The Five Sharks

Bronx, New York

1964 -1968

Original Members

The Five Sharks started in the lunch room of Taft High School in The Bronx 1964. Eddie Black, Henry Levy, Mark Dinep and Mario Ibenez -who later became the lead singer of The Zirkons- harmonize in the school stairwell. One night Eddie, Mark and Henry went to a dance at Saint Tolentines High School, Eddie Recalls we met a guy named DJ or at least that is what he called himself, he had a 45 record with him of a group he had just recorded named The Rueteens - Formerly Jimmy and The Crestones, who recorded a song called Angel Maureen. He invited us over his house to hear it, while at his house, a friend of his came by - named Larry Rosenzweig- and we had four guys. Larry also sang, so we tried a few songs and the blend was great. DJ wanted to record us, that was our start.

We started recording for Bobby Miller at Cat Time Records. Our harmony was very high and Bobby suggested a bass , so we sang with several basses and none clicked. Then we heard a bunch of guys harmonizing in a store front, the bass was pretty good we asked him to try out , his voice clicked and so did his personality, now we had five steady guys. About two years later Larry got drafted and Henry drifted away. They were replaced by Kenny Bank, baritone and Henry (Sal) Salis as second tenor with myself as first tenor and some time lead and Mark as main lead and Steve Horn as bass, this version of the Sharks had a higher and better blend.

We sang all over the place, discos, clubs, bars and the first two East Coast Acappella shows. The Chambers Brothers heard us and thought we were the best white group they ever heard. They introduced us to their producer at Columbia Records. It was The Chambers Brothers who taught us People Get Ready, Steve dropped out to sing with a band called Peck’s Bad Boys. The rest of the group got a record deal with Diamond Records and recorded a song written by one of The Detergents (of Leader of The Laundremat fame) it was produced by Johnnie Cymbal (Hey Mr. Bassman). The song was called Monday Kind of Friday. It did quite well on the east coast becoming number one in upstate New York for awhile. Kenny and me then got pulled into the service and The Five Sharks dissolved. We regrouped two years ago - 2006. Mark is gone, he died in 1980 - a shame. I now sing lead and Frank of the The Legends of Doowop does first tenor sometimes. He also does lead and I do first , we have recorded again and it should be out soon .Whew!!!

The Concepts

The Concepts

Jersey City, New Jersey
Ferris High School
1962-1970
An Acappella Street Corner Vocal Group

rom the street corners of Jersey City came the impassioned sound of the Concepts. The group was formed in 1962 when they were

students at Ferris High School. The celebrated entrepreneur and sage of urban street corner harmony Stan Krause discovered the Concepts along with the Royal Counts.

Although the Concepts had a repertoire of songs, they only produced a single recording for Catamount records. Their single, "The Vow" and their Spanish recording "Yo Me Pregunto"(I ask myself) was one of the first ever acappella recording in a foreign language by a singing group; the exception was the Valrays who recorded the same song on Parkway records in 1963.

Their third recording,"Our Anniversary" was featured on the album "I dig Acappella Volume 2" on the Cat-Time label, a joint venture of Catamount and Siamese records. They are most remembered by their fans for their 45 single recording.

Their distinctive vocal harmony style gives them a place in the history of urban street corner music.

The Chessman

The Chessmen
Manhattan, NYC
1960-1967
An Acappella Street Corner Vocal Group

Ted Ziffer 18, William Ramirez 16, James Meyers 17 , Tommy Reyes 18,
& Arthur Crank 19

The Chessmen were from Washington Heights , around 166th St.
Eddie Gries discovered the group and recorded them on his Relic Record Label.
The Group wrote much of their material - 18 songs
The draft caused this group to break up.

Relic records release from 1965
Accappella Showcase by popular demand The Chessmen