Song:Sixteen Candles
Album:Greatest Hits
Sixteen Candles is probably one of the most memorable songs of the doo wop era probably because of it's use in the 1972 film American Graffitti and of course it was the title of a John Hughes film. The Crests started out as a standard New York City doo wop group founded by J.T. Carter along with Talmoudge Gough, Harold Torres and Patricia Van Dross (Luther Vandross' sister). Carter brought in Johnny Mastrangelo as lead vocalist in 1956. He changed his name to Johnny Maestro. The Crests signed with Coed Records but Van Dross left before they recorded. They had several hits but Sixteen Candles was the biggest reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written and produced by Luther Dixon. He would go on to produce The Shirelles among others as Scepter Records house producer. You can get all The Crests hits on this comp from Collectables. Johnny Maestro left The Crests to go solo in 1960 and eventually had success with The Brooklyn Bridge hit The Worst That Could Happen in 1969. He continued to tour until his death on Mar. 24, 2010 at age 70. James Ancrum replaced Maestro in The Crests and T.K. Carter led a version of the group on the oldies circuit for years. Carter sold the rights to The Crests in the 90s to lead singer Tommy Mara and Mara leads them today. Carter is in a group called Starz. Here's Johnny Maestro and Brooklyn Bridge performing Sixteen Candles and The Worst That Could Happen on Doo Wop Gold.
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