1955

SPEEDOO * THE CADILLACS * JOSIE 785 * USA

The group formed around 7th and 8th Avenues up on 131st street New York, originally calling themselves The Carnations, and, like the Tams with their headgear, they would wear a carnation flower in the buttonhole of their lapel. Renamed by their manager Esther Navarro The Cadillacs became the first group to be known of with a car name, effectively ending the run of naming groups after birds, the so called 'Bird' groups of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Speedoo was released in October 1955 and within two months it was a smash hit, reaching number seventeen on the Pop charts and #3 on R&B. Speedoo was the fifth of some twenty four releases for Josie the last coming out in 1963.


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