In the summer of 1950, after Johnny had graduated from High School, he and brother Louis ventured down to Los Angeles to sing. They stayed with another sister and hit every talent show they could find. Sometimes they won, sometimes they didn't, but "Johnny and Louis Staton" at least won enough so that they didn't go hungry. At the end of the summer, Louis returned home to finish school, and Johnny enlisted in the Air Force.
Shipped off to West Palm Beach, Florida, Johnny started as a cook. One day, in 1953, he saw a notice pinned to a bulletin board: they were looking for talent for the Tops In Blue competition (an Air Force singing contest). Johnny entered and won his level by singing a solo version of "Crying In The Chapel".
Then he got the inevitable group together: Dozie McKinley (tenor), Jimmy Marshall (baritone), Charles McCain (baritone), and Bill Rolands (bass). Calling themselves the "Flyboys", they also began to practice "Crying In The Chapel", which they used to win the second level of the competition.
They sounded so good that they were all assigned to Johnny: he could gather them together for practice any time after 2 pm each day. The practice paid off, with the Flyboys winning the third level (the State competition at Tampa). At this point they had a Sergeant Coluda assigned to them. He taught them breath control, singing techniques, and stage presence. Then it was on to the semi-finals in Mississippi. The sergeant warned them ahead of time that they'd be the only black act on the bill. He told Johnny, "you get yourself a woman in the audience and look into her eyes and sing to her". Johnny found a woman in the first few rows and didn't take his eyes off her while he sang. Finally, she began screaming and cheering, which set the whole place off; the Flyboys won.
While the group did some appearances at some Air Force bases, they never made it to the finals; Johnny's enlistment was up and he wasn't about to re-up just to win a contest. There was another airman, by the name of Melvin Broxton, who wanted to take over the group from Johnny, but they just didn't accept him. (Too bad, since when he got out, Melvin Broxton became "Johnny Flamingo".)
[Johnny Staton] 
[Sonny Harris] 
[Mitchell Alexander]
Once out of the service (in the fall of 1954), Johnny took $3000 that he had saved and came to Los Angeles with siblings Louis, Isaiah, James, and Lenora. They rented a 2-bedroom apartment and went looking for singing jobs. They didn't find much work and one by one the sibs went home until only Johnny and Louis were left. They continued doing talent shows. Along the way, Johnny and Louis picked up another pair of brothers: tenor John "Sonny" Harris and his baritone brother Don. To round out the group, bass Mitchell Alexander was added. Choosing a variant of a "bird group" name, they called themselves the "Feathers".
If you did enough talent shows in Los Angeles in the 50s, you would sooner or later run into Johnny Otis. And the Feathers did. He suggested that they talk to Peter Morgan (who, along with recording engineer Austin McCoy, owned the fledgling Show Time label on East Vernon Avenue). Their first effort (recorded at McCoy's little studio, on South Avalon Boulevard in Watts) was "Johnny Darling" b/w "Nona", both featuring Johnny's warbling vibrato voice. (NOTE: several months earlier, there had been a release on the Aladdin Label by Gene Forrest and the 4 Feathers -- "Wiggle"/"Dubio" -- but Johnny says that it had no relation at all to his group. Gene Forrest was half of Gene and Eunice.)
At the same time "Johnny Darling" was recorded, Morgan had the Feathers back up June Moy on a song called "Desert Winds". Morgan had discovered this beautiful schoolgirl and was convinced that he could make her a star.
"Johnny Darling", released in the late summer of 1954, started to take off as a local hit (reaching #29 in Los Angeles). It was, however, the wrong time to look for a big vocal group hit; "Earth Angel" was also headed up the charts and nothing was even going to come close. Once again, enter Johnny Otis; this time with some bad advice. He convinced them that "Johnny Darling" would never reach its potential because Morgan (whom he had directed them to in the first place) just didn't have the resources to promote it into a national hit. Consequently, he brought the Feathers to Aladdin (home of the 4 Feathers, whoever they might have been), where they recorded (in this order) "I Need A Girl", "Shake 'Em Up", "Standing Right There", and a re-recording of "Johnny Darling". Note that "Shake 'Em Up" is the THIRD song that mentions white port lemon juice: the 4 Deuces' "WPLJ" and the Bel-Aires' "White Port & Lemon Juice" ; were the others. This must have been potent brew indeed.
It's bad enough that they listened to Otis and walked out on their contract with Morgan, but to add insult to injury, in November, Aladdin released its version of "Johnny Darling" to compete with the Show Time version! A trade paper noted that Aladdin had taken over the Feathers' recording of "Johnny Darling", in the mistaken belief that the masters had been leased by Aladdin for national distribution, rather than that the song had been re-recorded. Actually, if you're not listening too closely, the two versions sound very much alike (although Aladdin added some nice vibes).
Morgan was mad, but it took him until March of 1955 to seek an injunction against Aladdin, to prevent further sales of their version. By that date, however, the record had come and gone, and it was largely an empty gesture. Aladdin, in January, had already released its second (and last) Feathers' record: "I Need A Girl" b/w "Standing Right There" (on which Johnny does a duet lead with Louis). ("Standing Right There" had recently been recorded by Buddy Johnson, and would later be done by Tony Williams, as "Let's Start All Over Again", in a July 1957 solo release.)
Meanwhile, the prodigal Feathers had returned to Show Time, recording "Why Don't You Write Me". At that point, the group fell apart, and the flip wasn't by the Feathers, but a cute Johnny and Louis Staton duet: "Busy As A Bumble Bee". "Why Don't You Write Me" was released in April, and might have done very well, had not the Bihari Brothers seen potential in it; they gave it to the Jacks/Cadets to cover, and it's that version that's remembered today by all but a handful of collectors. Note that some copies of "Why Don't You Write Me" have the 5 Stars' "Where Did Caledonia Go?" as the flip.
After the break-up, Sonny Harris joined the Lamplighters (Sharps, Rivingtons, etc.), and Mitchell Alexander wound up in the Chargers (on RCA).
The next recording was "Crashing The Party", which had Johnny Staton (tenor), Louis Staton (tenor), James Staton (baritone), Isaiah Staton (baritone), and Ray Anderson (bass lead). One of music's more interesting singer-orchestra interactions can be found in this little playlet about juvenile delinquent life: when it comes time for the band to take the bridge, Ray yells out the almost obligatory "Blow!". The only problem is, the instrument that was supposed to "blow" turned out to be a guitar! The final side for Show Time was "Love Only You", which dropped Ray Anderson, and brought in sister Lenora, who does a duet lead with Johnny. This same group re-recorded "Why Don't You Write Me" for Johnny Otis (with vibes), but it was apparently never released.
In late 1955, the contract with Morgan had run out and there was no money coming in. So Johnny responded to an overture from Hollywood Records (owned by Donald Pierce, who had bought out former partner John Dolphin). A new group of Feathers was formed: Roy Allen (tenor), Rene Beard (second tenor), Carl White (baritone), and Cleo White (Carl's brother; bass). Rene was the brother of the Little Rascals' Matthew "Stymie" Beard (the one with the derby); Rene had also been in the movies as a child, having made two shorts for Hal Roach, as part of a team called "Dis & Dat". Both Rene and Cleo had recently been in the Jayhawks and are on the recordings of "Stranded In The Jungle" and "Counting My Teardrops". This group recorded "Lonesome Tonight" and "Dear One", plus the unreleased sides: "Golden Vow", "Church Steps", and "When I Lost You". When this group fell apart, Carl White became another "Feather" who joined the Lamplighters (Sharps, Rivingtons, etc.). He was also featured in Carl White and the Ebbtides and Carl Ell and his Buddies.
Soon after this, there was a session in which the Staton brothers (Johnny, Louis, Isaiah, and James) backed up Jesse Belvin. At least 3 sides were done: "Betty My Darling", "Dear Heart", and "(This Is My) Love Song". Johnny told Jesse that he didn't want any money for the session, just "put the Feathers' name on the label". This is ironic in a way: when "(This Is My) Love Song" was released in the 70s, it was credited, for unknown reasons, to Jesse Belvin and the 5 Keys.
Some time after this, Johnny once again teamed up with Roy Allen and the White Brothers (Carl and Cleo), recording "Daddy Must Be A Man" and "Oh, Wishing Well", for producer Jim Aguirre. At the recording session, someone asked "What are you guys called?" For some reason, Cleo yelled back "The Unforgettables". The tunes were recorded around 1957 or 1958, but weren't released until 1961 (on Aguirre's Pamela label). When he heard them many years later, Johnny was surprised; he was unaware that they'd ever been released at all!
By 1959, Johnny had given up on the name "Feathers", having formed a group called the "Individuals". They consisted of: Roy Allen (tenor), Joe "J.W." Cummings (baritone), and Art Ward (bass). They recorded a novelty tune called "Jungle Superman" for Peter Morgan (yes, Show Time was still around). This was in a Coasters/Olympics "playlet" vein. The flip was "I Met Her At A Dance", although when Morgan re-released "Jungle Superman" a few months later, the flip had changed to a nicely-done remake of the Feathers' "Dear One".
There's a wonderful publicity shot of the Individuals in their "Jungle Superman" costumes. They actually wore them once onstage, for a show at Los Angeles' Orpheum Theater (which also featured Jackie Wilson, Brook Benton, and Don & Dewey). The Individuals worked quite a bit, even doing some background work behind Jan and Dean. Johnny himself provided some backing vocals behind Ricky Nelson.
The most recent incarnation of the Feathers occurred in 1989, when Johnny got together with tenor Dave Antrell, baritone Jewel Aikens, and bass Jimmy Colbert to record several sides for the Classic Artists label. Most of the songs were released on Classic Artists: "Charlene", "Irene My Darling", "More Than Enough For Me", "At The Altar", and "A Girl Like You", but "Ride On Santa" surfaced on a Clifton Christmas album, featuring various groups.
Although Johnny never made much money in all his years of singing, he can still say: "I loved it; we got a lot of publicity. People liked us."
Special thanks to Kitty Karp, Mitch Rosalsky, and Jim Dawson. Photos courtesy of Eddie Gries of Relic Record Reproductions.