The Starliters First TV Performance - 1956
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- For those who like their music raw, it doesn't get much rawer than this! From August 1956, the Starliters make their first TV appearance on the program Amateur Hour. Although the blurb running across the video states that Joey Dee (that's Joey playing the sax) and The Starliters 1961 song "Peppermint Twist" made the Twist dance a national fad, that isn't entirely accurate. The Twist caught fire in 1960 after Chubby Checker released his version of Hank Ballard's earlier rendition of "The Twist." But it's certainly true the Starliters' Peppermint Twist song kept the craze going, and also helped put New York's Peppermint Lounge on the map.
Joey Dee and the Starliters would feature different members as the band evolved over the ensuing years -- at one point even including the then unknown Jimi Hendrix as their guitarist -- but there's something about this raw early performance that I find particularly intriguing!
I've been unable to accurately identify all the members of the band shown in this clip. Aside from Dee on sax, the other members were POSSIBLY Tony Seragusa on upright bass, Tony Sciuto on drums, either John Yanick, Dave McLean or Vinnie Corrao on guitar, Ernie Cassini on trumpet and Ralph Fazio on accordion and vocals. If anyone has definitive info about the identity of the members (or the name of the song they're performing) please let me know and I'll update this.
Ernest Casini, the trumpet player, is my late uncle. He had a great life but we lost him in 2021 to Covid. He was a wonderful husband, son, brother,father, grandfather and uncle for his family members. Hopefully, he is still playing his trumpet in the great band in heaven.
Well.....I can tell you the guy singing and playing accordion is definitely Ralph Fazio.......I know this...because he's my dad. :)
I'm looking for anyone who knows a guy named Joey Duvall that played in the band he played the horn.
What is the name of this song? Your dad was great here btw :))
I think the name of the song is dont come knocking on my door?
Good early rock. Your dad must have great stories.
Your dad sounds retarded
The Upright Bass player is my Grandma Grace's Brother, my Uncle Anthony "Tony" Seragusa!! His actual name was Antonio Valentino Seragusa(After Rudolfo Valentino, my great Grandmother's idol).. Love you Uncle Ant, our family's place in Rock and Roll History!!! ps. He was taught the Bass by his brother my Uncle Mel(Carmelo Seragusa) who I believe was also in the band initially... These Musical bloodlines also run into the Young Rascals as well!! Passaic/Garfield New Jersey produced some great music of that era, also including The Shirelles!!!!
So wonderful that this footage survives! What a hot rocking band!
WOW. Great to know! Joey Dee is my grandfather!!
Not many rock and roll bands had an accordion. Gotta love this.
My cousin who was a teenager in this era had an accordion, but it never got any use.
Billy Hailey & The Comets had one also.
Styx? czcams.com/video/K9Qs8-BkiLw/video.html
Gary Lewis and the Playboys had one. Don’t see many though.
This what rock was supposed to be. neighborhood kids playing for the love of music and having tons of fun. and maybe making a few bucks
What are your day jobs? Lead accordion. Instrumentation still with one foot in the Big Band era. Joey Dee (Joseph Di Nicola) earned a place in music history with talent, charm, and the luck of being in the right place at the right time. Rock on Jersey boys.
Vocalist / accordian player Ralph Fazio is the unknown genius of rock and roll!
Oh, ya, there have been many unsung heroes throughout the history of that industry.
Joey Dee still gigging around Florida with his family band.
Oh yea i use to slow dance to this song it all came to a end when I went to rehab
You can walk through time with "Joey Dee is my grandfather" on your sleeve! Wow. Learning the twist back then to his wonderful Peppermint Twist is a milestone in lots of people's personal music history. You rock....
This is the first time that I have seen someone play an accordion in a rock band. I gave them a "like".
Most of Bill Haley's hits featured Johnny Grande's piano, yet when they played live it "became" a piano accordian, and all about the same time as this if not earlier, it seems they were quite common in those days. Great stuff, but that drummer needs medication.
The Del mars are another Rock Band who produced one album in 1961 Tom Purcio played everything including an accordion
A lot of those old east coast groups used accordions. The Voxpoppers and Gary Lewis and The Playboys both had an accordion player.
Check out группа ноль circa 1990 - it's a russian rock legend with accordion playing lead, and he is a genius
@@petrfavorov8246 Will do. Thank you.
The accordion player said "I gotta new dance and it goes like this....click your heels and don't miss, pup du wah puppuppa do wah". Joey Dee said "I think you're on to something"; and the rest is history, maybe.;))
Dude is just yelling over six instruments with no mic. Those are some pipes
Their first, and no doubt their last, TV performance
My late father played accordion with Joe Dee before he joined the Airforce in 1956. His name was Mike Kechula.
regarding the accordion: my 1965 Ampeg Gemini 1 amplifier had an input jack labelled accordion. It also featured Echo, not reverb! Joey is a good guy!
My friend Joey dee ❤❤❤❤❤
Wow, Louis Prima, The Comets, and Joey Dee all in one. A+++
Loved it all especially the SAX nice share thanks.
What is a rock band without an accordion?
Joey Dee & The Starliters came in to a big club in the sticks in Maryland where I played in the house band way back in the early 70s. They were past their glory days, and it was a 6-nite a week gig, but I remember they were pleasant enough professionals who worked pretty hard for crowds who didn't all really know they had been somewhat famous, nationally, for a brief stretch.
Anyway, I''m getting old (late 60s) so Joey must be getting way up there. I hope he's doing OK!
He is 77
David Brigati and his brother Eddie, too. So, all of The Rascals flowed through the group in the days before The Young Rascals.
Link Wray played smalls dives in maryland in the mid-sixties
É muito bom, são excelentes, eu sempre curti o Joey Dee e os Starliters, possuo Disco dos mesmos, etc. maneco - Rio Grande do Sul - Brasil.
Bom gosto, também sou do RS.
In 1956 people were like...WHAT? Awesome performance.
GREAT!!!!!!!!!
Cool, the Peppermint Twist was a BIG DEAL when I was 11 yrs old. Thanx for the memories!
wow I too remember it from that age. Wasn't it wonderful? That Twist came in like a tornado for a coupla years, we lost some weight, and even the parents did it. GREAT MUSIC!
“An alooominum awwwwning installer”. God bless my home state of New Jersey.
JOE PESCI on guitar! HOLY SHIT!
The evolution of a Rock & Roll band. This is great!! Thanks for posting
The guy sitting and standing on that base !!!!*** To cool.
Loved that nonchalant one handed horn playing.
Accordions were extremely popular in the late fifties with the pre-teen~to~teenage set. By 1970 you could buy a quality used one for ten bucks at the flea market. Many found their way to the dump.
Awesome...thanks for this amazing oddity...
wow ! love it a NY guy at that time
Loved it. I think it should have been a big hit. Loved seeing it on video. Thanks for sharing it.
That is not Joe Pesci on the guitar. That however, IS my grandfather on the accordion (Ralph Fazio) and, even HE doesn't remember the name of the song. He THINKS its "Don't Come Barking Up My Tree." I have a few other pictures of the band from this era, as well as one of their business cards. I'll dig them out and post them. :) (Joe Pesci was born in '43--would have been only 13 here...again, not him.)
Chad Fazio , I hope he is well, my first time seeing the clip enjoyed it.
How totally cool
Cool garage band stuff befoe garage band was cool. hardly immortal, but loads of fun. Thanks for posting this gem - I'm still smiling from it....
Respect.
I've noticed a lot of the guys in the bands that appeared on Ted Mack we're Italian Americans
That was pretty awesome !
Joey Dee is your grandfather? Good Heavens can you be proud. The joy of the music they brought is beyond CZcams. I moved my feet, legs and hips to these guys and still do often. Thanks for your post.
This has to be the roughest kick drum of the 50's.
Didn't expect to enjoy this. But I really did. Great tune
awesome !
The result is great....Well done!
I was a seventeen year old sailor, in 1961. I remember going into the place in uniform. 145th St. A dump.
Just amazing. ...gd old days
genuine garage sound
Very nice attempt from these kids!
Y'all act like the Starliters were some two-bit garage band who had their 15 minutes of fame on Amateur Hour then plummeted into obscurity, playing crappy gigs at the CYO. "That guy"? Sheesh. "That guy" is Joey Dee. Have we really forgotten Joey Dee & The Starliters? "Peppermint Twist"? Also, just because someone once played in a band doesn't mean they always did. Joe Pesci and Jimi Hendrix were in grade school when this show aired. For that matter, so was Peter Criss, who also played drums with the Starliters for a brief time.
at first I thought they were playing live because of the rawness but it couldn't be live, anyway, it sure was "raw"
how tall was Joey?
Pretty sure it was live. Ted Mack just made everything seem less live-ly.
Je possède le vinyle de Joe Dee and The Starliters " SHOUT". Super disque.
I must say we Americans certainly had Rock & Roll in the bag during the mighty 50's (Among other things).
Thank you for the info on the identity of the vocalist/accordionist, wfrdmorningguy. I've updated the info field to reflect this. When most of us think of rock 'n' roll the accordion isn't usually the first instrument to come to mind, but I must say your dad's use of the instrument lends an oddly enticing undercurrent to this song! Perhaps the best use of the accordion in rock 'n' roll to date. Well, the only use of accordion in rock 'n' roll, actually...
You lucky Americans! we had nothing like this in the U.K. in1956. Mind you, I was only 11. LOL.
Straight to video
Not bad. The cats are playing from the heart and are not affecting someone else's style.
The sax man is good, although he reminds me of Eddie Munster's older brother.
What is the song? "At My Front Door" originally by The El Dorados? If so, they changed the words. PS: loved the break and the bass player lying on his back
Istash and others,did you know that Chubby Checker is the only singer who had the same song chart #1 in two different years. The Twist went to #1 in 1960 and again in 1961. If you go to any oldies type dance's the people are still doing The Twist, after 56 years The Twist is still around.
Okay, for the Love of Louis, give these darlings the prize, Ted......
That crawl at the bottom screen is nice propaganda, but totally false.
Peppermint Twist did NOT establish the Twist as a national fad.
Joey Dee's song came out in 1961 ... a year AFTER Philadelphian Chubby Checker's "The Twist," made the dance a national fad.
Checker's version was also not the first.
The original version was released by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters in 1959.
Peppermint Twist was a great tune, but it was at least third in line.
Just the facts, please.
Fritzoid64 You know your history.
Fritzoid64
👍 ABSOLUTELY CORRECT
Fritzoid64 your comment is interesting. I thought chubby checker was the first.
The song is a wild blues number - very rare - called 'Don't Come Barking up my Tree.'
HYSTERICAL!
this is so funny because joey dee is my moms uncle
I lived in Passaic. He was our local celebrity.
How tall was Joey?
Is it true he is gay?
wow no wonder there are so many stars burning in the universe, the really know how to light em up!
The peppermint twist was slightly different. A little hop every few beats. It was also a little more upbeat than the original by Chubby Checker it seems.
This is 1950s punk rock before there was punk rock!
Don't forget the Three Chuckles, with Teddy Randazzo on accordion. They appeared in a couple of Alan Freed flicks, and made one of the early ballads that was half rock'n'roll and half Four Aces Italo-pop, "Runaround."
Were they REALLY a band? They were in The Girl Can't Help It, singing some terrible song, Cinnamon Sinner might be the title. Man, it's bad.
Talentous
REALLY NICE TYVM/
Not bad for first attempt and given the onstage sound technology back then with no mixers.
Thanks for posting this, I thought the Peppermint Twist was what launched the Starliters into fame, I guess they were well established by then.
Thanks for posting this. |It's a piece of history. Didin't they evolve into the Rascals in the mid-60s and have a hit with Groovin'?
No, totally different guys but from NJ nevertheless. And a bit later in time.
@@Cissy2cute
The two bands were related.
Jimi Hendrix played with them for a spell.as well as the brigatti bros.&Felix cavilari
&Joe pechi in the early 60s
First integrated band
Some members of the future Rascals were in an incarnation of Joey Dee and the Starlighters.
Anyone have any info about this song?Is it this band's original?- its awsome. Iv'e searched high and low and cannot find any reference to this tune.
Hey John, Ralph Fazio is (was) my Dad. He just passed back on 2/21/22....I recently spoke to Joey Dee, and he mentioned to me that he indeed did write it, it's called "Don't Come Barkin' Up My Tree."
@@chrisgarrett4578 Hey Chris - thanks for replying. I love this song and think is a seminal song for many others that came after it including Elvis. Are there any other versions of this that your dad recorded or you have somewhere. I'd love to hear it!
JOE PESCI PLAYED GITAR FOR JOEY DEE------------TRUE
Passaic, New Jersey!
THE SAX MAN IS JOEY DEE !
Man....what a gas.
I'm guessing this was also their last TV performance. New Jersey.. no surprise there.
You need an education. They went on to have hits, and were on several more TV shows including American Bandstand. They still play today.
Here"s a few more singers and musicians from New Jersey:
Frank Sinatra
Tony Bennett
Bruce Springsteen
Whitney Houston
Dionne Warwick
The Shirelles
Connie Francis
The Four Seasons
The Rascals
Lesley Gore
Paul Robeson
Bon Jovi
Count Basie
Sarah Vaughan
The Isley Brothers
The Smithereens
The Asbury Jukes
Now, what were you saying about New Jersey?
good boys, respectful! this is the way we grew up in he '50's..
Yeah, right, and I suppose Blackboard Jungle and West Side Story are just figments of the writers imagination. Take off the rose colored glasses, dearie.
So you think the entire generation was respectful? Right. And I suppose people like the motorcyclists in The Wild One didn't exist, too.
terry wheatley They were a lot more respectful. Except when it came to black people. Don't get me wrong, I'm no liberal or anything. I just find it funny that a generation of ppl who seemed so respectful and nicely dressed could be so vile and mean to someone based on the color of their skin. But who knows. Maybe it was like it is now, where racism is so heavily exaggerated.
@lstash The accordion was used by The Chuckes in the movie "The Girl Can't Help It" (1956) as well, and even in the '50s, Lawrence Welk would cover some of the rock tunes out there (and had Myron Floren on the accordion). Very cool video!!!
👍👍❤️
Ahh . . . back when the accordion was an indispensable rock and roll instrument. CuffColl.
Joe Pesci was in the band for a period.
this is like rummaging in a bus station ashtray.
Too many instruments, but they learned.
Does the video really belong to 1956 year because the announcer mention s about 1960s combination?🙄
Anyone figure out the name of this song yet?
Were they all playing the same tune?
Hysterical comment
Everything you wrote was already explained in the video's description!
That's hot!
Joey Dee 84 today.
I think Bill Haley's Comets used an accordion too sometimes.
Mah x me é un accozzaglia di suoni !!!
how old was joey at this point?
16.
I loved Ted Mack.. sponsored by Geritol!
Ah, yes the elixir for "tired blood".
Your dad is great!!!
Rock and Roll with an Accordion lead Ahahahahaaah!
Rock n' roll that ...accordion! :-)
The Starlighters weren't alone in it's use. The Chuckles (with Teddy Randazzo) also used the accordion, as did Bill Haley and the Comets.
Of course, so did Weird Al Yankovic!
sabinoson And I think Teddy Randazzo co-wrote Going Out of my Head.
I think that's Joe joe Pesce the actor on the bass guitar, then Jimi Hendrix had taken his spot when he left.
Joe played live with them but not until the mid 60s. This is way earlier
c'est la meme band que les bop kats bizzare