The Diamonds

The Diamonds were a Canadian quartet of the 1950s and early 1960s who rose to prominence performing cover versions of songs by black musicians. The original members were: Dave Somerville-Lead, Ted Kowalski-Tenor, Phil Levitt-Baritone, and Bill Reed-Bass.

History

In 1953, Dave Somerville was working as a sound engineer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in Toronto, Canada. One of the shows produced at the C.B.C. was "Now’s Your Chance", a local talent show. He noticed four gentlemen practicing in the hall way for that show, and stopped to listen. After exchanging amenities, Somerville convinced the four, in his opinion, they were not ready for the competition and offered to be their manager. This group was Stan Fisher, Ted Kowalski, Phil Levitt, and Bill Reed. They agreed and for the next several months Somerville provided tutoring and got practice time in un-occupied studios at the C.B.C. That Christmas, the group was to sing for a Christmas party at a local church. That date conflicted with studies for a law exam of Stan Fisher, the lead singer and Fisher decided he needed the study time. Since Somerville knew all the songs, he took Fisher’s place. The audience reaction to the Dave Somerville lead group was so tremendous, the group that night decided to go professional. In one fateful decision Fisher decided to stay in law school and not continue with the group. Dave Somerville became the permanent lead and that was the night The Diamonds were born.

By 1955, while practicing their craft, all members of the group had left college, and or jobs, to sing full time. They were introduced to professional musician, Nat Goodman, who became their manager. At this point, their career started to move quickly. Goodman got the Diamonds on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Show, which resulted in a tie with another contestant. With the prize of being guest artist for a week on Godfrey’s show, this led to a recording contract with Coral Records. Coral released four songs, the most notable being "Black Denim Trousers & Motorcycle Boots", a cover recording originally by The Cheers. The Diamonds' version sold a few thousand copies which was only enough to get them a little local recognition.

The next big step was an audition with Cleveland D. J., Bill Randall, who was responsible for aiding the success of some popular groups, such as The Crew Cuts. Randall was impressed with the Diamonds and introduced them to Mercury Records who signed the group to a recording contract. In this time of history, black artists were not played on white radio stations. Mercury Records, as well as other major record companies, were designating white artists to cover the recordings of black artists for the purpose of expanding their listening audience.

The Diamonds’ first recording for Mercury was “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”, a cover of The Teenagers’ version. They also covered songs by such artists as The Clovers, The Willows, and The Heartbeats. Their biggest hits were 1957's "Little Darlin'" (originally by The Gladiolas) and 1958's "The Stroll", which was an original song written for the group by Clyde Otis, and came from an idea by Dick Clark. Although they were signed to do "rock & roll", Mercury also paired them with Pete Rugolo in one of his "Meet" series. The album entitled "The Diamonds Meet Pete Rugolo" allowed The Diamonds to return to their roots and do some established standards. The group sang “Little Darlin” and “Where Mary Go” in the movie, “The Big Beat”, and sang the theme song for another film, “Kathy-O”. They had many television appearances, including Steve Allen, Perry Como, Vic Damone, Tony Bennett, Paul Winchell, and American Bandstand.

By 1961, all original members had left the group and been replaced. With the ever changing style of rock & roll and their Mercury contract over, the Diamonds continued touring the country. At one time there were at least two groups performing under the Diamonds' name. This obviously created an issue that had to be settled in court. The ruling determined who legally owned the Diamonds' name and fortunately allowed the original four to use the name a few times each year.

The Diamonds received national attention once again in 2000, when the original members were invited to sing in TJ Lubinsky’s PBS production of “Do-Wop 51”, and again in another PBS production of “Magic Moments-The Best Of '50s Pop” in 2004.

Members

Dave Somerville - Lead / Replaced by Jim Malone 1961
Ted Kowalski - Tenor / Replace by Evan Fisher 1959
Phil Levitt - Baritone / Replace by Mike Douglas 1957
Bill Reed - Bass (d 2004) / Replaced by John Felten 1959

Discography

Original recordings

America's Number One Singing Stylists
Meet Pete Rugolo
America's Famous Song Stylists
Pop Hits
Songs From The Old West
Laughs, Singing, Laughs (Nat Goodman Produced-Private Label)

Compilations

The Best of the Diamonds: The Mercury Years
Little Darlin'—25 Golden Hits
Scrapbook of Golden Hits
Hall of Fame
Best of the Diamonds (Rhino)

Charted Hits By Billboard

Why Do Fools Fall In Love – Debut on 02/18/56, Peaked at #12
The Church Bells May Ring – Debut on 04/21/56, Peaked at #14
Love, Love, Love – Debut 06/23/56, Peaked at #30
Ka-Ding-Dong – Debut on 09/08/56, Peaked at #35
Soft Summer Breeze – Debut on 09/22/56, Peaked at #34
Little Darlin’ – Debut on 03/16/57, Peaked at #2 for 8 weeks (GOLD)
Words Of Love – Debut on 06/24/57, Peaked at #13
Zip Zip – Debut on 08/26/57, Peaked at #16
Silhouettes – Debut on 11/04/57, Peaked at #10
The Stroll – Debut on 12/30/57, Peaked at #4 (GOLD)
High Sign – Debut on 04/14/58, Peaked at #37
Kathy-O – Debut on 07/28/58, Peaked at #16
Happy Years – Debut on 08/04/58, Peaked at #73
Walking Along – Debut on 10/27/58, Peaked at #29
She Say (Oom Dooby Doom) – Debut on 01/26/59, Peaked at #18
One Summer Night - Debut 07/03/61, Peaked at #22

Trivia

Dave Somerville is a descendant of Charlemagne. In the year 1100, another relative, Gualter Somerville, is credited as killing the last dragon in Scotland.
Phil Levitt’s last name is commonly misspelled as “Leavitt”
Bill Reed was chased by a bear on the Paul Winchell Show.
The Diamonds thought the song “Faithful & True”, the flip side of Little Darlin’, would be the hit.
The Diamonds credit a black gospel group, The Revelaires, out of Detroit, as the major influence on their singing.

External link

Diamonds photos and history

Canadian musical groups | Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees