The story of the group goes back to around 1953, and Cleveland's John Adams High School. It was there that bass Andrew Fortson, baritone/tenor Guy Spears, and baritone James Frierson formed the nucleus of the Metrotones. There were two other tenors at the time, but their names are long forgotten.
Sometime in 1954 those two tenors departed, to be replaced by second tenor Leonard Veal and first tenor Fred Camp. Later that year, Guy Spears was drafted and their manager, Russell Cole, replaced him with alto Kim Tolliver. It's a big step replacing a male singer with a female, because it changes the group's harmony patterns and Kim just didn't blend in correctly. She was soon replaced by alto Leuvenia Eaton. (Cole continued to use Kim as a single artist.)The Metrotones were influenced by a lot of the music that Alan Freed was playing on WJW (850 on your AM dial), and that everybody was playing on WJMO. This included the Midnighters, the Drifters, the 5 Keys, the Orioles, and the Moonglows.
The Metrotones practiced mostly Pop tunes (for example, “The White Cliffs Of Dover”). Says Leonard of their beginnings: “We were very fortunate to have the ability to put the arrangements together. Guy was responsible for the arrangements.... We went and bought a pitchpipe, so we at least started in key.”
On March 4, 1955, the Metrotones won the weekly finals in the first “Fame And Fortune” contest at Gleason's Musical Bar (located at 5219 Woodland). The contests were held every Monday and Tuesday, with the winners returning on Friday night for the finals. (Once they won, however, winners never again competed.) Their prize, awarded by local DJ Juanita Hayes (“The Sugar Lump of the Airwaves,” heard over WSRS), was a week's engagement at Gleason's, which began on March 21. The local press wrote them up by saying “Youthful, but tall in the saddle when they sing, ... the Metrotones ... rode to victory Friday night in the finals of the first week's 'Fame and Fortune' show, being staged at Gleason's Musical Bar.” The ad for their Gleason's appearance urged patrons to come and see them since they're “showing nightly just how they won.” This
win was followed quickly by appearances at the Quincy Theater and the Circle Theater.Gleason's went back a long way in Cleveland. It was owned by William “Jap” Gleason, who billed himself (in an early 50s ad) as: “Cleveland's most successful impresario.... The man that finds and makes the stars.” And humble too!
In April, the Metrotones appeared at the Cleveland Arena, where the Swing Club presented a show, a dance, and a mambo contest rolled into one. The show was headlined by the Ravens, the Drifters, and Madeline Greene. If dancing was your thing, there were the orchestras of Willie Mabon, Bullmoose Jackson, Todd Rhodes, and Rudy Brown, along with Vito and His Mambo Band. Prizes were awarded for the best Easter costume and the best mambo dancers, with the judging being done by Cleveland's top DJs: Bill “Walkin and Talkin'“ Hawkins, Teddy “The All-Night Hawk” Blackmon, Juanita “The Sugar Lump of the Airwaves” Hayes, Bob Ancel, Norman “Big Chief” Wain, and “Jockey John” Slade. (Ancel seems to have been nickname-impaired.)
It was probably at this time that the Metrotones met Stanley Mitchell and the Hamptones at Cleveland's Music Box. Note that this is the same Stanley Mitchell who would later form the Tornados (the other Hamptones were: Joe Miles, Donzelos Gardner, and Frank Holt). The Hamptones were impressed, and ended up giving the Metrotones a set of their uniforms.
In May, the Metrotones won the newly-inaugurated Monday night talent contest at the Club Trinidad (shades of Gleason's!). In the spring of 1955, the Metrotones took on a sixth member, tenor Charles Turner, who had been singing with the Skylarks, a local gospel group. (Charles' nickname was “Sonny,” and, because of a phony id he had, he came to be known, jokingly, as “Sonny Dinkes”). Born in Fairmont, West Virginia, Sonny had been a Golden Gloves boxer for a while (as had that other “Sonny,” Jackie Wilson). The group was now Sonny Turner, Leuvenia Eaton, Fred Camp, Leonard Veal, James Frierson, and Andrew Fortson.
The sextet didn't last too long, however. In a matter of months, Fred Camp left and wasn't replaced. All this time, the Metrotones had been doing club dates (by the simple expedient of lying about their ages), little community centers, graduation parties, hospital benefits, churches, and, most of all, talent shows. Leonard reminisces: “It got to the point where we won all of them. Then we got to do 'guest appearances' at the Circle Theater shows.” While this may sound like bragging, it's actually backed up in print: there was a show at the Circle (at 103rd and Euclid) on April 1, 1956 which got written up in the local papers. Billed as the “Easter Hit Parade of Vocal Groups,” it featured the Metrotones, along with other local acts like the Carousels, the Turbaniers, the Monotones and the 5 Spinsters (all backed by Jimmy Brown's band). There was a grand prize of $50, for which (per the paper) every group except the Metrotones was eligible.
The Metrotones were also present at a four-day show, beginning July 1, 1955, at the Uptown Theater (St. Clair and East 106th). They shared the stage with Amos Milburn, Sonny Til and the Orioles, Margie Day, and local bandleader Rudy Brown and his Orchestra; the MC was comedian Tim McCoy. This would have been one of the last performances by the original Orioles.
In the summer of 1955, bass Andrew Fortson was drafted and was replaced by Melvin Smith. At the same time, behind the scenes, there was a burgeoning love affair in the group, which ended with Leuvenia and Sonny getting married.On September 8, 1955, the Metrotones began a 3-day stay at the Club Trinidad. The blurb was nice enough to mention their names (with only the usual misspellings): Charles Turner, Leonard Veal, Leuvenia Eaton, James Frierson, and Melvin Smith. Later that month, they were booked into the Trinidad for a 4-week run.
However, the big news in Cleveland in September 1955 was that there was a new Moondog in town. Alan “Moondog” Freed had gone off to New York and, while he used the Moondog nickname there for a while (until a successful lawsuit by Thomas Louis “Moondog” Hardin, a New York street person, who was able to show prior use of the name), the field was open in Cleveland. The ultimate winner was Sam “Crazy Man, Crazy” Sampson, who was named WJW's new Prince Of The Moondoggers.
In early 1957, Russell Cole brought them to Sandy Beck and Henry George's Reserve Records (at 1735 Chester), where they signed a recording contract on January 31, 1957.
In early February, the Metrotones returned from a gig in New Miami, and went right into the Reserve studios to record. They'd been on the show with the Little Walkin' Willie Quartet, which was brought along to back them up. Also on the session was Fred Camp, newly-returned to the group. Thus, the Metrotones on record are a sextet: Sonny Turner, Leuvenia Eaton, Fred Camp, Leonard Veal, James Frierson, and Melvin Smith.
They recorded two sides that day. The ballad was “Please Come Back,” led by Sonny Turner. It's pretty and very well done; it shoulda been a hit! Although the label credits Fred Camp with writing it, Sonny says it was actually penned by Russell Cole.
The uptempo side was “Skitter Skatter,” written and led by Leuvenia (who sounds very much like Kodoks' lead Pearl McKinnon sounding like Frankie Lymon).
“Skitter Skatter” seems like a harmless song, with lyrics like:
Somehow they secured a contract with Don Robey's Duke Records (it wasn't through Russell Cole; they had parted company). He announced their signing in March of 1958 and in April, he journeyed to Cleveland to record them (along with the LaSalles and Little Junior Parker). The resulting record was released in May: “Without Your Love” (led by Leuvenia) and “Rock And Roll Molly” (fronted by Sonny). The Duke group was the same as on Reserve, with the exception of Fred Camp, who had left again.