Songs recorded by The Clovers
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1. The Clovers – The Clovers are an American rhythm and blues/doo-wop vocal group who became one of the biggest selling acts of the 1950s. They had a top thirty US hit in 1959 with the Leiber and Stoller song Love Potion No.9, the group was formed at Armstrong High School, Washington, D. C. in 1946 by Harold Lucas, Billy Shelton and Thomas Woods. Initially a trio, they expanded to a quartet with the addition of John Buddy Bailey, Billy Shelton was replaced by Matthew McQuater in 1948. As The Four Clovers, the group started to appear at local music shows including the WWDC amateur hour show hosted by Jack Lowe Endler at the Republic Theatre. This brought them to the attention of an audience including Harold Winley who, after hearing them on WWDC. By the end of 1948 Woods had been replaced by Winley, by the end of 1950 Bill Harris had joined as their guitarist, his blues- and jazz-inflected playing would become an integral part of their sound. Krefetz then brought them to the attention of Atlantic Records, which signed them in February 1951, the Clovers were immediately booked by the Shaw Artists agency to perform at the Apollo Theater in Harlem starting on February 15. Their second recording session resulted in the release of Fool, Fool, Fool in August 1951, the Clovers lead vocalist, Buddy Bailey, was drafted into the army at the end of August 1951 and John Phillip was brought in to replace him. Philip was soon replaced by Charlie White, who had been in the vocal groups The Dominoes, the tracks One Mint Julep and the Ertegun composition Middle of the Night were both top ten hits on the R&B chart of May 1952. Their next release, Ting-A-Ling, peaked at #2 on the Billboard R&B chart and they followed up this early success with a string of R&B hits, including Hey Miss Fannie / I Played The Fool, Good Lovin and Little Mama / Lovey Dovey. By the end of 1953 White had been replaced by Billy Mitchell, Buddy Bailey was discharged from the army in May 1954 and rejoined the group. The Clovers continued to record with Bailey and Mitchell now sharing lead vocal duties, the single Blue Velvet / If You Love Me was released in February 1955. In April the groupl recorded four tracks, two from that session, Nip Sip / If I Could Be Loved By You, were released in August, Devil or Angel was released in January 1956 and entered the top five of the R&B chart in February. Their next release, Love, Love, Love, charted in the R&B top ten of June, Krefetz left Atlantic and formed Poplar Records in June 1957. The Clovers Atlantic contract expired in July 1957 and Krefetz signed Mitchell in September as a solo artist to his Poplar label, in February 1958 Krefetz confirmed that Mitchell would continue recording with The Clovers as well as pursuing his solo career on Poplar. Krefetz signed The Clovers to Poplar Records in May 1958, Poplar was purchased by United Artists Records in 1959. Love Potion No.9 became the biggest hit of their career, in 1961 their United Artists contract expired and they moved to Winley Records. The label was started in 1956 by Paul Winley, brother of The Clovers bass Harold Winley, Paul Winley had written songs for the group, Big Joe Turner and Ruth Brown
2. Blue Velvet (song) – Blue Velvet is a popular song written in 1950 by Bernie Wayne and Lee Morris. A top 20 hit for Tony Bennett in its original 1951 version, when Wayne pitched Blue Velvet to Columbia Records head A&R man Mitch Miller hed only played the opening line, She wore blue velvet. When Miller interrupted saying, How about Tony Bennett, waynes response, Dont you want to hear the rest of the song, drew this advice from Miller, Quit while youre ahead. Bennetts version made its debut on a 1958 compilation disc entitled Blue Velvet. Blue Velvet was recorded by the Clovers for their album of the same name, released in 1955 through Atlantic Records, the song was released as a single on 10 shellac. The song was recorded, produced, and released when the R&B group was still consisted of John Buddy Bailey, Billy Mitchell, Matthew McQuater, Harold Lucas, Harold Winley. Various members of the left, died, or were replaced. The track reached #14 on Billboards Rhythm & Blues Records chart of Best Sellers in Stores, however the Blue Velvet by the Statues would only accrue enough focused national interest to rank on the Hot 100 for a period of three weeks in August 1960 with a peak of #84. The most successful recording of Blue Velvet was released by Bobby Vinton in 1963, Vintons version reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 21 September 1963 and remained at #1 for the subsequent two weeks. Blue Velvet also afforded Vinton a #1 hit on the U. S. Middle-Road Singles chart, Vintons #3 hit in the summer of 1963, Blue on Blue, prompted the recording of the Blue on Blue album comprising songs featuring the word blue in the title. Vinton did not expect the song to be a hit, Vintons version was ranked #8 on Cash Boxs Top 100 Chart Hits of 1964. Vintons recording failed to make the British charts when originally released, american singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey released a cover of the song Blue Velvet in 2012. It was taken from reissue of her studio album Born to Die – The Paradise Edition and her third EP. On September 20, the song was released as a single, Del Rey was selected for the H&M ad campaign after an impressionable performance at a Mulberry dinner party. Industry moguls Michelle Williams, Alexa Chung, Elizabeth Olsen, a public relations manager for H&M said Del Rey was chosen because they were looking for a style icon and singer to model our fall collection and so Lana Del Rey was the perfect choice. On September 19, the video, which serves as a commercial for the H&M2012 Autumn Collection as well. In the video, Del Rey is singing the song in a room before an audience of pallid people, playing an Americana lounge singer dressed in a pink mohair sweater. Three women dressed identically to Del Rey sit on a couch and watch her coldly, at the end, a little man walks into the room, pulls out the plug for Del Reys microphone, silencing her