(Joe Josea [Joe Bihari] - Marvin Phillips)
Australia
A familiar song from Daddy Cool’s live repertoire, on the band’s first album Daddy Who? Daddy Cool! This version is a dip o’ the lid to the Marvin & Johnny original rather than Skip & Flip’s pop version.
Cherry Pie is one of those old songs that were at the heart of Daddy Cool’s appeal: see also I’ll Never Smile Again, Baby Let Me Bang Your Box and Daddy Cool (the song).
Daddy Cool’s biggest hit was an original, Eagle Rock, Australia’s #1 single of 1971.
Further reading: 1. Daddy Cool history at Milesago. 2. DaddyCool.com.au
(Joe Josea [Joe Bihari] - Marvin Phillips)
USA
#11 USA
Skip & Flip were the multi-talented Gary Paxton and Skip Battin, both of whom had varied careers in several areas of the music industry.
Clyde “Skip” Battin (1934-2003) had stints with the 1970s Byrds, New Riders of the Purple Sage and The Flying Burrito Brothers.
Gary Paxton (“Flip”, b. 1938), a producer, songwriter and performer, had a hand in mumerous classic oldies, including The Hollywood Argyles’ Alley Oop, Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s Monster Mash, Tommy Rowe’s Sweet Pea and The Association’s Along Comes Mary and Cherish.
Further reading: 1. Wikipedia entries on Skip & Flip, Skip Batten and Gary Paxton. 2. Gary Paxton’s official site. 3. Skip Batten discography by Richard Russell and Raoul Verolleman 4. Skip Batten and Skip & Flip discography at StarCluster.de.
This is the best-known remake of Cherry Pie, but there are many others. See the list at 45cat .com. (A few of those are not the same Cherry Pie, or the writer credit is not shown.)
Versions of Cherry Pie (Josea/Taub/Bihari-Phillips) from the 60s include those by Jerry Carmen (USA 1960), Ray Fournier And His Rockin’ Rebels (USA 1960), Jess Conrad (UK 1960), Dave Bartholomew And His Orchestra (USA 1964), Lani And Boni The Cochrane Twins (USA 1964), Margo And The Marvettes (UK 1964), The Perry Mates (USA 1964), Jay Randall (USA 1964), The Sabres (USA 1964), Charles Christy And The Crystals (USA 1965), Ray And The Gamblers (USA 1965), and Al Michael (USA 1965). (These all have writer credits that match the original, but you’d have to check audio to make doubly sure it’s the same song.)
(Joe Josea [Joe Bihari] - Marvin Phillips)
USA
Original version
On LA R&B label Modern, the B-side of Tick Tock.
R&B duo Marvin & Johnny were Marvin Phillips and most often (as here) Emory Perry.
As Richie Unterberger puts it, Marvin & Johnny were significant, if not major, figures in the transition from West Coast jump blues to hotter sax-driven R&B sides that began to approach rock & roll.
Joe Josea was a pseudonym of Joe Bihari, a vice-president and A&R man at Modern Records, the label founded by his brothers Julius and Saul Bihari in 1945. (See also Mary Lou.) It was not uncommon at this time for the names of record label executives to appear in songwriting credits, and it is reasonable to assume that the original composer was Marvin Phillips.
Writer credits: The writer credits to Josea and Phillips are as currently shown at BMI (Work #204036), although they have varied depending on the release. The US Copyright Office (#RE0000136631) shows Words: Joe Josea, music: Jules Taub (Julius Bihari), and the original single showed Jules Taub alone.
References: 1. Richie Unterberger’s overview of Marvin & Johnny at All Music Guide. 2. Modern Records history at Shades of Blue. 3. Jules Bihari and Modern Records at Black Cat Rockabilly. 4. Modern Records Story at Both Sides Now. 5. Bihari Brothers entry at Wikipedia. 6. Searches at BMI and US Copyright Office.
Thanks also to Brian Lee at ColorRadio.com
(Joe Josea [Joe Bihari] - Marvin Phillips)
USA
Single on Tulsa, Oklahoma label Perspective Sound, c. June 1957. Later on New York label Bullseye, c. December 1957.
Reference: 1. Label shots of both singles at
Brian Lee’s First and Second Labels page. 2. Rockin’ Country Style: release details.
Further reading: Brian
Lee’s blog post on the Perspective Sound single.
(Joe Josea [Joe Bihari] - Marvin Phillips)
USA
B-side on Coral by pioneering rock ‘n’ roll bandleader (b. 1927) who in the late 1940s formed the Jimmy Cavallo Quartet, later known as The Houserockers. In 1951 Jimmy Cavallo and The Houserockers had recorded Rock The Joint, and in 1956 they appeared in the film Rock, Rock, Rock with Alan Freed.
Further reading: 1. Wikipedia entry on Jimmy Cavallo. 2. Jimmy Cavallo biography (including label shots) at HoyHoy.com (Rock Before Elvis)
(Joe Josea [Joe Bihari] - Marvin Phillips)
USA
Peppy version on Crown by Los Angeles vocal group with lead singer Donald Woods. YouTube
The group also recorded as Donald Woods And The Vel-Aires on Flip. There were other groups called The Bel-Aires in the business (in Georgetown DC and in Chicago, for example).
Crown was a subsidiary of the Bihari Brothers’ Modern Records, the label of Marvin & Johnny’s original version of Cherry Pie. In the late 50s the Biharis used the Crown label name for budget LPs rather than singles. The Crown singles #100 to #166 were issued earlier, 1954-1955.
Reference, further reading: 1. History of The Bel-Aires at Doo-Wop Blog.
USA
Red herring
SAME TITLE BUT NOT THE SAME SONG AS
‘CHERRY PIE’ BY DADDY COOL.
Single on New York label Headline, #1006, by singer and songwriter Sandy Carney. His full name Alexander Carney appears on his copyright registrations.
This Cherry Pie and its B-side Martha are both Sandy Carney compositions, copyrighted in July 1959. Martha’s full title was Martha With The Blue Eyes (Catalog of Copyright Entries, Music, 1959 Part 2).
This is an obscure single. It is listed in Global Dog’s Headline Records discography, and I have added it to Discogs.com, but that’s about it. The label is also an obscurity, issuing only seventeen singles 1958-1963.
An earlier Sandy Carney single, on Headline #1004, also had his own compositions on both sides. Teena / Caroline (1959) was even reviewed in Billboard (31 August 1959) and in Cash Box (15 August).
A mystery. According to the Billboard review of Teena, Alexander/Sandy was the son* of TV star Art Carney from The Honeymooners.
I don’t believe that’s true. It’s more likely that he was Art’s nephew Alexander “Sandy” Carney, who graduated high school in Irvington NY in 1958 and is mentioned more than once in local news as a high school musical performer. At the school’s final assembly in 1958, for example, Sandy Carney and others “entertained the students with their music”.
A year later, in July 1959, a variety show at the Larchmont Yacht Club was reported in the Mamaroneck NY newspaper:
Sandy Carney nephew of manager Bob Carney, sang and accompanied himself on the guitar
for some of his own compositions, including O Tina**, Cherry Pie, What Are You Going to Do Now?
As well as his famous Uncle Art, Irvington High’s Sandy Carney had an Uncle Bob, so unless there were two musical Sandy Carneys floating around Westchester County at the time, I’m making the connection.
If it’s a coincidence it would be remarkable, although duplicated given names are possible in a large extended family. More remarkable is that the Irvington High Alexander/Sandy went on to be a distinguished rheumatologist in Trenton NJ, still practising well into the 21st century.
(Sources on request.)
*Billboard’s exact words are “the song of Art Carney” which I’m confidently calling as a typo.
**I’m guessing that O Tina is Carney’s Teena, the A-side of his other single.
Some other red herrings from the 50s and 60s:
• The Dial-Tones Cherry Pie (Dan Jones, Wolf Wagner) B-side on Dandy Dan USA 1958
• The Cherries Cherry Pie (C. Nelson) Single on Beverley’s Jamaica 1963
Re-released as Derrick Morgan Single on Black Swan Jamaica 1964
• The Checkmates Cherry Pie (Irving Miller) B-side on Phalanx USA 1966
• Sixth Day Creation Cherry Pie (Mike Moore) Single on Laurie USA 1969
(Lane - Chamberlin - Dixon - Cagle - Turner)
USA
Red herring
#10 USA
SAME TITLE BUT NOT THE SAME SONG AS
‘CHERRY PIE’ BY DADDY COOL.
Single by US “pop-metal” (AMG) or “glam metal”
(Wikipedia) band, from the album Cherry Pie.
(Jennifer Lopez - Bob Robinson - Cory Rooney - Tim Kelley)
USA
Red herring
SAME TITLE BUT NOT THE SAME SONG AS
‘CHERRY PIE’ BY DADDY COOL.
Track on 2005 album Rebirth by American
singer-actress also known as “J.Lo” .
(Sade Adu - Stuart Matthewman - Andrew Hale - Paul S. Denman)
UK
Red herring
SAME TITLE BUT NOT THE SAME SONG AS
‘CHERRY PIE’ BY DADDY COOL.
Track on debut album Diamond Life by British singer Sade and her band.
(Joe Josea [Joe Bihari] - Marvin Phillips - Georges Aber)
France
Chérie is a French-language version of Cherry Pie by Algerian-born French rocker, later a dental surgeon, real name Claude Benzaquen (b.1941). He recorded French versions of a number of American rock’n’roll and pop songs.
The songwriter and singer Georges Aber (1930-2012) often wrote French words for Anglo songs, including many for Petula Clark: see for example Heart, You’re The One, and It’s Party Time (Voila les temps des vacances). Aber’s name is often seen in the writer credits on records by Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan, among many others.
References, further reading: 1. Frankie Jordan at fr.wikipedia.org. 2. The French Wikipedia article on Georges Aber is light on biography but lists many examples of his work. 3. Amour du rock’n’roll covers Aber the singer with a discography and sleeve shots.
Merci à Philippe de me signaler cette version.
(Joe Josea [Joe Bihari] - Marvin Phillips)
USA
B-side on Sunset by short-lived Southern Californian surf band working on a salary for the entrepreneur who put it together. The Sunsets released two singles and an LP Breakthrough (1963), later to become collectible. On Cherry Pie, Forest is a guest vocalist from the same stable. The A-side is Breakthrough by Adrian & The Sunsets without Forest.
Further reading: Mark Deming’s biography of Adrian & The Sunsets at All Music.
Merci à Philippe de me signaler cette version.
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