TOUR NOTES BIOGRAPHIES
Lee Andrews & The Hearts
Lee Andrews & The Hearts charted three hits in the span of a single year (1957-1958)! "Long Lonely Nights", "Teardrops" and "Try the Impossible" and hit the R&B Charts, with "Teardrops" being their biggest hit, charting at #4.
Lee Andrews (born Arthur Lee Andrew Thompson) was raised in Goldsboro, NC. In 1952, Lee Andrews began singing with four friends: Royalston "Roy" Calhoun, Thomas "Butch" Curry, James "Jimmy" McCalister and John Young. The quintet initially called themselves "The Dreams" and later, "The Dreamers".
By Spring of that year, the quintet traveled to New York to Rainbow Records to cut two sides. It was here they learned that there was already an act called “The Dreamers” and Jimmy McCalister came up with "The Hearts". After figuring out how Lee would change up his name, he settled with his two middle names and the group was officially dubbed, "Lee Andrews and the Hearts".
From 1954 to 1957, Lee Andrews & The Hearts suffered a series of bad luck and poor public response to their releases. After moving around through various labels, they were picked up by the new Mainline label and released "Long Lonely Nights" which, finally, found a new audience. Unfortunately, other record labels, such as Atlantic Records, decided to have their own artists record and release the same songs, causing the Lee Andrews version to slide down the charts.
In November 1957, however, the Hearts released, "Teardrops" (picked up nationally by Chess distribution) and charted at its peak at number 20 on the pop charts, but by January 1958 it moved to the R&B Charts and hit number four.
After being shortchanged by Chess Distribution, Lee Andrews & The Hearts moved to United Artists and released their final charted song "Try The Impossible". It charted number 33 on the pop charts, but the group never again charted on the R&B Charts.
After touring the rest of the year, the band broke apart and Lee Andrews went on to a solo career. Those that remained called themselves “The Five Hearts”. Unfortunately, all musicians would never achieve the small success they had for the one year in their career.
Read more about Lee Andrews & The Hearts at: http://members.aol.com/tuneman56/east2.htm
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