Tuesday, March 15, 2016

The Showmen - Some Folks Don't Understand It {vinyl rip]

A repost by request:

 The Showmen were a New Orleans based American doo-wop and R&B group. formed in 1961. They are best remembered for their track, "It Will Stand", issued on Minit Records. "It Will Stand" (Minit 632) reached #61 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961, and when re-released in 1964 (Imperial 66033) re-charted and reached #80. They had another hit, the Carolina Beach Music standard "39-21-40 Shape;" the label on the single, however, was mistakenly printed "39-21-46," and this soon supplanted the official title.

Unlike the majority of musicians that recorded for New Orleans record labels controlled by Joe Banashak, The Showmen were not from that locality. They all came from Norfolk, Virginia, moving to New Orleans in May 1961 and April 1962, to record fifteen titles under the studio supervision of the then barely known Allen Toussaint.

General Norman Johnson, at the age of twelve, formed the group The Humdingers that would eventually become The Showmen. In the late 1950s, Noah Biggs began managing The Humdingers. He sent a demo to Banashak. The songs on the demo were "The Owl Sees You", "For You My Darling", "Skinny McGinny" and "I Go On Loving You". Banashak arranged for Toussaint to record The Humdinger. In 1968 Johnson amicably left the group, to begin his association with Holland-Dozier-Holland's Invictus Records. He became leader of the group Chairmen of the Board.

11 comments:

poppachubby said...

New to me... further education. Love all things NOLA r&b.

pmac said...

I recall the single, It Will Stand. Didn't realize those guys were not from NO, which explains why they never really had that old school Nawlins' r&b feel to their music. Still, enjoyed the song, and looking forward to hearing the rest.

lucky5 said...

Thank you, KC!

fcapeau said...

A big thank you, KC. One discovery like this one a day make me happy !

flatspin said...

Loving The Showmen's doo-wop. Wondering how I've never heard "It Will Stand" before! Thanks.

KingCake said...

http://www.embedupload.com/?d=7OEZR0CXJG

pedro said...

Could this be the Norman Johnson and the showmen which had couple of tracks on Action records (UK)

KingCake said...

Certainly seems possible - is the time frame right?

David said...

Thanks for the re-up KC

Feilimid O'Broin said...

This is new to me, too, and I seem to have missed it the first time around. Thanks for re-posting it and enabling to broaden my knowledge of New Orleans rhythm and blues a wee bit more.

lil m said...

Norman Johnson likely early moniker of singer later known as General Johnson whose Chairmen oF The Board became a staple of coastal Carolina Beach Music

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