Of The 50s  –   The Artists  – The Songs

 The Golden 50sThe Golden  60s The Golden  70sArticles    Home  

KIT CARSON

Band Of Gold

(Bob Musel, Jack Taylor)

Capitol 3283

No. 11    January 7, 1956

.

.

The “REAL” Kit Carson–the American frontiersman and Union general–died in 1868. This Kit, a fair-

haired female, was born and raised under the name Liza Morrow.   In the ’40s, she and Alan Dale

were vocalists with George Paxton’s big band.   George’s many platters for Guild, Major, and MGM

never caught on.   Discour­aged, Paxton shut the show down late in the decade.   He went on to arrange

for Vaughn Monroe and Charlie Spivak, then formed the Coed record label in 1958. Thanks to George’s

musical and business abilities, the Crests, the Duprees, and Adam Wade became hot recording artists.

Alan Dale had a few big-selling duet disks in the early ’50s, and in 1955 clicked twice with “Sweet and

Gentle” (#10) and “Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White” (#11), the latter from the Jane Russell-

Jayne Mansfield film frolic Underwater! (1955).

.

Kit’s recording career, however, proved to be less successful.   Except for her providing the vocals to

Benny Goodman’s “Symphony” (#2, 1946), Carson’s waxings went largely without notice. Capitol

Records offered her a catchy number by Bob Musel and Jack Taylor–“Band of Gold”–and although it

did well, a cover ver­sion by Don Cherry out-distanced her effort.   Musel and Taylor returned the

following year with another Billboard-bound tune called “Earthbound.”   Kit didn’t cover it, but Sammy

Davis, Jr., did, and charted with it.   By year’s end, Carson was off the label and out of sight.