Song:A Lover's Concerto
Album:Hard To Find 45s on CD Vol. 5: Sixties Pop Classics
A Lover's Concerto was the only big hit for the girl group The Toys in 1965. A couple of their other songs charted so they are not technically a one hit wonder. At first they were called The Charlettes. Barbara Harris and Barbara Parritt went to high school together in New York City. They formed the group after meeting June Monteiro through June's sister. They started hanging around The Brill Building and sang backup vocals. Manager Vince Marc spotted them at a talent show and introduced them to the songwriting and production team of Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell and they signed them to legendary producer Bob Crewe's DynoVoice label. Linzer and Randell had previously worked with The Four Seasons. Marc thought The Charlettes was too doo wop so he changed the group name to The Toys. A Lover's Concerto reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965. The song was based on Bach's Minuet in G Major and popularized by bandleader Freddie Martin in the 40s. Linzer and Randell wrote the lyrics and updated the arrangement. The Toys appeared on all kinds of TV shows and even in a couple of movies. But they were never able to score that second big hit. They came closest with Attack which reached #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966. You can get A Lover's Concerto on this various artists CD from Eric Records. The Toys also recorded for Philips and Musicor and then they split up in 1968. Lead singer Barbara Harris has toured the oldies circuit as The Toys for years and she's on tour now. Here's The Toys performing A Lover's Concerto on Hullaballoo 1965.
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