Oh Carol

The Musicasters

Oh Carol

Musicasters 9135

 

1965

Flip is a version of "Talk To Me" (Little Willie John, King Records, 1958)

 

Band formed by Benton Harbor high school students (and members of the American Federation of Musicians Local 232), the Musicasters have appeared in Chicago, Grand Haven, Three Rivers and the Twin Cities in the years 1963-1965.

In the summer of 1963, they were opposed to The Playmates (*)  in a Battle of the Bands, hosted by Jan Gabriel, motor sports announcer known for his signature phrase "Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!" used to promote the US 30 Drag Strip events in Northwest Indiana.  Jan Gabriel did much more for Chicago area media than just promote weekend races on commercials.  In the early 60's, he was a night time rock & roll DJ for WJOB in Hammond -- a "screamer" much like Dick Biondi. He would emcee and DJ dances around the northwestern IN and Chicago's south suburbs.

(*)  The Playmates : South Bend band changed their name to the Rivieras, after the then-popular Buick car, broke through music's top 10 charts with the song "California Sun," released in 1963.

The Goatee's Gotta Go

Dick Summer

Bill Coe and the Escorts

The Goatee's Gotta Go

(Coe-Simon-Summer)

K-W Records #502

1959

Spoken word. 

Dick Summer was dee jay at WIBC at the time. Then, he was the MC of a Bandstand-type program called "Rhythm Carnival" on WISH-TV. until he was hired by WBZ Radio in Boston.  His radio show was unpredictable. He read poetry and short stories, and sometimes he played old radio dramas - listeners loved it.

The background music is provided by Bill Coe and The Escorts.  Bill Coe is believed to be the brother of musician Jimmy Coe.

WIBC radio booth on the roof of Merrill's

Merrill’s Hi-Decker was another popular spot for both locals and visitors, featuring a $1.59 steak special that could be enjoyed in the restaurant’s “Two Beautiful Dining Rooms” or in the customer’s own car. Younger patrons preferred the latter option so they could listen to disc jockey Dick Summer playing the newest rock-and-roll hits from the WIBC radio booth on the restaurant’s roof. His show featured a “make it or break it game” where he would ask patrons to honk their car horns to vote on whether a new record should be played again or broken in half.

from http://historicindianapolis.com/indianapolis-collected-the-accidental-tourist-guide-collector/

 

Read Dick Summer interview http://www.grubstreet.ca/articles/index/495/the-grub-street-interview-dick-summer-mouth-to-ear

Hall Of Shame

Jean Dixon

Hall Of Shame

Gwen McEwen

H. Graves Music Co. BMI

Fonovox 102

1447 Union, Memphis Tenn.

1959

Short-lived label operated by Elston Leonard and Hillburn (Pappy) Graves. 

Elston Leonard was the founder of Fotovox Inc., a TV and commercial film producing firm, in 1951 at 1447 Union.

 

Hillburn Graves (1913-1973), was a saxophonist and clarinet player from Arkansas.  He toured extensively from more than two decades with the "Pappy Graves Show"

Gwen McEwen was best  known as a comedienne. She traveled for many years with Pappy Graves ("Pappy Graves Music and dancing Revue, featuring riotously funny Gwen McEwen, That inimitable "Phyllis Diller" Gal ! ")  She never made a career for herself in music, although she recorded few demos at Sun Records ("Steady Freddie" and "We"ll Have A Ball" were issued by Bear Family in 2002).   She wrote both sides of the Smokey Joe 45 on Fonovox, the only other known release on the label.

 

Jean Dixon is perhaps the former band singer who was associated in Dallas with the Hugh Fowler Agency in 1958-59 (Billboard, 31 August 1959). No further info.

 

Greg Constantine (cover art)

The Coming King

Mark Custom Recording Division MC1247

From the back cover:

The reproduction of the TV image painting on the front cover is by Greg Constantine of the Andrews University Art Faculty.  The title is : "Every Eye Shall See Him"  and is photographed from the original acrylic on canvas of 66 by 88 inches.  Professor Constantine is primarily interested in seeing as "we humans see", and has investigated other ways of portraying this, hence the TV images concept of this painting.

Another conceptual "official" artist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Constantine

Picture is from this ebay listing

survey solutions

I Can Give You Love

Bobbi Martin 

I Can Give You Love

Bobbi Martin, Champion Music Corp. BMI

Arranged and directed by Bert De Coteaux

Produced by Henry Jerome

Coral 62485

Recorded on 13 December 1965 Decca Recording Studio, Pythian Temple, 135 West 70th St., New York City 

Barbara Anne Martin was born in Brooklyn on 29 November 1943, but raised in Baltimore. After graduation from high school in Baltimore, she set her sights for New York and a full-time try at a show business career.   She came to the attention of personal manager Miriam Love.  Miriam groomed her young protégée first for night clubs and TV.  Her debut recordings were produced by T.H. McCulloh and issued in 1960, for the much obscure Maypole Records (#502 : (Ay Ay Ay) I'll Wait Forever / Is It True (What They Say About Al)?).  The single was also released by Reo Records in Canada. 

Seen and heard by Coral Records' A&R executive, Henry Jerome, Bobbi Martin was signed to an exclusive, long-term Coral recording contract.  She placed two songs in the Top 40, 'Don't Forget U Still Love You (1965) and 'For The Love Of Him' (1970).


She died at Brighton Wood Knull medical facility in Baltimore (lung cancer) in May 2000.

Bobbi Martin discography

Artis Lane (cover art)

What a ugly cover !  The Ray Charles painting is signed Artis Lane.  I didn't know who was the painter.   And at my surprise, I soon discovered that she is apparently much celebrated.

Artis Lane's works are among the collections of Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Linda Evans, Cicely Tyson, former President and Mrs. George Bush, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Poitier, Mayor Maynard Jackson (Atlanta, GA), Howard University, National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institute), National Council of Negro Women, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Getty, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Jordan, Mr. Steve Ross (Time-Warner), Mr. and Mrs. Ervin "Magic" Johnson, Mr. Quincy Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Anneberg, Cary Grant, Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Henry Kissinger and others.

In a nutshell, she is well established artist. One Yussuf Simmonds write an article titled "Artis Lane, the Artist Without Boundaries" in the Los Angeles Sentinel.  Without boundaries, including the boundary of good taste...

Artis Lane official website

Her Oprah Winfrey Portrait

I Need You

The Utmosts

I Need You

Oma Heard, Beechwood Music Corp. BMI

Pan-Or Records

February 1962

Pan-Or Productions headed by independant producers Adam Ross and Jack L. Levy was part of the Beechwood Music Company, itself founded by Capitol Records in 1948.    The most successful act produced by Pan-Or productions was The Rivingtons (Liberty Records).

Oma Heard was the lead singer and/or member of various girl groups.  Rob Finnis has told their story. 

From the liner notes of The Dore Story (Ace Records) :
 

The DARLINGS, a female quartet comprising Oma Heard, Carlotta Robertson and the sisters Maxine and Julia Waters, were managed and produced by a former artist named Bobby Sanders - real name: Jerome Lenoir. In 1963, Dore issued two consecutive singles by the group under different names, the first as the Postalettes singing 'He Played 1, 2, 3, 4' (a variation of 'The Paddiwack Song'), the second as the Darlings with their punchy revival of 'To Know Him Is To Love Him', heard here. Sanders produced all four at the same (with Grayson arranging) and assigned the masters over Dore on 23 January 1963.

Three of the four girls had previously sung in a Fremont High School group named the Sweethearts, who recorded for producer H.B. Barnum in 1961 and moonlighted on obscure one-off 45s as the Utmosts and the Sa-Shays.  Although amateur, they were already establishing career paths as versatile session vocalists and barely knew their identity from one release to the next - immediately prior to signing for Dore, they had recorded a one-off 45 for producer Steve Venet (himself a former Dore artist) as the Dynels on Dot.

Something about 'He Played 1, 2, 3, 4' piqued Lew's interest because a few months later, he re-issued it with a new B-side ('My Pillow') on Dore 677 crediting the Darlings. Then again, in October 1963 on Dee Dee 677 as by the Delicates! (This can be heard on Volume 2.) And he wasn't finished yet. Possibly frustrated by his inability to break the record, Bedell sold the master to a couple who ran a tiny R&B label, Celeste, out of their LA home, prompting a further re-issue with the revised title 'This Old Man' on Celeste 676.

Oma Heard later sang with Ike Turner's Ikettes, did session work and recorded under her own name for Motown in the late 1960s, while the Water sisters worked as background singers on countless sessions by such diverse artists as Paul Simon, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Paul and Rod Stewart.

B.T.O.

Ronnie Byrd

 B.T.O. 

Louise Shields

Corette Music / Crazy Cajun Music,  BMI

Dante Records

1962

Dante was one of the three labels started by Ray Doggett in Houston in 1961 (the other two were Cadette and Eric). It appears that B.J. Thomas and the Triumphs, Dean Scott, and Steve Tyrell all had their debut discs on Dante.   Most of them probably didn't make much of an impression, but the Triumph's "The Lazy Man" and Steve Tyrell's "Payday Someday" were local hits on KNUZ and KILT.   The final Dante came out in late 1964.  

Quoted from http://nineteen-sixty-six.blogspot.fr/2011/07/dante-records-discography.html

Another song recorded by Ronnie Byrd from around the same time is "Back to School Blues" credited to Ronnie Byrd and the Hi-Liners.  The track was first issued (or re-issued?, but then what was the original release? anyone?) on the first volume of the "Kiddie Sound" a multi-volumes series issued by Magic Rabbit.    YouTube link

 

Veskants 45 (1966)

A post-puberty Ronnie Byrd was the vocalist of the Veskants who recorded a 45 on W.M.C., a label out of Waco, Texas.   See http://www.garagehangover.com/veskants/

 

★  

 

Chattanooga, Tenn. songwriter, producer and promoter Louise Fields wrote both sides of the Dante 45.   See Louise Shields: Standing In The Shadows  where you will learn that "Elvis is not the only singing star that Mrs. Fields has been able to call "friend." Add to the list Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis."

Less at the Mrs Fields' advantage (but a little more credible, in my opinion) is the following bit of info which can be found HERE. Larry Banks, member of The Squires, a Chattanooga band, recalls :

In the spring of 1960, we met a woman named Louise Shields who owned a small recording studio on South Broad Street.  Small is an understatement, it consisted of one Wollensack (sic) tape deck and a couple of microphones. She asked us to “audition” for her by coming out to a school in Tiftonia one Saturday and play.  As it turned out, she was being paid by a local politician to furnish entertainment for an election campaign barbecue he was having.  Louise was getting us for free and calling it an audition (typical Louise as we later learned). 

What Will I Do

 Ruby Rae Robinson

What Will I Do
(M. Horton-F.C. Brooks, Asnes Music BMI)
A Bowden-Brooks production

Asnes 105
217 W. 125TH Street, N.Y.C.

Sweet Ruby Rae's second single for the label. which according to address was located just down the street from The Apollo.  Its owner was probably Frennie Brooks (F.C. Brooks).  This is one of the earliest John Bowden production.

John Bowden, a gospel record producer, A&R and promotion man, was very active in the 1960s and 70’s and is most famously associated with HOB, a gospel label affiliated with Scepter Records, New York.  But his name appears also on obscure early sixties labels such as Ark, Rejo and Revelation, the latter co-owned with Bobby Robinson (Fire/Fury Records) and Clarence (Fats) Lewis.   

Ruby Rae Roberson Stephens (2010)

holding her Southern Sound single

Courtesy of Times Record News, Whichita Falls, Texas

Ruby Rae Roberson was born in Itasca, Texas.  She studied at Paul Quinn College, a black college located in Dallas.  She was 22 the day she auditioned in the Waco Coliseum.for Ray Charles who was then searching female singers for his newly formed vocal backing group, The Raelettes.   Ruby Rae spent two years with the Raelettes, from 1959 to 1960.   When her musical career was over, she came back to Texas where she worked as a school music teacher for the rest of her life.

In 2007, she published her recollections  : “Ruby’s Early Life: Ray Charles My Memories As A Raelette” 

Discography

Ruby Roberson
Rheumatism / Is It Worth A Chance (Asnes 102, 1961)

Ruby Rae Roberson

Love Is A Question / What Will I Do (Asnes 105, 1961)

Ruby Roberson
Shame/  Blues At The Wedding (Southern Sound 120, 1965) A Frank Slay production

A Secret Memory

The Dolton Boys

A Secret Memory

(Gerry Boire, Andie Boire, Sidrian Music BMI)

Universal Sound 156

Early 1967

Unknown elvisy vocal, probably issued right after the merger of Sound, Inc of New Haven, Mich. and Sidra Records of Detroit (see Billboard 18 February 1967) as Sidrian Music is the song publisher on this Sound Inc. subsidiary label. 

 

Perhaps a Sidra production?

 

 

 

The Eddy Duchin Story (cover art)

Bye Bye

Rubin Wright

Bye Bye

R. Wright -L.Lovett

Lancer Music BMI

 

Lancer 101

 Distributed by Gone Records

November 1958

 

 

The Capris, Gotham Recording Artists

Rubin (or Ruben) Wright, front

 

From West Philly, pianist, songwriter and singer Rubin Wright recorded in the early fifties for Gotham Records as a member of The Capris.   His discography (solo career only) can be found at Sir Shambling website HERE.   

 

Lancer Records was owned by Lee Hasin in Philadelphia. The label had only a handful of releases in 1958-1959 (The Rosebuds, Don French and The Twins) mainly distributed through Goldner's Gone Records.

L. Lovett credited here as one of the songwriters is Leroy Lovett, a jazz pianist, arranger and composer. Both, Rubin Wright and Leroy Lovett recorded previously for Sid Pastner's Wynne Records.

Mama Lucie

The Dreamers

Mama Lucie

Steward
Clawk Music Co. BMI
Dream JF-45-101

1959

Florida rock & roll band made up of Largo High alumnus,  

Ralph W. Steward, Dreamers lead singer and lead guitarist died Dec. 27, 2010.

 Wally_Dow http://www.bandmix.com/wally_dow/ remembers :

I launched my music career while living in Clearwater, Florida. I played quite a few teen dances in the Clearwater area. I remember the first band to influence me was a group I first saw at the old Clearwater Auditorium called The Dreamers a band which was lead by a guitarist/vocalist from Largo, Florida named Ralph Steward. I used to go to the dances and watch Ralph and his other guitarist, Pete Bass (I hope I remember his name correctly) play, and then go home and practice what I saw them doing on an old acoustic guitar.

The two songs mentioned in the article above, "It's Gonna Be All Right" and "Don't Cry", were issued in 1959 on Nuggett Records, Tampa label owned by Lonzo and Oscar,  once a popular country act.

Snake In The Grass

Jimmy Carroll and The Boy Friends 
-
Snake In The Grass

James Carroll-Gary Wright

Elysian Music Corp. BMI

Produced and directed By Ralph and Sid Glaser

Arranged And Conducted by Gary Randy

Glaser Hollywood GH-1000

November 1960

Possibly the same Jimmy Carroll who recorded "Big Green Car" on Fascination

Glaser Hollywod, divison of Elysian Music Corp New York City, was owned by Ralph and Sid Glaser.   This short-lived label had few releases in 1960-1961 (see discography below).  The label main musical talent was arranger and conductor Gary Randy, also known as Gary Harrison, Harry Nivens, Harry Nivins, Harry E. Nivens and Harry Edward Nivens.

Harry Nivens was from Detroit.  He managed The Royal Holidays, The Royaltones and Melrose Baggy  (real name: David R. Sanderson, a former member of The Royaltones). 

The earliest mention of Harry Nivens is found is in a book published in 1951 "A Salute to the Chaplain; a Day With a Far East Command Hospital Chaplain" :

The two pianists are Sgt. Harry Nivens, a patient, and Red Cross worker Virginia Kershaw of Fort Payne, Ala. The coffee hour group, including Chaplain Ellenberg, really loosen up and hit the rafters with some old song favorites under the spell of the two talented keyboard artists.

Sergeant Nivens, from Detroit, who has served with the 24th Infantry Division, is an up-and-coming song writer who supplied the music for one of the Occupation's hit shows, "Opportunity Knocks." Some of his songs have been recorded by Columbia Records. Harry plays the Hammond organ sometimes for the chaplain at his services. His is a very cheerful disposition, and he's good medicine for his fellow patients. The chaplain speaks highly of Harry.

Among the various Harry Nivens contributions to Detroit music (as writer, arranger and/or producer) :

• Sandy Evans on Drummond
• The Monitors on Circus
• The Royal Holidays on Penthouse
• Marco Hammon on D-Town
• Johnny Cruise on Jaro
• Cally Dodd on Calico
• The Towers on Stuart
• Don McKenzie on Ridge
• Johnnie Mae Matthews on Reel (and Sue)

Glaser Hollywood discography

PM-1000 (Also on Rose-C 3342)
Linda Chanfer
Exactly Like You / My Own Angel Love

GH-1000
Jimmy Carroll & The Boy Friends
Snake In The Grass / Shy Boy

GH-2000
Bruce Lenox
Seventeen Years / Youthful Desire

GH-3000
Becky Baines
All Of My Life / Loved

Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby

(Popular Artist)

Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby

Sylvia-Lopez

EP 4 Hits 351

Brooklyn, N.Y.

1957

A cover of the Tune Weavers song (a hit on Checker Records, but first issued on Casa Grande). 

EP Records was owned and operated by Frank Gould and Montgomery Delaney. The firm was located at 51 Neck Road, Brooklyn, as was Zebra Records, another of their label.

For examples of EP 4 Hits company sleeves, see http://45-sleeves.com/USA/ep/ep-us.htm

Let's Make A Little Motion

Evelyn Freeman And The Exciting Voices

Let's Make A Little Motion

Roberts, Freeman
Morrisania Music ASCAP

Dot 15726

March 1958   

Bandleader, music composer and musician Evelyn Freeman Roberts was born on February 13, 1919,  Roberts grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and performed music at local social events with "The Freeman Family," a group that included her brother, Ernie, and father.   She also began performing locally in a classical ensemble. Roberts skipped school one day to watch Duke Ellington at Cleveland's Palace Theater and met Ellington after the performance. His music made a huge impact on Roberts, who decided at that moment that she wanted to be a bandleader. She was a bright student, and graduated ahead of her grade in 1936...  more :   http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/evelyn-freeman-roberts-41

Yellow Pages

Don Reno, Bill Harrell and the Tennessee Cutups

Yellow Pages

Jim Goodman-Jerry Fender

Brownboro Pub. Co. SESAC

 Derby Town SR 34/35

Produced by Ray Allen

1966

Bluegrass banjo player Don Reno began a new partnership with singer/multi-instrumentalist Bill Harrell in late 1966 and it continued for a decade, a period which coincided with resurgence in public interest in bluegrass as a result of a growing festival circuit.

They have bought into Derby Town Records and Cuzz Publishing Co. and added Don Reno-Bill Harrell Enteprises to the corporation for booking purposes and handling personal management of artists. Derby Town Records and Cuzz Publishing were operated by Kenny Sowder, whose main claim to fame is to have co-written "Lonely Street", a classic country song, first recorded by Carl Belew, an artist whom he managed.

Sugar Daddy

Lynette

with Kai-Ray and Crew

Sugar Daddy

Richard A. Caire, Lingua-Musica BMI

Lodestar 74-62

1962

This is the flipside of "Limbo, Limbo" by Kai-Ray and Crew which was a minor hit on KUTT, Fargo, North Dakota and KXLW, St. Louis, Missouri in 1962.

Minneapolis-based Trashmen, of “Surfin’ Bird” fame, took their name from Kai-Ray’s first release on Lodestar ("Trashman's Blues).  

Richard A. Caire, or Kai-Ray or Shane Kai-Ray or Tony Caire came from Wichita, Kansas. He and his band played for some time at the Five Spot bar in Fargo, North Dakota before moving to Minneapolis.  He played lead guitar for several other Minnesota groups, most notably The Bandits and King Krusher & The Turkeynecks.  He was the first in the Twin Cities to have a fuzztone on his guitar (1964). He was also a songwriter, producer and small-time label owner (Kairay label).

A Kai-Ray discography can be found here.  The earliest Kai-Ray known record is on Lodestar in 1961, but I've found a song penned by Richard A. Caire and copyrighted in November 1958, titled "It's Called The Blues".

 

 Lodestar trademark

The label name was taken from the Lockheed Lodestar 

twin engine aircraft that was produced in the late 1930s.

Clarence B. Brown had started his first label, Pleasant Peasant (old time "oompah" music), in 1958. He was living in Seattle at the time.  In January 1959 he moved to Minnesota. The center of his activity was New Ulm, Minnesota. with a close connection to Brown's Music Store, owned by an uncle of C.B.Brown.   

The Lodestar label was started in as an outlet for pop music, with one brief Country/Western album. Even though address of Pleasant Peasant and Lodestar was listed as Minneapolis, it was actually Bloomington, Mn, a southern suburb of Minneapolis and about a 90 mile drive from New Ulm.

Most of the recordings were performed at Kay Bank Studios in Minneapolis.

The idea of progress

Interesting design for this California label founded early 1963 by L.A. saxophonist and band leader Zeke Strong. 

The idea of progress, that relentless technical progress improving the human condition, is here illustrated by four means of transportation.

However, uncertainty come out because of the opposite directions that the vehicules are taking. Where is the future?

• Towards the right, like the old wagon and old car seems to be moving?.  
• Towards the left, like the modern car and the airplane seems to go?

No matter what, as, paraphrasing the great french philosopher Pierre Dac : "On a l'avenir devant soi, mais quand on fait demi-tour, on l'a dans le dos" which can be translated like that :" The future is in front of us, but each time we make a U-turn, it's on our  back ".

 Pioneer  Days

 Roaring 20's

 Gay 50's

Featuristic 60's

Cold Hearted Lover

Billy Valentine

Cold Hearted Lover

 

Williams-Tompson

Armo-Big Star BMI

Federal Records

1959

 

His last?

 

Read Billy Valentine story HERE

NEW YORK, July 1949—This is one of those show business success stories. It's about a young Fort Worth pianist-singer, Billy Valentine.

Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, a hot group in the blues-and-rhythm market for several years, received a tough blow at the box office when singer-pianist Charles Brown decided to go out on his own some months ago. A replacement, Lee Barnes, proved totally inadequate.

Two weeks ago the Blazers were due for a series of recording dates with the Victor company. Desperate for a singer-pianist replacement, the remainder of the group, Johnny Moore, Oscar Moore and Johnny Miller, headed out on the road in different directions in search of a "new Charles Brown."

In Washington, leader Johnny Moore was told of a pianist-singer in Fort Worth who, the informer claimed, "would make them cats forget Charlie Brown." So Johnny placed a person-to-person call to Fort Worth and had the prospect sing for him over the phone. The youngster was told to hop a plane for New York.

The Fort Worth product was in New York the next evening and auditioned an hour later. Milton Ebbins, group's manager, hired him on the spot and two days later sliced wax with the group.

That's The Way It's Gonna Be

 Billy Lee

That's The Way It's Gonna Be

Carrie 1515

Box 7763, Detroit 7, Mich.

September 1962

This is William Levise Jr. later known as Mitch Ryder, front man for one of the most raucuous "blue-eyed soul" bands of the 1960s, the Detroit Wheels.  Writer is the Reverend James Hendrix, owner of Carrie Records. This is the very first Mitch Ryder recording.

Ryder's father looked for ways to encourage the son's talent.   One of his coworker belonged to a church presided over by Rev. James Hendrix, a part-time music producer who owned Carrie Records, a small independant label which distributed a handful of modest gospel recordings.   "That's The Way" was an attempt by the reverend to expand his gospel label into more popular directions. "James looked around and saw Elvis and Bobby Rydell, all these white boys", Ryder said. "He thought there was a fortune to be made."

On left, William Levise (Billy Lee)

 Rev. James Hendrix (center bottom )

The Arabians

Edward Hamilton

Cornell Blakely (right bottom )

I'm Your Daddy-O

Dick D'Agostin

I'm Your Daddy-O

 Dick D'Agostin, Sound Music BMI

Ac'cent AC-1046

September 1956

His first, also issued on Moonglow Records (see below).  Not listed in his Rockin' Country Style discography HERE

Richard Earl "Dick" D'Agostin, is best known for touring with Eddie Cochran.  Dick was a dance champion and editor of dance columns for two of the first teen magazines, Dig and Modern Teen.  He was with Judi Stein the 1955 winner of Al Jarvis' TV show contest "Make Believe Ballroom" . 

The show worked this way: every day 25 teen-age couples from Southern California schools are invited to compete in a jazz dance contest at the American Broadcasting Company's Television Center, Prospect Wk. and Talmadge Ave., Hollywood. Winners selected from each day's competition are invited back to compete for monthly dance championship honors and prizes of television sets, phonographs and radios. All monthly winners return for the annual runoff.

D'Agostin sang and played piano and guitar as the front man for The Swingers, composed of drummer Gene Riggio, saxophonist Paul Kaufman, and D'Agostin's brother Larry D'Agostin on guitar.

 

The history of Moonglow Records goes back to the 1950s in Belgium, although most know Moonglow as a 1960s Los Angeles-based label. Albert van Hoogten was owner of Ronnex Records in Belgium, and sent his brother, Rene Jan van Hoogten, to the United States in the mid-1950s to set up a label here. The first version of Moonglow Records was run out of Woodside, New York.
Source : http://www.bsnpubs.com/atlantic/moonglow.html