Well, She's So Toooough....That's Why I Love Her... Love Her..... That was the opening line of a great record that came over the airwaves in late 1957. The first version of it was actually by a group called the Casuals, soon re-named the Original Casuals. Within two weeks of the Casuals record being reviewed by the trade papers, the Kuf-Linx brought their own version out for a listen. You could hear both versions on your local radio station, though the west coast DJ's picked up the Kuf-Linx record a bit more than the east coasters. The Casuals record peaked at #42, while the Kuf-Linx got up to #76. Both were good sellers, but neither group was able to get back on the Billboard charts with a follow-up. The Kuf-Linx are not an easy group to follow. Nor is the song So Tough, especially since there were at least three different groups that sang the song, and close spellings of the same group. The Kuf-Linx consisted of John Jennings (lead tenor), Johnny Woodson (tenor), Gaines Steele (tenor), George (Biggie) McFadden (bass), Leo Z. Manley, Darrell Johnson, and Gwen Johnson. Jennings and McFadden had been in the Jubalaires in the mid-40s. L.Z. Manley was a well-known gospel lead singer, who had been with the Heavenly Gospel Singers and the Stars Of Harmony. Gaines Steele, younger brother of gospel great Silas Steele, sang with Detroit-area gospel groups and a West Coast Ink Spots group (with Clifford Givens); in the mid-60s, he was a member of the 4 Tunes. Gwen Johnson was a Los Angeles session backup singer singer. This basic group consisting of a whopping seven members, likely recording as John Woodson and the Crescendos on the Spry label. That group was not related to the Nasco group called the Crescendos. The Spry label group actually waxed "All That's Good", which also appeared in a re-recorded, hotter version on the "B" side of the Kuf-Linx last recording. That is the easy explanation. Then there were the Cuff Links that recorded for Dootone and had a hit with Guided Missiles. The record changed over to Dooto midstream because of a legal issue. They went on to record their version on So Tough on Dooto, and then it quickly disappeared. There are other groups involved, and for the complete explanation, visit
Marv Goldberg's web page. The picture, below right, and some text shown here are from him