AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Jesters

 

Artist:The Jesters

Song:The Wind

Album:The Best of the Jesters

The doo wop group The Jesters had modest success in the late 50s with singles like The Wind. They were on a small label so I don't think they got decent distribution. And they went through personnel changes. The Wind was recorded by the second version of the group and they had bounced around record labels by then. The Jesters were formed in 1955. They were all students at Cooper Junior High School in Harlem. Lenny McKay was lead singer, Anthony "Jimmy" Smith was second tenor, Leo Vincent was baritone and Noel Grant was bass. They were named after Grant's favorite film The Court Jester. They appeared on local talent shows. In 1956 they added Adam Jackson and he shared leads with McKay and eventually Jackson became the main lead. In 1957 The Jesters won the Apollo Theater Talent Show for three straight weeks. They signed with Winley Records owned by Paul Winley. He was the brother of The Clovers' Harold Winley. His label was distributed by Jubilee Records. He thought The Jesters sounded a lot like The Paragons who were already on Winley. He tried to sell them as competitors. Most of The Jesters' recordings were produced and arranged by Dave "Baby" Cortez. He would become famous for the single The Happy Organ. At the time he had just started as a producer. The Jesters' first single So Strange was released in 1957. Jackson and McKay both sang lead. Several singles were released but nothing caught on. Grant, Vincent and McKay all left in 1958. Jackson and Smith brought in Charles "Melvin" Lewis on baritone and his brother Donald Lewis on bass. Jubilee released the album The Paragons Meet The Jesters in 1959. The Wind was released in 1960. It was written and originally recorded by Nolan Strong and the Diablos in 1954. The Wind made it to Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100. And that was it for The Jesters. They stopped recording in 1961 but they continued to perform the oldies circuit through the 80s. All their singles are on this Collectables comp. Here's a video of The Wind by The Jesters. Thanks to Unca Marv Goldberg for The Jesters info. He's always a great source for doo wop.