The “Golden Hits Of The 50s”
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The Penguins
“Earth Angel (You Will Be Mine)”
Curtis Williams
Do-Tone 3482
February 5, 1955
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True, Toronto’s Crew-Cuts did create a Caucasian cover version (#3, 1955) and stole much of the initial
action on the Penguins'”Earth Angel.” But by now, all is near ly forgiven, and sales of the original rendering
may well have exceeded the 10 million mark. Recorded in eight or nine takes, amid the bicycle pumps and
scrapwood in someone’s backyard garage, “Earth Angel” has become one of the most cherished of all rock
and roll records. The tune is also reportedly the very first R & B record to ever crack the nation’s Top 10
pop chart.
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Lead singer Cleveland “Cleve” Duncan (b. July 23, 1935) and tenor Dexter Tisby formed the Penguins
with bass Curtis Williams and baritone Bruce Tate in 1954. After many rehearsals, the quartet approached
Dootsie Williams, owner of DooTone/Dooto Records, to record a song that Curtis had written, “Earth Angel .”
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It’s comical,” Duncan told Bim Bam Boom’s Steve Flam and Sal Mondrone.”We couldn’t pick out a name.
One of the fellows just happened to be smoking a pack of Kools and we got to kidding each other about
the picture of’Willie the Penguin’ on it, and that’s how we came by the name.” Before “Earth Angel,”
DooTone issued a pair of Penguin tracks, “Ain’t No News Today” b/w “When I Am Gone.””It was really
a demonstration record for someone else;’ Duncan explained. “Dootsie had the rights on it and when
we did it, it was a demo.”
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“After ‘Earth Angel’ was released-I imagine that we had gotten somewhere within the Top 10, and the
group became in need of a small advance on royalties-Dootsie denied the group. Dootsie would not
advance us any money whatsoever ….. not even $50.00
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Discouraged and angered, the Penguins sought out the help of Buck Ram, manager of their friends, the
Platters. Buck signed on as their representative and negotiated a recording contract with Mercury for
the Penguins; as part of the agreement, the then-unsuccessful Platters were tossed into the deal. In the
interim, Dootsie issued two follow-ups (“Ookey Ook” and “Baby Let’s Make Some Love”) which both
flopped. Bruce Tate left the group after being involved in an auto accident in which he struck a
pedestrian; his replacement was Teddy Harper.
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Mercury/Wing eventually issued eight disks by the group, but not one of these 45s nudged the nation’s
notice. Atlantic shipped one single by the Penguins (a cover of KEN COPELAND’s “Pledge of Love”) that
proved fairly successful on the R & B charts. Thereafter, the classic bird group returned to Dootsie’s
DooTone/Dooto. After one single, Curtis Williams left, to be replaced by Randolph Jones. Dootsie issued
two more 45s and an EP. The group broke up in 1963. Months later, Frank Zapa managed to coax Cleve
back into the studios and produced Zappa’s “Memories of El Monte” and later “Heavenly Angel:’ both
credited to the Penguins, for original sound.
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Cleve did a one-off single with the Radiants; Harper, Jones, and Tisby later toured with Cornell Gunter’s
Coasters. According to Duncan, all of the original members of the Penguins “have given up entertaining
all together.”