[Author's Note: In May, 2006, I spoke with the widow and the sister of the singer formerly identified only as “Teddy.” His full name is Irwin “Teddy” Williams. This led to some interesting revelations. For example, I found out that it's Teddy in the only photos of the Checkers, not John Carnegie (who was only a recording member of the group). I found out that the singer only known as “Joe” was also nicknamed “Buddy”; however, his last name still eludes us.]
Considering that the Checkers were an offshoot of the Dominoes, one
of the most popular R&B groups around, and considering that the
Checkers' bass was Bill Brown, lead voice on the Dominoes' "Sixty Minute
Man," very little is known about this New York group. Because they're so
popular with collectors, I'm setting down as much as I know, in the hope
that some readers can help fill in the blanks.
Around September 1951, second tenor Charlie White became the first
member to leave the Dominoes.
(The other members at the time were: Clyde
McPhatter, Joe Lamont, Bill Brown, and Billy Ward. Charlie's place was
taken by James Van Loan.) Charlie had been lead on "The Deacon Moves In"
(with Little Esther), and can be heard on the bridge of "That's What
You're Doing To Me."
Lou Krefetz, manager of the Clovers, signed Charlie to a personal contract, and it was
announced in the trades that he'd soon join the Clovers. While he would join
them, that was to be almost two years in the future.
Probably sometime in February 1952, booming bass lead Bill Brown also left the Dominoes.
He'd been featured on “Chicken Blues,” “Sixty Minute Man” (a monster R&B smash),
and “I Am With You.” Bill lost no time in hooking up with Charlie White and they decided
to put together a group for Syd Nathan, president of King Records. (The Dominoes
recorded for Federal, a subsidiary of King.)
Another singer that Bill knew was a baritone only remembered (by several people I've
interviewed) as “Joe” or “Buddy.” Unfortunately, nothing else is known about him,
except that he was with Bill (and Joe Lamont, also of the Dominoes) in the 5 International
Gospel Singers of South Carolina.
While looking around for more talent, Charlie and Bill met a second tenor named Irwin
“Teddy” Williams at someone's house in Harlem. Teddy, who was around 18 or 19,
and his good friend John Carnegie (a couple of years younger) were both in a group called the "Checkers"
(so named, coincidentally, because they loved the Dominoes). This group's
most outstanding feature was its changing membership. As Cynthia Wharton, Irwin's sister says:
Irwin formed the group on 119th Street, and John Carnegie was a part of it. They
were made up of a series of neighborhood guys whom Irwin recruited. They did
parties, teen center gigs, the inevitable street corners (with the girls all hanging
around), and a few neighborhood dances. But the group changed personnel so
often, it was hard to remember who was there and when. They had no recognition
at all, except for the local areas where they performed, until Irwin met up with Charlie
[White] and Bill [Brown], who brought real showbiz recognition to the group. Then
they began doing things like recordings and real shows. They didn't enter the big
leagues until Bill and Charlie.
The new quintet continued to call themselves the Checkers (this time to compete with the Dominoes).
However, there was a problem. There are two existing posed photos of the Checkers
and one taken at a performance. Each contains the same four singers: Bill Brown,
Charlie White, Joe “Buddy” ??, and Irwin “Teddy” Williams. Conspicuously absent is
John Carnegie (who was definitely leading some songs on their first two recording sessions).
The source of the problem was John's father, who was against him singing with the Checkers
(since he was still in school). For this reason, John was never really a member of the group.
While he did record with them, he rarely, if ever, appeared with them. The only
known picture of John Carnegie is as a member of the Singinaires
(about whom a bit more later.)
After a few months of practice, the Checkers were ready for their
first King session. On June 4, 1952, they recorded four songs at Nola Studios (52nd Street and Broadway): "Without
A Song" (led by Bill), "Oh, Oh, Oh Baby" (Bill), "Flame In My Heart"
(Charlie and Bill), and "My Prayer Tonight" (John and Bill). Clearly
Bill Brown was emerging as the leader of the group.
In August, King released "Flame In My Heart" and "Oh, Oh, Oh Baby."
The former song was written by Andrew McCarter; the latter by Henry
Glover, a King a&r man. The record was reviewed the week of
September 13, 1952, along with Calvin Boze's "Blow Man Blow," Hadda
Brooks' "My Song," the Ravens' "Write Me One Sweet Letter," and Maxwell
Davis' "Blue Tango." This, like all subsequent Checkers records, would
fail to chart.
On September 19, the Checkers were back in the studio, recording
three more tunes: "Let Me Come Back" (led by Bill), "Love Wasn't There"
(Charlie), and "Night's Curtains" (John).
In November, King issued the next Checkers record: the beautiful
"Night's Curtains" (written by Irwin “Teddy” Williams – although he was identified as "William Irwin"
on the label – and Julia Blackshear), backed with "Let Me Come Back." It was reviewed the
week of November 22, along with the Orioles' "You Belong To Me," Little
Richard's "Please Have Mercy On Me," and Little Esther & Little
Willie Littlefield's "Last Laugh Blues."
When this record failed to chart, King released "My Prayer Tonight"
and "Love Wasn't There" in January 1953 (two more songs by Henry
Glover). It doesn't seem to have been reviewed, but it was competing
with Johnny Ace's "Cross My Heart," Amos Milburn's "Let Me Go Home
Whiskey," Chuck Higgins' "Pachuko Hop," Little Willie Littlefield's
"K.C. Loving," the Treniers' "Poon Tang," Jesse & Marvin's "Dream
Girl," the 5 Crowns' "Keep It A Secret," the Jets' "Drag It Home, Baby,"
the Vocaleers' "Be True," and Fat Man Matthews & 4 Kittens' "When
Boy Meets Girl."
As Charlie White had been the first defection from the Dominoes, so
he was from the Checkers, leaving them in early 1953. According to Teddy's
sister, Cynthia, Charlie was into drugs even at that point and would either miss
rehearsals altogether or show up stoned. Everyone seemed to like Charlie, but his problems were just too much for the group. He (finally) joined
the Clovers, although he would stay with them less than a year. After that,
Charlie would lead the Playboys (actually the Cues) on Atlantic's Cat
label, and finally have a couple of solo releases for the Winley label.
My guess is that John's father probably allowed him to appear with the Checkers then,
but their appearances were pretty limited anyway.
[The next seven paragraphs were plagiarized, almost intact, from my
article on the Sparrows,
which appeared in the August 1997 issue of
DISCoveries, based on an interview with Perry Heyward.]
There was a girl who lived next door to Perry [Heyward, lead of the
Sparrows], and through her, the Sparrows would be invited to parties (to
sing, of course). It was at one of these, in early 1953, that the
Sparrows met a couple of the Checkers. It turned out that Checkers' bass
Bill Brown was a cousin of the girl that Perry was to marry.
A few months later, Perry was told that the Checkers wanted to see
him. He looked up Bill Brown and was told that the group's lead singer,
John Carnegie, was being drafted. Since they were impressed with his
singing, they wanted him to try out for the lead chores. Perry
accompanied Bill downtown to the studio where the auditions were being
held. About seven singers had already tried out, with some ten more
waiting. Once Perry sang "When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano" for
them, the others were sent home.
At this point, the Checkers weren't working all that much, and spent
a lot of time practicing. Perry was also practicing with the
Sparrows, who weren't working at all! Aside from bass Bill Brown, the
other members of the Checkers were only remembered as "Joe" and
"Teddy" [who we now know are "Buddy" and Irwin "Teddy" Williams].
On April 17, 1953 (the day your author turned 9 [I suppose that it's just
jealousy that the tape box says April 7]), the Checkers went
into the studio to cut two sides for King Records: "I Wanna Know" (a
cover of the Du Droppers tune) and "Ghost Of My Baby." Perry did lead on
both sides (with help from Bill Brown on "Ghost"). "Ghost Of My Baby,"
another Henry Glover tune, is one of my favorite songs. If you've never
really paid attention to it, it's about a guy who has such a high
opinion of himself as a lover, that he dreams his recently-deceased
girlfriend comes back "all the way from heaven, just to be with me once
more." Perry wasn't happy with "Ghost Of My Baby," however, since he had to sing in a
range with which he wasn't comfortable.
The record was released later that month, and received good reviews
the week of May 16, 1953. Other records reviewed that week were: Goldie
Boots & the Falcons' "You're The Beating Of My Heart," the Blenders'
"If That's The Way You Want It Baby," the Treniers' "Rockin' Is Our
Bizness," Gene Ammons' "Red Top," and Tiny Bradshaw's "The Blues Came
Tumbling Down."
Since Perry was now the tenor lead of the Checkers, when they played
Brooklyn's Baby Grand, he got to do lead on their former releases, like
"Night's Curtains" and "Flame In My Heart." However, this turned out to
be their only appearance while he was with them, although they
did a lot of parties. (I don't know about you, but I find it hard to
imagine the Checkers doing parties!) When Perry sang "Ghost Of My Baby,"
it was an emotional affair: "I used to fall on my knees to sing it."
With nothing happening with the Checkers, and with Perry about to be
married, he left within a few months to concentrate on the Sparrows. His
replacement in the Checkers was Little David Baughan, whose voice was
nearly a carbon copy of Clyde McPhatter's.
Little Dave had been a member of the first Drifters group that Clyde
McPhatter had formed for Atlantic, back in May 1953 (the only tune ever
released commercially from their single session was "Lucille," although
at this time it hadn't yet come out). Atlantic
management told Clyde that they didn't like the Drifters' sound, and he
replaced all the singers. This left Little Dave out of a job at a time
when the Checkers needed a new lead. The probable feeling was that the
Checkers could now capitalize on both the Dominoes-style bass of Bill
Brown and the Clyde McPhatter sound-alike tenor.
On September 26, 1953, Dave, Teddy, Joe and Bill went into the studio
and cut four sides: "A Friend In Need" (Dave),
"You Never Had It So Good" (Bill), "White Cliffs Of Dover" (Bill and
Dave), and "I Promise You" (Dave). The first release from this session
was in October: "I Promise You" and "You Never Had It So Good." This
latter song, by Henry Glover and Teddy McRae (also known as "Mr. Bear"), has this intriguing
line about Bill's ungrateful girlfriend's wardrobe: her clothes are
"either too loose or either too tight."
That same month, King released another Checkers record,
consisting of two old standards: "White Cliffs Of Dover" paired with
"Without A Song" (from their first session). The disc was reviewed (the
week of November 7, 1953). Also reviewed that week were the Dominoes'
"Rags To Riches," the Clovers' "The Feeling Is So Good," the Ebonaires'
"Baby You're The One," and Little Esther's "Stop Crying."
It took until the week of January 2, 1954 for the trades to get
around to reviewing "I Promise You"/"You Never Had It So Good." Other
tunes reviewed were: the Dominoes' "Until The Real Thing Comes Along,"
the 5 Blue Notes' "My Gal Is Gone," the Chords' "Mommy Loves Daddy," and
Fluffy Hunter's "Climb The Wall."
Things moved slowly for the Checkers: "White Cliffs Of Dover" became a
Tip in Los Angeles the week of March 20, 1954, about five months after it was
issued!
The next Checkers session (presumably with the same cast: Dave,
Teddy, Joe, and Bill) took place on March 12, 1954. The four songs
recorded were: "House With No Windows" (led by Dave), "Don't Stop Dan"
(Bill), "You've Been Fooling Around" (Dave), and another standard, "Over
The Rainbow" (Bill). The first two tunes were written by (ready?) Henry
Glover; "You've Been Fooling Around" was penned by Danny "Run Joe"
Taylor.
King issued "House With No Windows" and "Don't Stop Dan" (Bill
Brown's reprise of his "Dan" character from "Sixty Minute Man") in April
1954. They were reviewed the week of May 1, along with Mike Gordon's
"Why Don't You Do Right?", Red Prysock's "Jump, Red, Jump," the
Cardinals' "Under A Blanket Of Blue," and Mel Walker's "Another Sad
Night."
By the end of the month, "Don't Stop Dan" was a Pick of the Week, in
spite of limited DJ play. It was doing well in New York, Philadelphia,
Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati (home of King Records), St. Louis,
Atlanta, and Dallas. A couple of weeks later it was also a Tip in
Charlotte. The week of July 3, the flip, "House With No Windows," was a
Tip in Cincinnati.
In June, King had issued another two sides: "You've Been Fooling
Around," backed with "Over The Rainbow." Reviewed the week of June 12,
1954, the record was competing with the Dominoes' "Three Coins In The
Fountain," the Robins' "Riot In Cell Block No. 9," and the Kings'
"Til I Say Well Done."
In the late spring, the Checkers disintegrated. Possibly King's
management was concerned because they weren't scoring any hits. Or, it
might have been because Little Dave had left to rejoin the Drifters (to keep
alive the "Clyde McPhatter" sound, now that Clyde had been drafted).
Since nothing is known about Joe, his subsequent
movements are impossible to guess. Irwin “Teddy” Williams, on the other
hand, hooked up with the Charmers (the Timely group) as their manager. Later on,
when they became the Chorals, Teddy became a member (replacing James Cooke), and was on their two Decca sides.
After that, he joined a spiritual group called the Singinaires (also the Singing-Airs), along with former Checker
John Carnegie. He remained with them for a few years before giving up singing altogether.
Bill Brown now set about creating a new Checkers group. As tenor lead,
he recruited Eddie "Monkey Man" Harris, former lead of the Blue Dots. Since they were
also a King group (recording for its Deluxe subsidiary), Bill had no
trouble securing his services. The Blue Dots had had a session on August 26,
which helps to date his entry into the Checkers as sometime in
September.
The new second tenor was David Martin, who had been in the Sparrows
with Perry Heyward (that group was now history). The baritone was James Williams,
about whom nothing at all is known.
This last incarnation of the Checkers had their sole session on
October 1, 1954. The four sides recorded were: "Mama's Daughter," "Can't
Find My Sadie," "Trying To Hold My Gal," and my favorite, "I Wasn't
Thinking, I Was Drinking." They were all led by Eddie and Bill, except
for "Sadie," which was Eddie only. (Since all four of the songs that this group recorded were written by
Eunice Davis, who wrote most of the songs for the Blue Dots, there's a good
chance that they were all written for the Blue Dots originally. All but "I Wasn't Thinking,
I Was Drinking" were co-authored by the 5 Royales' Lowman Pauling.)
In November, King issued "Mama's Daughter," coupled with "I Wasn't
Thinking, I Was Drinking." The latter was a cautionary tale of a guy
hauled before a judge by a girl who wants him to acknowledge being the
father of her baby. He'll do it, he tells the judge, because "I don't
want no time with you." Meanwhile, he laments: "I wasn't thinking, I was
drinking, and that girl looks like chocolate fudge." The tune not only
has fun lyrics, but a great interplay between tenor and baritone
saxophones in the two instrumental breaks.
The record was reviewed the week of November 11, 1954, along with the
Moonglows' "Sincerely," the Platters' "Shake It Up Mambo," the
Moonlighters' "So All Alone," the Chanteclairs' "Someday My Love Will
Come My Way," the Orioles' "Runaround," Earl Curry & Blenders' "Late
Rising Moon," the Counts' "Waitin' Around For You," and the Flamingos'
"Blues In A Letter."
Also, beginning November 8, the Checkers were part of a Universal
Attractions package tour. Originally to run through December 20, the
rest of the cast was: Dinah Washington, Danny Overbea, and the Cootie
Williams Orchestra. At the end of December, the tour was extended to
play in the Southwest, with the James Moody Orchestra substituting for
Cootie Williams. This is the only appearance I could find for the
Checkers in their entire career (other than the one at the Baby Grand,
mentioned above).
In December, the last Checkers record was released: "Can't Find My
Sadie"/"Trying To Hold My Gal." In my opinion, Eddie Harris was the best
lead singer the Checkers ever had; it's a shame he hadn't been there
from the beginning. The record was reviewed the week of January 8, 1955,
along with Ray Charles' "I've Got A Woman," Ruth Brown's "Bye Bye Young
Men," the Crystals' "God Only Knows," and Bobby Mitchell's "Nothing
Sweet As You."
After this, the Checkers disbanded, at an unknown date in 1955. Note that Eddie was
not the Eddie Harris who had an instrumental hit with "Exodus" in 1961.
This may have been the end of the Checkers, but it wasn't the end of
Checkers releases. King tried hard to capitalize on the Checkers' name
(why isn't clear, the Checkers certainly didn't sell many
records). In October 1958, "Nine More Miles"/"Heaven Only Knows" appeared
by "The Checkers." In fact, each side of the record might have been by a different
group. The master number of "Nine More Miles" fits nicely into a Deluxe
session by Otis Williams and the Charms (but Otis Williams himself
told me it wasn't them). "Heaven Only Knows" (a remake of the first record by the Charms) is also
hard to place. Its master (Federal 1305) lies in between a session by
Earl Washington and the Minute Men (1301-1304) and a session by the
Sugar Canes (1306-1307). The Minute Men masters were never released by
King, being sold to Checker, where two of them appeared as Checker 905.
The Sugar Canes sides, however, are probably instrumentals. The third choice,
of course, is that there was a single master recorded by a third artist.
The only thing that matters is that, name aside, these sides had nothing
at all to do with the Checkers.
The next "Checkers" record was issued in April 1959: "Teardrops Are
Falling"/"Rock-A-Locka." Both sides had been recorded and released by
Jackie Rue & the 5 Wings on King, in early 1955. For some reason King
decided to reissue them, with a different record number, as the “Checkers.”
Then, in May 1959,
Federal reissued (and renumbered) the Sheiks' version of “So Fine” (originally
released in August 1955). It was put out to compete with the Fiestas' remake
(which hit the national charts in March). There must have been a good reason
why this reissue too credited the “Checkers,” but that reason eludes me.
In November 1959, "Let Me Come Back" and "White Cliffs Of Dover" were
re-released, out of the blue, on Federal. Both sides
would have sounded quite old-fashioned in 1959, and there's no clue as
to why they were issued. In January 1962, King re-released "Over The
Rainbow," backed with "Love Wasn't There" (as the "Original Checkers."
This compounds the mystery. Not only were the sounds out of date (although
possibly issued to satisfy the nascent “oldies craze”), but
there was no other Checkers group around that they could have been
confused with (a Mercury Checkers didn't record until 1964). Possibly
King was atoning for the "Nine More Miles" and "Teardrops Are Falling"
releases.
The last Checkers record was released (in the late 60s or early 70s) on a King Oldies series.
The sides – “Over The Rainbow” and “White Cliffs Of Dover” – seem to have been issued for
the Carolinas “Beach Music” crowd.
Bill Brown, Charlie White, John Carnegie, Irwin Williams, and Little David Baughan
are all deceased. Perry Heyward is still alive, but really doesn't
remember too much about his days with the Checkers (for example, he wasn't
sure he ever heard Joe's and Teddy's last names). The
Checkers were a fine group, and should have done a lot better than they
did. It's a shame we may never know anything more about them.
Special thanks to George Moonoogian, Ron James, and Billy Vera. The ad is from the
1954 edition of Galen Gart's First Pressings series. Additional information
was provided by Cynthia Wharton and Arvilla Williams (sister and widow,
respectively, of Irwin “Teddy” Williams). Some of the information
was taken from Tony Rounce's excellent notes to the Checkers CD on Ace.
Another singer that Bill knew was a baritone only remembered (by several people I've
interviewed) as “Joe” or “Buddy.” Unfortunately, nothing else is known about him,
except that he was with Bill (and Joe Lamont, also of the Dominoes) in the 5 International
Gospel Singers of South Carolina.
