Records Of Mystery And Unknown Recordings

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You are out record hunting and stumble across a record by a group you have never heard of, on a record label you have never seen before. You come home, slap it on the turntable, and listen. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it is just so-so. Worse yet, sometimes it's Country Western! You go to your most trusted reference book. Then another, and and another.Then you search the Internet. No luck.Then you place it on your mystery artists page, and hope someone else knows about it. Please email me if you have any information on the artist and or label.



Jimmy Cicero. He recorded this record on the Legend label, but there is scant information available, until now. In the dead wax, it appears to be etched "Service Sound Lab". Dantes BMI is not completely helpful, and a check of the BMI database did not return the publisher. It did return 4 titles that Cicero registered and wrote, but not these two. Is this the same guy that recorded Susie Q on the Penthouse label? Yes it is. Is it the guy that is playing jazz piano in Thailand? Yes it is, and he has been living their for over seven years! How about the Jimmy Cicero that played prominently in the San Francisco bay area? Yep, same guy! "I Got My Eyes On You Baby" and "Sherry" are the two sides. Jimmy contacted me and gave me the following information. The record above was his first record, and he believes he recorded it in Oakland. He became serious about Jazz at age 18, and got into the music. Still plays it today. He had the chance to tour with Chuck Berry, Rick Nelson, and Carlos Santana. From Jimmy's resume: "My repertoire is American Songbook, Jazz, Bossas, Sophisticated Pop, Romantic Ballads, and Show Tunes. I can work acoustically but I normally work with a Sequencer that provides tasteful and soft backup.". No longer a mystery to us, I will keep this page in this location so others can see the updates.

I don't have a clue who this is or anything about the label. Looks like it is the first issue on 007 records, and is a doo wopish ballad. The flip, "Lonely Fool" is an up tempo, pleasing song by the group. Listen to "Beggar Of Love"!

So it's not even close to doo wop! But darn interesting to me.The rarest 45 RPM on the National label is the Ravens, "Count Every Star", issue 9111. I have several of the National label 45's including Barton's 9109 release. I always thought they were rare, just not valuable like the Ravens record. Then I ran across this. An orange Vinyl National 45 from 1951. Not a boot, but I have never seen National 45's on colored vinyl. I wonder if it was also released on black vinyl, and just how many others were pressed on orange or other colored vinyl?

It's not doo wop, and it's not rockabilly. It's somewhere in between. Fitzgerald tries to lean towards rock and roll, and includes a vocal chorus in the background. I do know that the label is out of Hollywood and was owned by Harry Bluestone. I don't know who W.C. Fitzgerald is, or if it was ever pressed on black wax. The only two I have seen were as shown on blue wax. This appears to be from 1956. Listen to W.C. Fitzgerald "Take A Hold Of My Hand"! Click on the picture for a full view.

From Cameron Fahey of Sydney, Australia, who has the Australian release and promo material from the Leedon label: Born in Dallas, Texas in 1938, William Fitzgerald was signed to May records in the US, then to Blue Mill where he recorded this single only a few months ago. Fitzgerald enjoyed the success of his first single, "Where's The Umbrella, Sarah?" in 1955 which was released in Australia on Coral and reached the Sydney2UE Top 40 at number 12. This record is yet to take off but is receiving pretty steady airplay at the time of typing. Be on the look out for future William Fitzgerald recordings - He's a cool cat! Record released in Australia March 1957, originally released on Blue Mill, USA in 1956.

Further from Cameron: I remember "Take A Hold Of My Hand" was played a lot in the local Sydney area, and made the 2SM Top 80, and was also covered by local Sydney Rock'n'roll outfit Vic Sabrino, released on Pacific records.

WOW! Seems like he had more spins down under than in the USA. Now we know a bit more about William Fitzgerald!

Further, a check on the BMI site shows the writer of the song as Carl Fitzgerald. That couldn't possibly be the same one that has the show "Remember When"? I don't think he was from Dallas, if the promo notes were correct. And, I think he was born in 1931-ish and was a DJ on WMOX.