Song:The Closer You Are
Album:Especially For You
The doo wop group The Channels are well remembered in New York City and the Tri-State area. But they never had a national hit. The 1956 single The Closer You Are is probably their best known song. The Channels were formed in 1955 by Larry Hampden, Billy Morris and Edward Doulphin. Then they brought in Earl Lewis and Clifton Wright of The Lotharios. Lewis became lead singer and songwriter. And he still leads The Channels today. The Closer You Are was their second single in 1956. Lewis was 15 years old when he sang and wrote the song. They recorded for Bobby Robinson's Whirling Disc label and later they recorded for his Fury label. Robinson owned a record store and he would release records and attempt to sell them to a larger label for national distribution. He was successful doing that so I can only assume that The Channels never had a hit that was big enough to attract a major label. After four singles for Whirling Disc, The Channels recorded a couple of singles for George Goldner's Gone label. Most of the group jumped ship but Lewis and Wright brought in other guys and continued to record for Robinson's Fury label. After that they split up but Hampden reformed them when Jubilee Records reissued some of their singles in the early 60s. That soon ended until Lewis revived The Channels in the late 60s. He started his own record company in the 70s and The Channels have toured the oldies circuit ever since. It looks like they are still active. You can get all the 50s recordings on this Collectables comp. Here's Earl Lewis and the Channels performing The Closer You Are on WNET in New York 2000. The host that you see briefly at the end is legendary DJ Cousin Brucie Morrow. Thanks to The Entertainers We Love for the info about The Channels.
No comments:
Post a Comment