The Tornados

Charles Sutton, a founding person in the Royals — who changed to the Midnighters in order to avoid misunderstandings using the Five Royales — formed the Tornados when the Midnighters barred his re-entry in the group after an extended illness. Wanting to produce a lineup as effective as the Midnighters, Sutton recruited Stanley Mitchell (tenor), William Weatherspoon (tenor), and Ben Knight (bass). A program for Chess Information produced five edges which Chess released a unitary “Four O’ Time clock each day” b/w “COULD YOU, WOULD YOU,” aka “Hey You,” (both edges compiled by their supervisor Alonzo Tucker) in 1956. The label credit read Stanley Mitchell & the Tornados and it got house condition play (Michigan) but small somewhere else; the three additional sides were by no means released, nor was anything cut at a 1957 or a 1958 program after they terminated Tucker. 1956 wasn’t all harmful to Sutton, he co-wrote the Moonglows’ strike “See Noticed” with Roquel “Billy” Davis and Harry Pratt. A hitch with Bob Western in 1959 led to “Like in YOUR DAILY LIFE,” compiled by Sutton and sometimes-Tornado Robert Spencer, and “Geni [sic] inside a Jug,” compiled by Sutton and Weatherspoon. Western had a family group of brands that included Lupine, Flick, Kudo, Contour, and Bumblebee; the Tornados’ solitary came out within the second option. It seemed an all natural move as West’s A&R Movie director was ex-Royal/Midnighter Sonny Woods, Sutton’s aged road dog. However the Bumblebee offer just lasted one record. They following recorded some edges for Winley Information, notably “Clap Your Hands and Skate,” compiled by Dave Clowney, bka Dave “Baby” Cortez, and Paul Winley, but neither it, nor the additional sides ever noticed the light of time as well as the Tornados disbanded. Sutton attempted an unsuccessful songwriting profession with Correct Build Records. Weatherspoon produced a splash with Motown in the ’60s being a songwriter/manufacturer, credit scoring mightily with Jimmy Ruffin via “What’s Become from the Brokenhearted,” co-written with Adam Dean and arranger Paul Riser. He also added to Holland-Dozier-Holland’s Invictus/Scorching Wax brands in the ’70s. Mitchell and Knight combined in to the nine to five globe and were hardly ever heard from once again.