The Concords

Formed in 1959 in the Brighton Beach enclave of Brooklyn, New York, USA, the Concords' membership originally teamed Mike Lewis (lead and tenor), Dickie Goldman (lead and tenor), Murray Moshe (baritone), Charles "Chippy" Presti (second tenor) and Steve Seider (bass). Signed by RCA Records, the Concords made their debut with a vocal group standard, "Again". Songwriter Stu Wiener then took them to his father's Gramercy Records label, where they released two singles, "Cross My Heart" and "My Dreams". After losing Goldman and deciding to continue as a quartet, they chose to re-release "Again" on Rust Records in 1962, before finding a more permanent home at Herald Records. Their most successful single, "Marlene", followed, which became a major regional hit in the north-west, and led to them performing in Detroit with the Supremes. However, it was not enough to dampen disquiet in the ranks and the Concords broke up in 1963. Lewis briefly formed the Planets but returned to a reshuffled Concords in 1964, wherein he and Seider were joined by Teddy Graybill (ex-Stardrifts), Sal Tepedino (ex-Travelers) and Bobby Ganz. A new contract with Epic Records led to the release of "Should I Cry", although Lewis and Wiener enjoyed more success with their production of Roddie Joy's "Come Back Baby". A remake of the Quintones' "Down The Aisle Of Love" was the final Concords single in 1966, with only Lewis remaining in the music industry thereafter (principally as a writer and producer).