Presenting .... (drum roll...)
The Original Villagers
Listen to the"Bye-Bye JJ" recording .. link at the end of this page
Click on the above "Thumbnail" photos to get a larger version.
Pictured in the photo on the left are, left to right: Mel Sinclair and Larry Carver in front with Ken Sparks on Keyboard in the background, between Mel and Larry. To the right, also in white pants is Kenny Royster, guitar, and Jimmy Kirby on drums in background.
Pictured in the 2nd photo on the left, left side is Curt Bradford, vocalist with "others" unidentified.
Pictured in the 3rd photo, right side of page, left to right is: Larry Williams and Larry Carver on sax (Larry Williams is the playing the sax solo on the recording), Mel Sinclair-trumpet, Kenny Royster-guitar, Curt Bradford-singing lead, Wayne Reed, backup vocalist, and a few others!
These photos were taken at the Purple Parrot, Panama City, Florida, probably at about 2:00 a.m.
The 'Original' Villagers, a late 60's Beach Band hailing from upstate South Carolina. They were a popular Beach and College circuit group consisting of 8 young white boys from small cotton mill towns in South Carolina. They were the favorite with many of the black groups touring the South in those days. The 'Original' Villagers were the choice of these singing groups as a backup band for their performances at colleges and nightclubs in South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. On many occasions, the Villagers were the music you heard behind The Platters, The Drifters, The Tams and others while performing their own shows when they weren't backing those groups at places like Panama City, Fl,., Myrtle Beach South Carolina and every major University in the 6 state area. Even though they did visit the recording studio on several occasions, they were never lucky enough to find that one magic 'hit' that it takes to push a band into the major market. I hope you enjoy listening to The 'Original' Villagers. a band from the past.
Ken Sparks, Keyboard, back-up singer
I'd like to add to what Ken has written above. The Original Villagers were unique indeed. Let's start with our transportation. We traveled in a pink hearse. There are quite a few stories about that vehicle. The members were good friends and respected each person's talents. Ken mentions our role as a back-up band. We also backed up the Showmen in Tennessee. We played on the same set as the Pieces of Eight, a band that started with the original break-up of the Swinging Medallions. the Medallions had the national hit tune "Double Shot (of my Baby's Love)". We played a lot of "soul" music, rhythm and blues, and popular hits. We were "the" band for many fraternities and sororities in the southeast. The University of Georgia was a frequent place to play. The Original Villagers were popular among the country clubs and private parties as well. When playing to a "more mature" audience, wee played a "little different" type of music with a lot of the old standards being played. The band was quite versatile. We had great experiences and many of us bonded as if we were brothers. These were a bunch of clean cut fellows who performed well, enjoyed life, and didn't leave the crowd unhappy. Oh, for those good ole days. ha-ha!
Listen to the song (Instrumental). Do you want to hear one of our original songs? Click here for Bye-bye JJ. I apologize for the distortion. It sounds much better from my hard drive, but very distorted over the web. It's just gotta be the recording .... the band sounded great! <g>
FYI, if you want to download the song, go to the following link,
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/2/theoriginalvillagersmusic.htm
and look for "Your Vote", then click on "Hot"
or "Flop" .... we hope that you select "Hot". You'll get a pop up window
and then click on "download MP3". That's all there is to it. It's
about a 2.7 meg file, so depending upon your connection, it may take a while.
With Cable it took 1 second.
We'll try to get some other recordings on this site, if we can find and convert
them.
Mel Sinclair, Trumpet, back-up singer