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Cap-Tans

Washington, D.C.-structured R&B group the Cap-Tans shaped in 1948 — in accordance to Marv Goldberg’s profile in the December 1976 problem of Yesterday’s Memories — tenor lead Sherman Buckner, initial tenor Floyd Bennett, second tenor Alfred Slaughter, and baritone Lester Fountain initially teamed as the Buddies, one of the groups managed by regional impresario Lillian Claiborne. Upon support local radio character Paul Chapman on his 1948 D.C. Information label discharge “Coo Coo Jug-Jug,” the Buddies renamed themselves the Cap-Tans; carrying out a second cooperation with Chapman, 1949’s “Goodnight Mom,” the group added business lead Harmon Bethea, an alumnus from the Claiborne-managed religious group the Progressive Four. In early 1950, the Cap-Tans negotiated a fresh cope with Claiborne and partner Winfield Adams, agreeing to record solely for the duo, who then permit the experts to interested brands; the consequence of the deal is among the many fractured and convoluted discographies in the history of postwar R&B, you start with “My My Ain’t She Fairly,” released around the Gotham label that springtime. The record fared therefore badly that Gotham owner Ivin Ballen turned down the Cap-Tans follow-up work “I’m Therefore Crazy for Appreciate” without a lot as a pay attention. The single rather surfaced on Dot in August 1950, and was a big more than enough local strike to motivate the Ravens to pay the tune for Columbia. Dot also released the Cap-Tans’ third one “Chief, Convert the Line on Me” by year’s end, heralding the finish from the group’s tenure using the label. Following the Cap-Tans trim several unreleased edges for King Information, Claiborne struck a fresh cope with Gotham, but as the group documented several periods for the label, only 1 one — 1951’s “Yes” — ever materialized at retail. Lester Fountain was drafted into armed forces service that summertime, necessitating the addition of baritone/guitarist Raymond Audience, as well as the reshuffled Cap-Tans following surfaced before year’s end with “Requesting,” released on Decca’s Coral subsidiary. The discharge proved another industrial flop, and in the springtime of 1953 the Cap-Tans dissolved. Upon coming back from the program that summertime, Fountain persuaded Alfred Slaughter to put together a fresh lineup, nonetheless it as well splintered by the next season. Harmon Bethea, in the mean time, came back to his gospel origins as an associate from the Progressiveaires, documenting a set of singles for the DC label before returning to secular R&B in 1958 using the L’Cap-Tans, an organization offering business lead Lester Britton, 1st tenor Richard Stewart, second tenor Elmo “Chico” Anderson, and guitarist Francis Henry. The L’Cap-Tans released “The Bells Band Out” on Hollywood Information in the springtime of 1958, adding fresh business lead “Baby Jim” Belt towards the lineup before trimming “Research” for DC in 1959. The group (right now composed of Bethea, Belt, tenor Roosevelt “Tippie” Hubbard, and tenor Wayne “Plaything” Walton) reverted to the initial Cap-Tans spelling for 1960s “I’m Scared,” released around the Detroit-based Anna label. The follow-up “Annie Penguin,” released in 1961 on Claiborne’s Hawkeye imprint, was acknowledged to “Wailing Bethea as well as the Cap-Tans.” In the wake of 1963’s “Income Man,” released on another Claiborne-owned label, Loop, Bethea created a completely fresh incarnation from the Cap-Tans offering tenor Johnny Hood, tenor/baritone George Nicholson, baritone Robert Osborn, and keyboardist Paul Earl. “Whenever I Take a look at You” made an appearance that October around the Sabu imprint, adopted two months later on by “You Better Brain.” As the outbreak of Beatlemania pressured older functions to reinvent their music and picture, Bethea and Claiborne brainstormed a unique gimmick: Bethea seems masked while executing using the Cap-Tans, and in 1964 the group also acknowledged its Ru-Jac label discharge “Appreciate Can Do Amazing things” to “The Maskman as well as the Cap-Tans.” The record didn’t sell, but Bethea continued to be smitten using the cover up concept; inspired with the increasing popularity from the Adam Bond series as well as the espionage genre all together, he finally retired the Cap-Tans moniker once and for all, renaming the group Maskman as well as the Agents because of their 1964 Strike Bound discharge “IN MY OWN Diary.” Initiatives for Loop (1966’s “Roaches”), Capability (1967’s “The Globe Is certainly a Cafeteria,”) and Gamma (“There’ll End up being Some Adjustments”) implemented before Bethea finally have scored his first-ever R&B graph strike with 1968’s Dynamo discharge “One Eye Open up.” Using the success of 1969’s “My Pet dog, MY PARTNER, My Kitty,” he briefly fallen the Maskman shtick completely, documenting a small number of single information for Musicor before resuming his alias to cut some middle-’70s singles for Vigor, BBC, and Jan-Jan.

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