View source for The Crew-Cuts

{{Short description|1950s Canadian pop and doo wop band}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2008}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name            = The Crew-Cuts
|background      = group_or_band
|image           = File:The Crew Cuts 1957.JPG
|caption         = The group in 1957: Pat (left), Rudi (top right), Johnny (center), and Ray (bottom)
|origin          = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada
|genre           = [[Traditional pop]], [[doo-wop]], [[big band]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Pop_Encyclopedia/C/Crew_Cuts.html |title=CANOE - JAM! Music - Pop Encyclopedia - Crew Cuts |publisher=Jam.canoe.ca |date= |accessdate=2015-08-17 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120717191834/http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Pop_Encyclopedia/C/Crew_Cuts.html |archivedate=2012-07-17}}</ref>
|years_active    = 1952–1964
|label           = [[Mercury Records|Mercury]], [[RCA Victor Records|RCA Victor]], Camay
|website         = 
|past_members    = Rudi Maugeri<br/>John Perkins<br/>Ray Perkins<br/>Pat Barrett
}}

'''The Crew-Cuts''' (sometimes spelled '''Crew Cuts''' or '''Crewcuts''') were a [[Canadians|Canadian]] [[human voice|vocal]] and [[Doo-wop|doowop]] quartet, that made a number of [[popular music|popular]] records that charted in the [[United States]] and worldwide.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=320}}</ref> They were most famous for their [[sound recording and reproduction|recording]] of [[The Chords (American band)|The Chords]]' [[hit record]], "[[Sh-Boom]]".<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book
| first= Joseph
| last= Murrells
| year= 1978
| title= The Book of Golden Discs
| edition= 2nd
| publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd
| location= London
| page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/68 68]
| isbn= 0-214-20512-6
| url-access= registration
| url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/68
}}</ref>

The Crewcuts along with The Four Lads and The Diamonds were an inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame in 1984. All the originals were on stage.

==Group members==
* Rudi Maugeri (''né'' Rudolph Peter Maugeri; January 27, 1931 – May 7, 2004) (lead and baritone)
* John Perkins (born August 28, 1931) (lead and tenor)
* Ray Perkins (born November 24, 1932) (bass) (John Perkins' brother)
* Pat Barrett (September 15, 1933 – July 27, 2016) (lead and tenor)<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs"/>

==Biography==
They all had been members of the [[St. Michael's Choir School]] in [[Toronto]],<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs"/> which also spawned another famous quartet, [[The Four Lads]]. Maugeri, John Perkins, and two others (Bernard Toorish and Connie Codarini) who later were among the Four Lads first formed a group called ''The Jordonaires'' (not to be confused with a similarly named group, [[The Jordanaires]], that was known for singing backup vocals on [[Elvis Presley]]'s hits) and also ''The Otnorots'' ("Toronto" spelled backwards being "Otnorot"), but they split from the group to finish high school. When the Four Lads returned to Toronto for a homecoming concert, John Perkins and Maugeri ran into each other and decided that they could themselves have a musical future. They joined with Barrett and Ray Perkins in March 1952. The group was originally called ''The Four Tones'' (not to be confused with [[The Four Tunes]], a group on the borderline between pop music and [[rhythm and blues]]).

A Toronto disk jockey, Barry Nesbitt, put them on his weekly teen show, whose audience gave the group a new name, ''The Canadaires.'' All four of the members were at the time working at jobs with the [[Ontario]] government, but quit their jobs to sing full-time. They worked clubs in the [[Niagara Falls, Ontario|Niagara Falls]], [[Ontario]], and Niagara Falls, New York area, but saved up their money and drove to [[New York City]], so they could appear on [[Arthur Godfrey]]'s [[television]] and [[radio]] program, ''[[Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts|Talent Scouts]],'' where they came in second to a comedian. While they did get a record with Thrillwood Records and recorded a song titled "Chip, Chip Sing A Song Little Sparrow", this led to no improvement in their fortune, however, and they continued playing minor night clubs.

In March 1953, they returned to Toronto and appeared as an opening act for [[Gisele MacKenzie]] at the Casino Theatre. She was impressed with them and commented favorably to her record label, but could not remember the group's name.

They were playing in a [[Greater Sudbury|Sudbury]], [[Ontario]], night club in a sub-zero Canadian winter when they received notice that they had been invited to appear as a guest on a [[Cleveland]] television program. They drove 600 miles in -40° temperatures to appear on the Gene Carroll show, where they remained for three appearances. While in Cleveland, they met local disc jockey [[Bill Randle]].<ref name="Larkin50">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2002|edition=Third|isbn=1-85227-937-0|page=91}}</ref> On his show, on Cleveland radio station [[WJMO|WERE (1300&nbsp;AM)]], he coined the name that would, from that point on, belong to the group. In addition, Randle arranged for them to audition with [[Mercury Records]], who liked them enough to sign the quartet to a contract.<ref name="Larkin50"/>

Although their first hit, "Crazy 'Bout You, Baby", was written by Maugeri and Barrett themselves, they quickly became specialists in [[cover version|cover]] recordings of originally-R&B songs.<ref name="Larkin"/> Their first cover, "Sh-Boom" (of which the R&B original was recorded by [[The Chords (American band)|The Chords]]) hit number one on the U.S. charts in 1954.<ref name="Larkin50"/> It sold over a million copies.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs"/> A number of other hits followed including "[[Earth Angel]]" which rose to the number 2 spot on the charts and had great success in the UK and Australia.<ref name="Larkin50"/> Many of the non-cover songs of theirs that became hits in [[Canada]] were unknown in the [[United States]], while it was only their covers that had great success in the United States.

In the week beginning 19 September 1955, they played six nights at [[Liverpool Empire]], in [[Liverpool, United Kingdom]]. A 12-year-old [[George Harrison]] was among the crowd on one of those nights, and a 13-year-old [[Paul McCartney]] got an autograph from them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lewisohn |first=Mark |author-link= |date= |title=The Beatles - All These Years - Extended Special Edition: Volume One: Tune In |url= |location=London |publisher=Little, Brown |page=226-227 |isbn=978-1-4087-0478-3}}</ref>

The group moved from Mercury to [[RCA Records]] in 1958 and eventually broke up in 1964,<ref name="Larkin50"/> but they all moved to the U.S. and reunited in [[Nashville, Tennessee]], in 1977. In the 1990s they were inducted into the [[Juno Hall of Fame]]. In recent years, the three remaining members (Rudi Maugeri died in 2004) appeared on a [[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service]] special filmed at [[Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City]]'s Trump Taj Mahal. The program, "Magic Moments: The Best of '50s Pop", continues to air as part of the fundraising efforts for PBS.

A remix of their version of the song "Sh-Boom" was featured in the credits of the video game ''[[Destroy All Humans!]]''. The original recording of their song "Sh-Boom" can  also be heard on one of the in-game radio stations in ''[[Mafia II]]''.

In later years, Rudi Maugeri became a music director of one of the music syndication companies, Radio Arts in [[Burbank, California]]. The company supplied music on ten-inch reels of audiotape for use in radio station automation systems and for "Live Assist" use, around the world. Maugeri selected and issued a playlist every week for the company. His record of picking hit songs for syndication was in the upper 90% and record promoters had Radio Arts on their list of 'must see' companies because Radio Arts provided music to hundreds of stations weekly. Interviewed in 1979 on the syndicated radio show ''ShBoom Radio Show'', Maugeri was quoted, "We came along at a time when the big bands were almost finished and we were the new... and yet we toured with [[Ralph Marterie]]'s big band as the opening act and were quite well accepted by both the adults and the teens of the day. It wasn't until we hit the charts with "Crazy 'Bout Ya Baby" that the teens adopted us as their own and after that tour we became the headliners."{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

==Discography==
===Singles===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Single
! colspan="5"|Chart positions
|-
! <small>[[Billboard Hot 100|US]]</small>
! <small>[[Cashbox (magazine)|CB]]</small>
! <small>[[UK Singles Chart|UK]]</small>
! <small>[[Kent Music Report|AU]]</small>
! <small>[[Ultratop |BE]]</small>

|-
||1953
|"Twinkle Toes"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|rowspan="5"|1954
|"The Barking Dog"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|19
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"I Spoke Too Soon"
| style="text-align:center;"|24
| style="text-align:center;"|49
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"Crazy 'Bout Ya Baby"
| style="text-align:center;"|8
| style="text-align:center;"|11
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"Oop Shoop"
| style="text-align:center;"|13
| style="text-align:center;"|13
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|8
|-
|"[[Sh-Boom]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|1
| style="text-align:center;"|1
| style="text-align:center;"|12
| style="text-align:center;"|1
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
|rowspan="15"|1955
|"[[The Whiffenpoof Song]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"[[Earth Angel]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|3
| style="text-align:center;"|2
| style="text-align:center;"|4
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"[[Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|6
| style="text-align:center;"|3
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|13
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
|"[[Two Hearts, Two Kisses (Make One Love)|Two Hearts, Two Kisses]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|9
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"Chop Chop Boom"
| style="text-align:center;"|flip
| style="text-align:center;"|41
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"Carmen's Boogie"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|42
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|4
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"[[Angels in the Sky (Dick Glasser song)|Angels in the Sky]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|11
| style="text-align:center;"|10
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|36
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"[[Don't Be Angry]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|14
| style="text-align:center;"|9
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"[[A Story Untold]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|16
| style="text-align:center;"|14
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"Song of the Fool"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|46
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"[[Gum Drop (song)|Gum Drop]]" b/w "Present Arms"
| style="text-align:center;"|10
| style="text-align:center;"|10
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|25
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"Slam Bam"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|48
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"[[Are You Havin' Any Fun?]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|49
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"[[Unchained Melody]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"[[Mostly Martha (song)|Mostly Martha]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|31
| style="text-align:center;"|33
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|rowspan="6"|1956
|"Seven Days" b/w "That's Your Mistake"
| style="text-align:center;"|18
| style="text-align:center;"|21
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"[[Tell Me Why (1956 song)|Tell Me Why]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|45
| style="text-align:center;"|38
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"[[Bei Mir Bistu Shein|Bei Mir Bist Du Schon]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"Out of the Picture"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|49
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"Love in a Home"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"The Halls of Ivy"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|rowspan="6"|1957
|"[[Young Love (1956 song)|Young Love]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|17
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"Whatever, Whenever, Whoever"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"[[Susie Q (song)|Susie Q]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"I Sit in the Window"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"I Like It Like That"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"Be My Only Love"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
||1958
|"Hey, Stella (Who Zat Down Your Cellar?)"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|82
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|85
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|rowspan="2"|1959
|"[[Over the Mountain; Across the Sea|Over the Mountain]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|-
|"The Legend of Gunga Din"
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
| style="text-align:center;"|-
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Pop music|Canada}}
*[[Music of Canada]]
*[[Canadian Music Hall of Fame]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://doowopheaven.blogspot.de/2015/03/the-crew-cuts-part-1.html The Crew-Cuts at Doo Wop Heaven]
* Crew-Cuts page on [http://blackcat.nl/references/messages/crew_cuts.htm Black Cat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724145524/http://blackcat.nl/references/messages/crew_cuts.htm |date=2011-07-24 }}
* {{discogs artist|The Crew Cuts}}
* {{imdb name|1505800}}
* [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-crew-cuts-emc Article at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca]
* [https://canadianbands.com/artists/crew-cuts/ Article at canadianbands.com]

{{Canadian Music Hall of Fame}}

{{The Crew-Cuts}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crew-Cuts, The}}
[[Category:Musical groups established in 1952]]
[[Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1964]]
[[Category:Canadian pop music groups]]
[[Category:Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Doo-wop groups]]
[[Category:Traditional pop music singers]]
[[Category:Mercury Records artists]]
[[Category:RCA Victor artists]]
[[Category:Vee-Jay Records artists]]
[[Category:Chess Records artists]]
[[Category:Musical groups from Toronto]]
[[Category:1952 establishments in Ontario]]
[[Category:1964 disestablishments in Ontario]]