", again credited to Cleo Page alone, was released on Goodie Train Records. This was followed the same year by "Leaving Mississippi" on Las Vegas Records. 

In parallel with his own activities, he wrote and produced a single with the songs "Big Man" / "Old Man Me" on Goodie Train Records in 1972, for the obscure soul singer Frank Hutton For added confusion, the vinyl was first released with the lead singer's name incorrectly listed as Frank Hutson. 

The activity then seemingly lapsed until 1978 when the risqué worded and double entendre loaded, "Hamburger (All Americans Eat It)" by Cleo Page was issued on Goodie Train Records, and differently billed as "I Love to Eat It - Hamburger" on JSP Records (January 1979). The song was written by Page, who provided both vocals and electric guitar playing and produced the single. 

In 1979, JSP Records released his album, Leaving Mississippi. Jim DeKoster in Living Blues described the collection as "one of the most striking blues albums of the past year". For an unknown reason, "Hamburger" was not included on the album's track listing. The album, consisting mainly of Page original compositions, was reissued on CD in 2007 by P-Vine Records. 

Page died from heart failure at the Daniel Freeman Hospital, Inglewood, California, on February 19, 1979, at the age of 50. He was buried at Paradise Memorial Park in Santa Fe Springs, Los Angeles County, California. 

(Edited from Wikipedia) (As you can see there appears only to be one photograph of Cleo Page available on the web.)

Lou Pride born 24 May 1944

Lou Pride (May 24, 1944 – June 5, 2012) was an American blues and soul singer and songwriter. Some sources state his year of birth was 1950. He is best known for his compositions "Long Arm of the Blues" and "Love From a Stone". Pride had a cult following among British Northern soul aficionados and was often described as 'Chicago blues meeting Memphis soul'. 

Although not as widely known as some of his contemporaries, such as Bobby "Blue" Bland, Little Milton and Johnnie Taylor, Lou Pride's talent and soulfulness were the equal of any of those iconic singers. He was known for his electrifying live shows and a vocal delivery that went from a whisper to a commanding growl. 

He was born George Louis Pride, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Pride grew up on Chicago's north side and attended the First Baptist Church, where the pastor was Nat King Cole's father. After conscription in the United States Army, Pride met and married a female singer and they settled in El Paso, Texas. They performed as a singing duo before, after seeing B.B. King perform live, Pride concentrated his singing future around the blues and soul music genres. 

His early 1970s recordings were collected on the compilation album, The Memphis/El Paso Sessions 1970–1973, which Severn issued in June 2003. Allmusic noted that the collection "remains a treasure trove of previously obscure soul music that spotlights one of the many great singers almost lost to history." Two singles "I'm Com'un Home In The Morn'un" (1972) and "Your Love Is Fading," were both released by Suemi Records. 

                                   

After relocating to New Mexico, he recorded sporadically while constantly performing in blues clubs and at festivals on the Chitlin' Circuit. Other tracks of his that were released over this period included "Look Out on Love," "We're Only Fooling Ourselves," "You've Got to Work for Love," and "Been Such a Long Time." 

Pride's debut album was entitled, Very Special (1979), which was released by Black Gold Entertainment. Several singles were issued before Gone Bad for a Very Special Reason (1988) was released, which had an almost an identical playlist to his debut effort. After returning to Chicago, he became acquainted with Curtis Mayfield, which saw Gone Bad Again (1990) being issued. 

However, Pride's recordings remained second place to performing live. The WMB Records release, Love at Last (1995), contained re-recordings of several of Pride's earlier cuts. His 1997 Ichiban release was Twisting the Knife, followed by I Won't Give Up (2000). Pride signed a recording contract with Severn Records in 2002, which preceded his first release for them, Words of Caution. In 2004, Pride undertook a brief tour in the UK. 

Alongside Darrell Nulisch, Pride was also the headline act at the Severn Records Soul and Blues Revue, in Chicago, in 2006. Snippets of his composition, "Bringin' Me Back Home," were used in the 2007 film, Feast of Love. Pride's appearance at the Severn Soul Review in 2010 was a significant comeback. Pride who had undergone numerous medical challenges for many years and had suffered several heart attacks and additional circulatory problems died in Chicago in June 2012 of natural causes while in hospice care. 

(Edited from Wikipedia)

 

Johnny Bothwell born 23 May 1919

Johnny Bothwell (May 23, 1919 – September 12, 1995) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader. He became a major figure in the mid-1940s progressive jazz scene. Like many who tried to sell progressive jazz to the public, though, Bothwell failed to find commercial acceptance, and he ended up quitting the music business at the end of the decade. 

Born John Alvin Bothwell Junior in Gary, Indiana, he got his start in the Chicago jazz scene during the late 1930s. In 1940, he played with Max Miller’s sextet and Bill Fryar’s orchestra. Over the next few years he worked variously for Paul Jordan, Bob Chester, Gene Krupa, Woody Herman, Sonny Dunham, and Tommy Dorsey, earning a reputation as a top musician. Bothwell finished third in Down Beat magazine’s 1943 poll in the category of best alto saxophone player. 

In early 1944, Raeburn brought in Bothwell as a key part of his newly reorganized progressive jazz orchestra, with Bothwell becoming Raeburn’s featured soloist and assistant. Bothwell’s smooth sax playing proved the highlight of Raeburn’s sound, and during his stay with Raeburn he received several offers to front his own band but turned them down. Raeburn reciprocated by allowing Bothwell to record under his own name in early 1945 with members of the orchestra on the Signature label using several of the band’s arrangements. Those recordings were not released until 1946 however. Stylistically Bothwell admired Johnny Hodges and was in fact dubbed the white Johnny Hodges. 

In early July 1945, Bothwell and Raeburn had a major falling out, and Bothwell left the band. According to Raeburn, Bothwell had a near fistfight with one of the other musicians. Raeburn complained to Down Beat that Bothwell had a superior attitude and liked to insult band members. Raeburn also criticized Bothwell’s playing and accused him of stealing arrangements when he departed. In 1948, Bothwell clarified that he did take arrangements with him when he left, saying “I took tunes written around me, with the understanding they were mine.” Raeburn vocalist Claire Hogan followed Bothwell out of the band. The two had become romantically involved and married soon after, with Hogan becoming his fourth wife. 

                                   

Bothwell briefly worked with Krupa again before forming a short-lived sextet in late 1945. The combo opened November 1 at Three Deuces on 52nd Street in New York and recorded on Signature. While working with the combo, Bothwell also recorded on Signature with a band of all-stars, which included Harry Carney, Ray Nance, and Shelly Manne, with Hogan and a singing group led by Dave Lambert providing vocals. Bothwell broke up the combo in December and took a vacation in Florida. In early 1946, the recordings Bothwell made under his own name with Raeburn’s band were released to good reviews, followed by the all-star band recordings. 

Bothwell & Claire Hogan

When Bothwell returned from vacation, he proceeded to organize a full orchestra, going into rehearsals in February. In March, he recorded two sides with the new group for Signature, and in May he took the band on the road, touring New England that month. Hogan supplied female vocals, with close friend and former Raeburn band mate Don Darcy joining as male vocalist. Trumpet players Marty Bell and Pete Carlisle also sang, and Bothwell occasionally took a number himself. 

Though the new band featured adventurous jazz along the lines of Charlie Ventura and Stan Kenton, Bothwell also deliberately focused on modern dance rhythms in order to be more commercially acceptable. The orchestra, however, lacked talented musicians and failed to live up to the excitement it initially caused. Mostly ignored by the press after its debut, the band struggled. Darcy left in early January 1947, and Signature dropped the group in March, buying out the remaining eight months of Bothwell’s contract. Going nowhere, Bothwell disbanded in November. That same month, the musician’s union put him on their unfair list and revoked his card until he settled debts. He and Hogan also divorced. 

Bothwell, Basie, Buddy Morrow & Sam Donahue 

In December, Bothwell headed to Chicago to record on the Vitacoustic label with a new small band. He remained active for the next two years, putting together small groups and orchestras for various occasions, including a sweet bop combo and a full progressive jazz orchestra featuring young musicians. By 1950, though, he had left the music business altogether. He moved to Connecticut where he became a radio salesman for General Electric. He made a brief return to music in 1955, joining a new dance band put together by Raeburn. Bothwell later operated his own photography business in Florida. Bothwell suffered a stroke in the mid-1980s and passed away Lakeland, Florida on September 12, 1995 at the age of 76. 

(Edited from Bandchirps, Wikipedia & Hep Jazz)

Gia Maione born 20 May 1941

Gia Maione Prima (May 20, 1941 – September 23, 2013) was an American singer and the fifth wife of musician/entertainer Louis Prima. 

Born in the Roebling section of Florence Township, New Jersey, Maione lived in Bordentown before moving with her family to Toms River, New Jersey. From the early age of 3, her sole interest was music. At age 4 began 17 years of piano and extensive vocal training under Alma Steedman, Choir Director at Westminster Choir College at Princeton University. Upon graduation in June 1959 from Toms River High School (now known as Toms River High School South) in New Jersey, she received the National Arion Society Award in Music. With intent to attend Julliard School of Music in New York City, Gia worked at the local Howard Johnsons Restaurant, to begin saving money for the tuition and to continue her vocal and piano instruction. 

Louis  & Gia Maione Prima with Frank Sinatra

In late 1961 it came to Gia's attention that Louis Prima was conducting a nationwide search for a new vocalist. His tour brought him to the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where Gia auditioned on Mother's Day 1962 and Louis immediately selected her. Prima had divorced Keely Smith, his former lead vocalist, the year before. Smith left the orchestra, creating the opening that Maione filled. Gia began touring with Prima's ensemble The Witnesses and in 1963 married him at Lake Tahoe and released her debut album entitled "This Is ...Gia" which earned her praise for her performances of such standards as "Moonglow", "My Funny Valentine", and "Unforgettable". She had two children with Prima, a daughter named Lena and a son named Louis Prima Jr. 

                                    

The next 12 years were a whirlwind of live regular performances, TV shows and recordings. Las Vegas: Sahara Hotel, Sands Hotel, Tropicana Hotel; New York: Copacabana, Basin Street East, Ben Maksiks Town and Country; Philadelphia: Palumbo's; Chicago: Palmer House. TV Shows: Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Steve Lawrence, Art Linkletter. Gia worked closely with Louis in creating the Prima Magnagroove record label for which she and Louis recorded many classic albums and singles from 1963 through 1975 which included 14 albums and numerous singles for Capitol Records, Disney Records, DeLite Label, Brunswick Records and Prima label.  The couple performed and recorded together until Prima fell ill in 1975. 

Although paired with Prima near the end of his career, Prima, Maione and the orchestra remained extremely popular and sang to sold-out crowds up to 1975. In 1975, while undergoing an operation in Los Angeles to remove a benign brain tumor, Prima lapsed into a coma and never regained consciousness. He died almost three years later on August 24, 1978, in his hometown of New Orleans. 

The Prima estate was tied up in litigation for almost 15 years following Prima's death. He left Maione Gia in debt, to the point where she was forced to sell off assets to appease his ex-wives and biological children. Maione was so impoverished, with millions in debt to the medical institutions, that she was sewing Lena and Louis Jr.'s clothing. In 1994, Maione assumed control of the Prima archives, at which time she set about managing his vast musical legacy. 

She dedicated herself to remastering and re-releasing Prima's work. Among her other duties, Maione handled the licensing of Prima's work for television, film and advertising, such as the use of 'Jump, Jive and Wail' for a series of Gap ads in the late 1990s. While living in Island Heights, New Jersey in 2002, she filed suit against Unidisc Music claiming that proper royalties had not been paid. Owing to this, Gia forbid Disney Studios to reuse Prima's character King Louie in The Jungle Book 2. 

Professionally, Gia volunteered for many benefit charities and telethons and sponsored many golf tournaments to benefit charities.  She was inducted in the Toms River Regional Schools Hall of Fame in 2004. She created the Louis Prima ASCAP Foundation Award and operated Prima Music, LLC, which released previously unavailable Prima titles. The company also operated www.louisprima.com and LGL Music Publishing Co. 

In 2011, Gia Prima with the assistance of long-time friend and counsel, Anthony J. Sylvester of Sherman Atlas Sylvester & Stamelman, LLP established the Gia Maione Prima Foundation, Inc. for the purpose of making donations to other tax-exempt organizations that support and encourage an appreciation for American Jazz, American popular music and jazz performance. Gia lived out her days in the Florida panhandle and died on September 23, 2013 in Pensacola,  at the age of 72. She is buried alongside her husband Louis Prima at Lakelawn Metaireie Cemetery, New Orleans, Louisiana.  

(Edited from Wikipedia, Legacy & The Gia Maione Prima Foundation)

 

Mavis Rivers born 19 May 1929

Mavis Rivers (19 May 1929 – 29 May 1992) was a Samoan and New Zealand jazz singer. 

Mavis Chloe Rivers’s background is as distinctive as her singing. The daughter of Moody Charles Rivers and his wife, Louisa Stehlin, she was born in Apia, Western Samoa, on 19 May 1929, into a Mormon family that blended British, French, Swiss, Chinese and Samoan ancestry. One of 13 musically gifted children, she performed in a series of family musical evenings that soon made their home an entertainment centre. Some of these were broadcast on Western Samoa’s first (short-wave) radio station, which was built by one of her uncles. 

As the Second World War started in the Pacific, the family moved to Pago Pago, in American Samoa, where Mavis became a mascot to thousands of American servicemen stationed there. It was while she was singing from camp to camp, backed by her father’s band, that a special switchboard telephone hook-up enabled soldiers and marines to listen in from further afield. 

The Rivers family’s next move, in 1947, was to Auckland, where they lived in Grey Lynn and later Sandringham. Mavis worked as a stenographer for the Farmers’ Trading Company and successfully auditioned for nightclub work at the Peter Pan cabaret in Queen Street. In 1948 she branched out into radio work on stations 1YA and 1YD. She soon became one of the most popular female singers in New Zealand and in 1949 made her first 78 rpm record with the newly formed TANZA (To Assist New Zealand Artists) label. 

Rivers also brought three of her sisters, Natalie, Mitzi and Sally, to TANZA’s attention, and they lent their exceptional vocal harmonies to numerous recording sessions. Beginning her recording career in a basement studio in Auckland’s Shortland Street, Mavis went on to record over 40 songs with TANZA, as a soloist, in duets, and as a guest singer with many popular bands of the era. She later recorded on the Zodiac label, another pioneer of the New Zealand music industry. Although she initially recorded mostly Polynesian-style music, she quickly showed her versatility by doing jazz numbers with astonishing skill. 

                                    

In 1953–54 Rivers spent a year in the United States, studying on a scholarship at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She sang in a variety show in Salt Lake City until her student visa expired, and then returned to American Samoa for six months, working as a disc jockey at its radio station. She went back to the US in January 1955 and settled in Los Angeles. Jobs were scarce at first, and for a few months she returned to secretarial work, before securing a guest spot with a Hawaiian quartet in local clubs. The group included a Filipino singer and bass player, Glicerio Reyes Catingub (known as David), whom Mavis married in Los Angeles on 4 October 1955. She retired briefly from singing the following year when the first of her two sons was born. She then resumed her career and steadily gained a following, not only in Los Angeles but also in the new entertainment capital, Las Vegas. 

In 1958 she signed a major recording contract with Capitol Records and debuted with the Take a Number LP (1959), which was arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. More records followed: Hooray for Love (1960, Capitol), arranged and conducted by Jack Marshall; The Simple Life (1960, Capitol), arranged and conducted by Dick Reynolds. She was a nominee for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1960. 

Frank Sinatra caught her act and immediately signed her to his newly formed Reprise label. He once described Mavis as having the purest voice in jazz and she was the second signing to his newly-formed Reprise record label which issued Mavis (1961, Reprise), arranged and conducted by Marty Paich; Swing Along With Mavis (1961, Reprise), arranged and conducted by Van Alexander; Mavis Meets Shorty Rogers (1961, Reprise), arranged by Chuck Sagle; and, finally, We Remember Mildred Bailey (1964, Vee-Jay).  She went on to record numerous albums with major and minor labels in the US, and appeared on ‘The Steve Allen Show’ and other television programmes. 

Rivers returned to New Zealand regularly: in 1963–64 she visited her family in Auckland, and performed on radio and television; in 1977 she starred at an Auckland jazz festival; and in 1981 she returned with her son, musician-arranger Matt Catingub, to appear in a royal variety show for Queen Elizabeth II. Two years later Mavis and Matt were back at the Auckland Town Hall, where she was clearly moved by the reception she received. In 1990 she sang at the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts in Wellington and at a jazz and blues festival in Auckland. Rivers continued performing until her death, which occurred after a show in Los Angeles on 29 May 1992. 

(Edited from The Encyclopedia Of New Zealand & AllMusic)

 

Ezio Pinza born 18 May 1892

Ezio Pinza (May 18, 1892 – May 9, 1957) was one of the most brilliant international opera stars of the mid-twentieth century. He is probably best remembered by today’s audiences, through the original cast recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, as the creator of the role of Emile de Becque (“Some Enchanted Evening”) for which he was awarded the 1950 Tony for Best Actor. 

Ezio Fortunato Pinza was his parents’ seventh child and their first to survive. He grew up in Ravenna and intended at first to be a civil engineer. His father, however, recognizing the beauty of his natural voice, encouraged him to study at the local conservatory and go on to the Liceo Musicale in Bologna. As a young man, Pinza was a devotee of bicycle racing. "Although I did not know it at the time," he told an interviewer years later, "I was developing the lung power which now makes people hear my voice even in the top row of the peanut gallery." 

He made his operatic debut in Cremona in the role of Oroveso in Bellini’s Norma in 1914, but shortly thereafter both his career and his studies were interrupted by World War I and military service. When the war was over, the career gathered momentum, and since Pinza learned all his roles by rote, he never did actually learn to read music. (“I’m no musician. I just know how to make nice sounds.”) 

His debut role in Rome in 1920 was King Mark in Wagner’s Tristan e Isolde (in Italian). Ezio Pinza then had a three-year contract under Arturo Toscanini at La Scala in Milan, beginning in 1922 with Pimen in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, and creating the role of Tigellino in the premiere of Arrigo Boito’s Nerone in 1924. In 1926 he found an enduring home at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, appearing first as Pontifex Maximus in Spontini’s La vestale (with Rosa Ponselle in the title role), and reigning for the next twenty-two years as America’s leading bass. 

Although he made occasional excursions to South America, Covent Garden, the Paris Opéra, the Salzburg Festival, San Francisco, and Chicago, he appeared in over 850 performances at the Met, singing fifty-one different roles. Pinza’s most popular by far was Don Giovanni, in whose golden costume he blazes in a splendid portrait hanging in the Met’s gallery. Apart from the Met, Pinza appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1930–1939, and was invited to sing at the Salzburg Festival in 1934–1937 by the celebrated German conductor Bruno Walter. 

                                    

In March 1942, the FBI arrested Pinza at his New York home and unjustly detained him for nearly three months on Ellis Island with hundreds of other Italian-Americans who were suspected of supporting the Axis. Norman Cordon, a fellow basso at the Metropolitan Opera who was considered one of Pinza's rivals, boasted privately that he had informed the FBI that Pinza was a fascist sympathizer. At the time of his arrest and detention, Pinza was just four months away from obtaining US citizenship. The incident was extremely traumatic for Pinza, and he suffered from periods of severe depression for years afterward. Despite this, shortly after Pinza's release, Pinza and Cordon performed together in an ongoing Met production of Don Giovanni, with Pinza in the title role and Cordon as the Commendatore.

In 1948 Pinza retired from the Met to move into Broadway musical theatre. At fifty-six, his chiseled good looks and enchanting voice undiminished, he starred with Mary Martin in South Pacific, a show that won a Pulitzer Prize as well as every Tony Award® for which it was nominated – Best Musical, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor/ress, etc. –, to a total of thirteen. It ran until January 1954, for 1,925 performances. Ezio Pinza then spent the next two years starring with Florence Henderson in Harold Rome’s Fanny. 

Pinza was as attractive on film and the small screen as he was on stage. In his first film, Carnegie Hall (1947), he played himself, on a star-studded roster of classical musicians like Arthur Rubinstein, Bruno Walter, Leopold Stokowski, Lily Pons, and Jascha Heifetz. Two formulaic musical farces from MGM came out in 1951, with Pinza as the charming European aristocrat: Mr. Imperium with Lana Turner and Strictly Dishonorable with Janet Leigh. Pinza’s last film role was the famous Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin (singing a bit of Boris Godunov in costume) in Tonight We Sing (1953), a biography of impresario Sol Hurok. Aside from appearing as a frequent guest on television variety shows in the ’50s, Pinza had his own sitcom, Bonino (1953), playing a recently-widowed Italian-American opera singer with six children. 

Pinza's health began to decline during the mid-1950s; a series of heart attacks precipitated a stroke on May 1, 1957. Pinza died in his sleep of a heart attack on May 9, at the age of 64 in Stamford, Connecticut. Shortly before his death due to a stroke, he finished his memoirs, which were published in 1958. His funeral took place at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and he was buried in Greenwich, CT. He has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

(Edited from Masterworks Broadway & Wikipedia)

 

Vernon Nesbeth born c.1933

Vernon Nesbeth (born circa 1933* – 7 March 2017) was lead singer and founder member of The Jamaican and British vocal group The Southlanders who were the longest lasting vocal group in British pop music history. 

Originally born in Jamaica, Vernon came to Britain as a teenager in 1950 after winning an "Opportunity Knocks" contest in his native country. His first public performance in Britain was in a singing contest at the Paramount Club in the West End, which at time was the only Dance Hall in London which allowed unaccompanied black men in. Buoyed by his success at home, and backed by the Harry Webb band, Vernon gave it his all - and finished second to last! This shock sent him looking for a music teacher and he was given the address of the renowned black actor, singer and teacher, Edric Connor. On meeting, Vernon told the man destined to become his mentor that he wanted to learn music, to which Connor replied "I can't teach music, but I can teach you how to sing". 

This he set out to do, and Vernon attended lessons once a week for the next two years. Edric Connor never charged him, saying, "My payment will be the success I make you". By late 1953 Edric Connor was planning to record an LP of songs from the Caribbean and asked Vernon to form a quartet of backing singers. He recruited Frank Mannah, brothers Alan and Harry Wilmot (Harry was the father of popular contemporary British entertainer Gary Wilmot) from the Ken Hunter Quartet, and they made their live debut singing two songs from the LP at a celebrity nightclub in London. 

Now known as "The Caribbeans", shortly afterwards, whilst rehearsing in Weeks Studio, Hanover Street, two men walked in after hearing the singing from the street and offered to manage them. They were Sid Green and Les Farrell who suggested a change of name; so "The Southlanders” were born, signed to the Grade Organization and began touring the UK variety circuit plus dates in Europe where they established a reputation in Germany, Italy, France and Belgium. In 1955 the Southlanders signed to Parlophone and released their first single, "Earth Angel" which was produced by George Martin, several years before he came to prominence with Peter Sellers' comedy albums and the Beatles' recordings. 

                                   

Four more singles were released on Parlophone but it wasn't until they switched to Decca in 1957 that the Southlanders got their one, and only, top-ten hit "Alone", which is said to have sold 750,000 copies in the first few weeks of release. But it is their sixth and last Decca release that the Southlanders are most identified with, the novelty "Mole In A Hole", which they are required to do at every performance. The song failed to make the UK Singles Chart in 1958, but was performed at every Southlanders' event since its release. Vernon Nesbeth said that the group tried to take the song out of their set but that club managers and audiences insisted upon hearing it. "It's become protected. Untouchable. We've even sung it in Japanese.  The Southlanders then moved onto Top Rank and in 1961 released their last single "Imitation of Love". 

Throughout the late 50s and early 60s the Southlanders appeared regularly on the top rated television programmes of the day becoming familiar faces on such shows as 6.5 Special and Crackerjack. Live performances, however, had always been  the most important aspect of the Southlanders and they were among the first to join Jimmy Saville's Mecca dance hall shows.   

Since then they performed live at the Albert Hall in London, four times at the Palladium and continuously appeared in concerts, cabarets and cruise ships (including the QE2) throughout the world. "We went to all different parts of the world and cruise ships were certainly something that we couldn't do in normal life. It was also unique experience to play in Stockholm at midnight with the sun shining." said Vernon. The Southlanders often supported the top comedians of the day such as Jim Davidson, Michael Barrymore, Mike Read, Bobby Davro & Jimmy Cricket captivating the audiences with their stylish, highly entertaining act until they disbanded. 

Nesbeth semi-retired in January 2004 to reside in Spain with his wife Wendy; he died on 6 March 2017 in Torrevieja, Alicante, Spain. Frank Mannah died in 1991. Allan Wilmot retired and resided in South London. He died on 20 October 2021, at the age of 96. 

(Edited from Doo-Wop Blogg, Wikipedia, Oxford Reference & Rate Your Music) (* other source @ the British Expats.com Spanish Forum stated Vernon celebrated his 8oth birthday in 2008 which makes his birth year as 1928).