Artist:The Poni-TailsSong:Born Too Late
Album:Teenage Heaven: The Fifties Girl Group Phenomenon
This song about unrequited teenage love was the only top ten hit for The Poni-Tails in 1958. The interesting thing about The Poni-Tails is they turned down a big record contract afterwards. Very unusual. Lead singer Toni Cistone, LaVerne Novak and Karen Topinka started singing together at Brush High School in the Cleveland suburb of Lyndhurst, OH. They were introduced to music publisher Tom Illius and he became their manager and got them a deal at the local label Point Records. Illius would later go on to be an agent at the William Morris Agency. The Poni-Tails released a song called Your Wild Heart but 15 year old singer Joy Layne had a top twenty hit with her cover of that song. They released another single and Karen Topinka's father convinced her to quit and she was replaced by Patti McCabe. Then Illius got The Poni-Tails a deal with ABC-Paramount. Their first single flopped and their second single Come On Joey, Dance With Me was also going nowhere. But Cleveland DJ Bill Randall started playing the flipside Born Too Late. It reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's one of those songs that is still played today because it brings back a time of innocence. Subsequent singles didn't do as well. But ABC-Paramount was satisfied with The Poni-Tails and offered them a five year contract. But the girls turned it down and went on to other things. It seems they didn't enjoy the music business. LaVerne Novak is a real estate agent. Toni Cistone worked at a high school. Patti McCabe died in 1989. You can get Born Too Late on this comp from El Records. Here's a video of Born Too Late by The Poni-Tails.
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