SUPER HOLLYWOOD: Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge

Johnny Maestro and The Brooklyn Bridge (or simply The Brooklyn Bridge) is an American musical group, best known for their million selling rendition of Jimmy Webb's "The Worst That Could Happen" (1968).New York City-born Johnny Maestro (born John Mastrangelo; May 7, 1939 – March 24, 2010) began his career in 1957 as the original lead singer of The Crests, one of the first interracial groups of the recording industry. Patricia Van Dross, older sister to famed R&B singer Luther Vandross, sang with Johnny Maestro while The Crests were signed to the Joyce Record label. Before The Crests signed with Coed Records, Patricia left the group because her mother didn't want her 15-year old daughter touring with the older guys. After a regional hit with "My Juanita"/"Sweetest One" on the Joyce label, and two years of chart success on Coed Records with "16 Candles", "Six Nights A Week", "Step by Step", "The Angels Listened In", and "Trouble in Paradise", Maestro left The Crests for a solo career. Maestro was unable to reach his former chart heights with The Crests, but did have Top 40 hits with "What A Surprise" and "Model Girl" in 1961.
By 1967, another New York vocal group called The Del-Satins—who had become well-known in the New York area as weekly performers on the local dance party program The Clay Cole Show, had made several non-charting recordings between 1959 and 1967 under their own name, and were also noted for backing up Dion on his post-Belmonts recordings—were looking for a new lead singer to replace original lead Stan Zizka. Other members were brothers Fred and Tom Ferrara (baritone and bass), Les Cauchi (first tenor) and Bobby Faila (second tenor). According to Cauchi, members of the group ran into Maestro at a local gym, playing his guitar, and approached him with the offer to join the group. After initially turning them down, Maestro's manager, Betty Sperber, called Cauchi and told him Maestro had changed his mind.