The King Toppers

Dayton, Ohio R&B vocal group the Ruler Toppers formed in later 1955. Previous highschool classmates Dave Colter (tenor) and Don Turner (baritone) founded the action while going to Central State University, with time adding bass Louis Day time, second tenor Jesse Hines, high tenor Give Kitchings, and lastly guitarist Welton Youthful. Originally dubbed the Corvettes, the group quickly surfaced like a fixture from the Dayton golf club and talent display circuits, and in the fall months of 1956 journeyed to NEW YORK to audition for the Apollo Theater’s famed amateur display. When Hines opted from the trip in the last minute, Youthful was advertised to second tenor responsibilities — even though Apollo gig was successful, the Corvettes didn’t earn best honors but still remained in NY, playing Harlem nightclubs and finally befriending the Orioles’ Aaron “Tex” Cornelius, who helped them wrangle an audition with RCA Victor. The label offered the Corvettes’ demos, so when Colter remaining the lineup to start out a family, the rest of the quartet rechristened themselves the Ruler Toppers, and in past due 1956 cut a program for the Jubilee imprint. Before year’s end, Day time was drafted into army duty, so when Kitchings was pressured to follow match, the Ruler Toppers dissolved within the eve of the first in support of launch, 1957’s “YOU HAD BEEN Looking forward to Me” (released on Jubilee’s Josie subsidiary). Ultimately Young came back to Dayton, developing the duo Dean & Jean with vocalist Brenda Lee Jones and rating a set of Best 40 pop strikes, “Tra La La La Suzy” and “Hey Dean, Hey Jean.”