The Spiders | |
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Also known as | Zion City Harmonizers Delta Southernaires |
Origin | New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
Genres | |
Years active | 1947 | –1957
Labels | Imperial |
Past members |
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The Spiders were an American R&B vocal group from New Orleans who recorded in the 1950s. Within a span of two years, the group had all five of their entries on the US Billboard R&B chart. [1]
The group was founded as a gospel group in 1947 under the name Zion City Harmonizers, and later sang as the Delta Southernaires, recording and performing on radio under the latter name in 1952–1953. [1] Cosimo Matassa convinced them to begin singing secular music, and in 1953 the five-piece, based around brothers Hayward "Chuck" Carbo (1926–2008) and Leonard "Chick" Carbo (1927–1998), signed with Imperial Records, [1] under the name The Spiders. [2] They had several U.S. hits on the R&B chart in the middle of the decade, including their first single "I Didn't Want to Do It" (R&B #3, 1954), "I'm Slippin' In" (R&B #6, 1954), "21" (R&B #9, 1955), and "Witchcraft" (R&B #5, 1956). [3] The latter was co-written by Dave Bartholomew and was later covered by Elvis Presley. [4]
Members Joe Maxon and Matthew West left the group in 1955 and were replaced by Issachar (Izzycoo) Gordon and Bill Moore. [1] Chick Carbo signed with Atlantic Records as a solo artist late in 1956, and by the next year the group had splintered; their last single as a group was 1957's "That's My Desire", though the song "Tennessee Slim", recorded in the middle of the decade, was issued as a single in 1960. [2]
Chuck Carbo later recorded for Rounder Records, releasing an album in 1993. [2] Chick Carbo died in 1998, Chuck in 2008.
The group's name inspired the group led by Buddy Holly to name themselves The Crickets. [5]
Charles Hardin Holley, known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas, during the Great Depression, and learned to play guitar and sing alongside his two siblings. Holly's style was country and western music which he performed in Lubbock with his friends from high school.
The Crickets were an American rock and roll band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer-songwriter Buddy Holly in January 1957. Their first hit record, "That'll Be the Day", released in May 1957, peaked at number three on the Billboard Top 100 chart on September 16, 1957. The sleeve of their first album, The "Chirping" Crickets, shows the band line-up at the time: Holly on lead vocals and lead guitar, Niki Sullivan on rhythm guitar, Jerry Allison on drums, and Joe B. Mauldin on bass. The Crickets helped set the template for subsequent rock bands, such as the Beatles, with their guitar-bass-drums line-up, performing their own material. After Holly's death in 1959, the band continued to tour and record into the 1960s and beyond with other band members through to the 21st century.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1957.
Harold "Chuck" Willis was an American blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll singer and songwriter. His biggest hits, "C. C. Rider" (1957) and "What Am I Living For" (1958), both reached No.1 on the Billboard R&B chart. He was known as The King of the Stroll for his performance of the 1950s dance the stroll.
Albert William Lee is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked, both in the studio and on tour, with many famous musicians from a wide range of genres. He has also maintained a solo career and is a noted composer and musical director.
"A Big Hunk o' Love" is a song originally recorded by Elvis Presley and released as a single on June 23, 1959 by RCA Victor, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks.
Jerry Ivan Allison was an American musician. He was best known as the drummer for the Crickets and co-writer of their hits "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue", recorded with Buddy Holly. His only solo chart entry on the Billboard Hot 100 was "Real Wild Child", issued in 1958 under the name Ivan. Allison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.
Bob Montgomery was an American singer, songwriter, record producer and publisher.
Joseph Benson Mauldin, Jr. was an American bassist, songwriter, and audio engineer who was best known as the bassist for the early rock and roll group the Crickets. Mauldin initially played a double (standup) bass, then switched to a Fender Precision Bass guitar. After several years with the Crickets, he became a recording engineer at Gold Star Studios, the Los Angeles studio which became the "hit factory" for Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, and other major 1960s rock performers.
Elvis' Gold Records Volume 4 is a greatest hits album by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley, issued by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3921, in January 1968, with recording sessions taking place over an eight-year span at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, and at RCA Studios and Radio Recorders in Hollywood. It is a compilation of hit singles released between 1961 and 1967, peaking at number 33 on the Billboard 200. It was certified Gold on March 27, 1992, by the Recording Industry Association of America.
From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential '60s Masters is a five-disc box set compilation of studio master recordings by American singer and musician Elvis Presley during the decade of the 1960s; it was released in 1993 on RCA Records, catalogue number 66160-2. In its initial long-box release, it included a set of collectable stamps duplicating the record jackets of every Presley LP on RCA Victor, and those of the singles pertinent to this box set. The set also includes a booklet with an extensive session list and discography, as well as a lengthy essay by Peter Guralnick. It was certified Gold by the RIAA on November 30, 1993, and Platinum on January 6, 2004. This set followed an exhaustive box set of Presley's 1950s output and was followed by a collection of his soundtrack work a more selective box set of his work in the 1970s.
"Too Much Monkey Business" is a song written and recorded by Chuck Berry, released by Chess Records in September 1956 as his fifth single. It was also released as the third track on his first solo LP, After School Session, in May 1957; and as an EP. The single reached number four on Billboard magazine's Most Played R&B In Juke Boxes chart, number 11 on the Most Played R&B by Jockeys chart and number seven on the R&B Top Sellers in Stores chart in the fall of 1956.
"Merry Christmas Baby" is an R&B Christmas standard credited to Lou Baxter and Johnny Moore. In 1947, Johnny Moore's Three Blazers recorded the tune, featuring vocals and piano by Charles Brown. Subsequently, many performers have recorded renditions of the song, including Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ike & Tina Turner, Otis Redding, B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, and Melissa Etheridge.
"Little Sister" is a rock and roll song written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. It was originally released as a single in 1961 by American singer Elvis Presley, who enjoyed a No. 5 hit with it on the Billboard Hot 100. The single also reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart. Lead guitar was played by Hank Garland and the rhythm guitar was played by Scotty Moore with backing vocals by the Jordanaires featuring the distinctive bass voice of Ray Walker.
"Brown Eyed Handsome Man" is a rock and roll song written and recorded by Chuck Berry, originally released by Chess Records in September 1956 as the B-side of "Too Much Monkey Business." It was also included on Berry's 1957 debut album, After School Session. The song title was also used as the title of a biography of Berry.
"(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" is a song recorded in a hit version by Elvis Presley and published by Elvis Presley Music in 1961. It was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and first recorded by Del Shannon on the album Runaway with Del Shannon, which was released in June 1961.
Hayward "Chuck" Carbo was an American R&B singer, best known for his time as a vocalist in the New Orleans group The Spiders.
Fun in Acapulco is the seventh soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor Records in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2756, in November 1963. It is the soundtrack to the 1963 film of the same name starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on January 22 and 23 and February 27, 1963; and at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 26 and 28, 1963. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.
Rockin' 50's Rock'n'Roll is a rock and roll album by the Crickets. It was The Crickets' first release in the 1970s, and marked the band's embrace of their legacy as Buddy Holly's backing band. The album is a concept album of nostalgia for the 1950s, consisting mostly of songs written by Holly and framed by the new retrospectively-minded title track. Originally released as an LP record in December 1970, the album was re-released on CD by in 2000.
The Zion Harmonizers is an American gospel music group founded in 1938 and based in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Buddy and I were practicing one day, and decided we needed a group name. We liked a record by the Spiders called "Witchcraft," so we decided to be insects. We looked in the dictionary under insects and stopped at Cricket. We had a lot of Crickets in Texas that year, too.