AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Impalas

Artist:The Impalas

Song:Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)

Album:Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)

The doo wop group The Impalas scored a top five hit with the 1959 single Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home). The song is still a staple of oldies radio. So I'm sure most folks have heard it but know nothing about The Impalas. They were a racially integrated group from Brooklyn. That was unusual but not unheard of. The Del-Vikings and The Crests were also integrated. Lenny Renda, Richard Wagner and Tony Carlucci were practicing on street corners when Joe "Speedo" Frazier heard them and thought he could help them with their harmonies. Frazier was the lead singer of The Impalas. After releasing one unsuccessful single, they were spotted by songwriters Artie Zwirn and Aristedes Giosasi. Giosasi was one half of the brother sister duo Gino & Gina. They scored a top 20 hit with the 1958 single Pretty Baby. Zwirn and Giosasi wrote Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home) and they thought it would be a good song for The Impalas. An introduction to Alan Freed got them a deal with MGM's Cub label. Sorry was the first single and it reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Impalas appeared on American Bandstand and toured the Freed circuit with Frankie Avalon etc. They had one other chart single and their one album was reissued by Jasmine Records last year. Sorry also appears on plenty of  various artists comps. That album was produced by MGM house producer LeRoy Holmes. He also produced the 1958 Tommy Edwards hit It's All in the Game. After an unsuccessful 1963 single on 20th Century Fox, all but Frazier quit the music business. Frazier led a version of The Impalas on the nostalgia circuit. He died in 2014. Here's The Impalas performing Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home) on American Bandstand. Yes, the vocals are overdubbed. I presume the audio quality was subpar. At least you get to see what The Impalas were like.