From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Jul 11, 2002  1:13 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Thurston Harris
 
THURSTON HARRIS

Born Thurston Theodore Harris, 11 July 1931, Indianapolis, Indiana
Died 14 April 1990, Pomona, California

Thurston Harris recorded with the Lamplighters, one of the many groups on
the early R&B scene in South Central Los Angeles, in the early '50s. This
group later evolved into the Tenderfoots, then the Sharps, and it was under
this last name they were credited to when they backed up Harris on his
1957 solo hit, "Little Bitty Pretty One" (# 2 R&B and # 6 pop) for Aladdin.
Harris had one other hit the following year, the excellent "Do What You
Did" (# 14 R&B, # 57 pop). But back to the early fifties.
In addition to Harris, the Lamplighters' lineup included former Hollywood
Flame second tenor Willie Ray Rockwell, Matt Nelson and Al Frazier.
They formed in the spring of 1952, shortly after Harris had moved to
California, and began recording for Federal in 1953, with Harris singing
lead most of the time. In spite of the high quality of many of their
recordings, the Lamplighters/Tenderfoots never had a national hit.
In 1957 - and now signed as a solo artist to Aladdin - Harris recorded a
cover version of Bobby Day's "Little Bitty Pretty One," a classic novelty
number, with a solid band featuring the ubiquitous Earl Palmer on drums,
Plas Johnson on tenor sax and his friends the Sharps doing background
vocals. The single propelled Harris immediately to the front-ranks of the
R&B scene, touring with the top names from the era.
Meanwhile, after Harris moved on, the Sharps - now Carl White, Al Frazier,
John "Sonny" Harris, and Turner "Rocky" Wilson Jr. and added Darryl White in
1960 - continued to perform into the early '60s. The name game continued; as
the Sharps, they recorded for Vogue Records (the great "Lock My Heart") and
for a spate of labels, including Two Mikes, Combo, Dot, Jamie, Lamp, Star-Hi,
Win, Chess, Tag, and Aladdin, calling themselves the Rebels, the Four After
Fives, and the Crenshaws (sometimes with Harris, but usually without).
Back again as the Sharps they provided sound effects, handclaps, and vocal
choral treatments on some of Duane Eddy's big hits. Unfortunately, they had
more success with their live appearances in the greater Southern California area
than they did with any of their releases.
In 1962, the Sharps joined up with producers Kim Fowley and Gary Paxton,
who helped reconfigure the group as a black surf novelty act, now calling
themselves the Rivingtons. Under this moniker, they scored a big hit (# 48)
with the immortal "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" for Liberty (1962).
In the eighties, Harris had developed into a good blues singer and got a chance
to record again, but he died of acute alcoholism and heart failure in 1990.

Recommended listening:
Thurston Harris, Little Bitty Pretty One : Complete Early Recordings.
(Plaza CD 502). A Portuguese release from 1995, 35 tracks.
The Lamplighters, Be-Bop Wino (Regency RR-121).
The Lamplighters, Vol. 2 : Bo Peep (Regency RR-130). The liner notes
(by Jim Dawson) for these two CD's are identical.