Cameo Parkway Legacy Gets Boxed

Cameo Parkway Legacy Gets Boxed
New set brings label's vintage '50s, '60s recordings to CD for the first time

By John Sutton-Smith

In a time when the discovery and appreciation of ancient artifacts — from Camelot to King Tut — seems to touch a contemporary nerve, it's only fitting, and certainly none too soon, that more vintage music finally has emerged from the archives of oblivion and litigation.

Cameo Parkway 1957-1967 is the most eagerly awaited label anthology in some time. The four-CD, 115-song set tracks the prolific Philadelphia label, which operated from 1956 to 1968 under the direction of songwriters Bernie Lowe and Kal Mann, who co-wrote Elvis Presley's "Teddy Bear" among others.

Long considered the Holy Grail among music historians, the Cameo Parkway catalog has never been officially released on CD for assorted reasons, mostly legal, and none of these recordings have been available in their original form for many years.

One of the first releases on Cameo was "Butterfly" by whiz-kid guitarist/singer Charlie Gracie, who appeared on the original "Bandstand" show — hosted by Bob Horn in its pre-Dick Clark days — where he was discovered by Lowe.

"We went into the studio in December of '56," remembers Gracie. "The record cost $600 to make and we cut two songs, 'Butterfly' and '99 Ways.' We had a double-sided hit that year, and from December to March of '57, we knocked Elvis out of the box for a couple of weeks and went to No. 1. Then we had another hit with a cut called 'Sideways,' which Paul McCartney did recently. So, from little acorns mighty trees grow."

Lowe, a onetime piano player for orchestra leader Paul Whiteman, and Mann proceeded to record a series of colorful and innovative pop songs over the next several years. An essential ingredient in the success of the label was arranger, songwriter, bandleader and musician Dave Appell.

"I was the engineer when I first started," says Appell. "The first date I did, I had three saxes and a rhythm section, and the studio was the size of a cigar box. The guy that built the studio says to me, 'Listen, see that meter? When it gets up around zero, just leave it there and you won't have any problems.' So I'm starting to record and an hour later, the guy calls me, says, 'How ya doin'?' I said, 'I'm doing OK, but I can't get that needle up to zero.' He says, 'How does it sound?' I said, 'It sounds great.' He said, 'F**k the needle. If it sounds good, that's all you need to know.' That was my first lesson in engineering."

Thanks to its location close to the set of Dick Clark's Philadelphia-based "American Bandstand," Cameo Parkway became a teenage hit factory, churning out dance hits like Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time," the Rays' "Silhouettes," the Dovells' "Bristol Stomp" as well as songs by Bobby Rydell, the Orlons, the Tymes, and of course Chubby Checker.

Checker was originally brought in by Lowe and Mann to cut a musical Christmas card for Dick Clark. It was Clark himself who suggested that Lowe have the singer re-record an obscure dance tune called "The Twist."

"We covered Hank Ballard's 'Twist' because while it was happening down South," Appell says, "it was a little too raucous for 'Bandstand'; they were shaking their booties and everything and it was considered a little wild at the time, so we cut the same song with Chubby." It went to No. 1 twice, first in 1960 and then again in '62. It was also Clark's wife who gave young Ernie Evans his new name of Chubby Checker, "because she used to love Fats Domino," Appell recalls.

Several legendary movers and shakers started out at Cameo Parkway. Kenny Gamble, founder, with Leon Huff, of Philadelphia International Records, was a writer on several songs as was Four Seasons producer Bob Crewe, and even Clint Eastwood, then a regular on the western series Rawhide, got his own single, "Rowdy." The late legendary label owner Neil Bogart also began there, helping to refocus the label on Michigan-area talent, signing Ann Arbor rockers the Rationals and Grand Funk progenitors Terry Knight & The Pack, soon to be followed by Saginaw garage rockers ? & The Mysterians with "96 Tears" and a young Detroit band, Bob Seger And The Last Heard.

The roster expanded to encompass R&B with early efforts by Labelle, the Delfonics and Frankie Beverly, and female doo-wop sounds with Evie Sands and Candy And The Kisses. And, well in advance of most American labels, they licensed UK acts, including early Kinks and pre-Ringo Beatle, Pete Best.

Ultimately, the label hit financial straits, and in 1967 was purchased by onetime Beatles manager Allen Klein and renamed ABKCO.

"I'm thrilled that after 32 years they decided to come out with this box that they held in escrow for so long," says Gracie, who continues to perform regularly on the Jersey shore. "I figured they'd put it out after I'm dead, but luckily I'm still here, so I'm really delighted. Our music has never really gone away. It's the foundation of everything that came after us, you know."