He was a singer-songwriter, often referred to as Jimmy, born in New York. After having served as a member of the New York group, the 4 notes, he became a founding member and first tenor of the Bronx group, The Keynotes, who would later become The Chords in 1951.
They used to sing in the subway station and after having been noticed they were signed to Atlantic Records. They saw chart success just the once, and he has become acclaimed as the co-writer of possibly the first ever rock ‘n’roll/doo-wop song, with their “Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)” which reached No. 5 in the charts.
The group went through name changes over the next five or six years to the Chordcats and the Sh-Booms and released several singles, but they finally disbanded in 1960 and he ran a boutique.
He formed the group the Popular 5 who would also record “Sh-Boom” and record commercials for companies such as Schaefer Beer. He also retained many versions of The Chords going throughout the years and from 1979 they were a regular performer at United in Group Harmony concerts and he was inducted into the United in Group Harmony Hall of Fame as a member of The Chords in 1996.
He did make the point of saying the he had been “in and out of lawsuits” so that he and the other members of the group could claim royalties they were entitled to for “Sh-Boom”.
He died of an aneurysm in 1995 when he was 65 years old.
Big Wheelie & The Hubcaps recordings
Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream) (James Keyes/Carl Feaster/Claude Feaster/Floyd F. McRae/James Edwards)
Sources:
- http://www.musicweb.uk.net/encyclopaedia/c/C127.HTM
- http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:The%20Chords:1927012864?sort=za
- http://members.aol.com/tuneman56/east2.htm
- http://nfo.net/calendar/may22.htm
- http://www.the-faces.com/lane/articles/19891120.htm
- http://home.att.net/~marvart/Champ/champ.html
- http://home.att.net/~uncamarvy/Chords/chords.html