The “Golden Hits Of The 70s” 

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WING & A PRAYER FIFE AND

DRUM CORPS

“BABY FACE”

(Benny Davis, Harry Akst)

Wing & Prayer 103

No. 14   March 6, 1976

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The Wing & A Prayer Fife and Drum Corps was noth­ing more than a temporary studio venture.  Stephen

Scheaffer and Harold Wheeler had just set up a label with a national distribution network supplied by the

Warner Communications conglomerate.  Disco was the rage; Steve and Harry had a smart idea, and

rounded up a heap of Big Apple sessioneers.  The twosome’s scheme was to take stiff standards and, with

the assis­tance of David Horowitz, violate them with that insis­tent disco beat.

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Seven such songs were cut: “The Charleston,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and, yes, “Baby Face,” a number one

charter for Jan Garber in 1926.  Perched atop the repetitious churning were the voices of Vivian Cherry,

Arlene Martell, Helene Miles, and Linda November.  The fife blowers were Lew Delgatto, Louis Manni, and

Gerald Nielwood.  On sticks and skins were Roy Markowitz and Andrew Smith.

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“Baby Face” became an instant sensation with disco devotees.  Nothing further charted, but before Steve and Harry’s Wing & A Prayer crashed, Babyface Strikes Back, another LP of pulsating oldies, was dispensed.