The Four Lads Biography, Photos and Posters

The Four Lads

Biography

Started: 1950
City and Country of Origin: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Music Background: St. Michael's Choir School
Awards:
Top Recordings: "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," "Moments to Remember," "No, Not Much," "Standin' on the Corner," "The Bus Stop Song"
The Four Lads Biography: The Four Lads were a 1950s Canadian singing group. They grew up together in Toronto, Ontario, and were members of St. Michael's Choir School, where they learned to sing. The founding members were Corrado "Connie" Codarini, bass; John Bernard "Bernie" Toorish (born March 2, 1931), lead; James F. "Jimmy" Arnold, (January 4, 1932-June 15, 2004) first tenor; and Frank Busseri, baritone and group manager. Codarini and Toorish had formed a group with two other St. Michael's students, Rudi Maugeri and John Perkins, who were later to become founding members of another group, The Crew-Cuts.

The group was known variously as The Otnorots (a name taken from the name "Toronto" spelled backwards) and The Jordonaires (not to be confused with The Jordanaires, that sang background vocals on Elvis Presley's hits). When Maugeri and Perkins left the group to concentrate on their schoolwork, Codarini and Toorish joined with Arnold and Busseri in a new quartet. At home, they practiced until they achieved their clean-cut harmonies, whether for spirituals, sacred music, or pop. They originally called themselves The Four Dukes but found out that a Detroit group already used that name, so changed to The Four Lads. In 1950 they began to sing in local clubs and soon were noticed by scouts. Recruited to go to New York, they were noticed by Mitch Miller, who asked them to do backup for some of the artists he recorded. One, at that time, unknown artist Johnnie Ray, had a major hit with "Cry" and "The Little White Cloud that Cried" with the Four Lads singing backup. This made them well known.

Their first eponomous single was The Mocking Bird on Columbia's Okeh label, released in 1952, with I May Hate Myself in the Morning on the B-side. The Mocking Bird was rerecorded for release on the Columbia label twice in subsequent years in the 1950s.

In 1953 they made their own first gold record, "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", which launched them to stardom and kept them busy throughout the 50s and 60s in the USA and Canada. Today, a reconstituted group, with original singer Frank Busseri, sings to the nostalgia crowds.

Their most famous hit was "Moments to Remember" in 1955, and their next best known was "Standin' on the Corner" in 1956. A gospel album with Frankie Laine took them back to their roots and produced the hit single "Rain, Rain, Rain."

Jimmy Arnold died of lung cancer in Sacramento, California at the age of 72.

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