The “Golden Hits Of The 50s”
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Shields
” YOU CHEATED“
(Don Brunch)
Dot 15805
No. 12 October 6, 1958
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The circumstances behind the Shield’s “You Cheated” is, according to Yesterdays Memories’ Dave
Hinckley, “one of the most tangled stories ever to surround a hit record.”
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Most simply put, the Shields never existed. George Matola, the big cheese at Tender Records,
heard this great little number by an Austin, Texas group, the Slades called “You Cheated.”
Matola reportedly had his good buddy JESSIE BELVIN toss together a one-shot group to do a
quickie cover on the Slade’s original. Everyone who has looked into the matter at hand agrees
that the lead vocalist on the track is Frankie Ervin. Frankie has identified the other Shields as
Belvin (falsetto), Buzzy Smith (baritone), Johnny “Guitar” Watson (bass), and Mel Williams
(second tenor). To complicate matters, Watson denies being involved. And to untidy the affair
further, performers like Tony Allan, Buster Wilson, and Charles Wright (later leader of the
Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band) claim to have been among the voices taped that night.
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The Shields’ cover version of “You Cheated” cheated the Slades out of most of the chart action;
the Slades’ original rendition (#42,”1958) never even broke into the national top 40. To promote
the Shields’ hit disk, something calling itself the Shields had to tour. The label hastily rounded
up three guys to hit the road with Frankie Ervin.
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For a follow-up, Nat “King” Cole’s “Nature Boy” was dressed up and dished out. Ervin was
reportedly present on this sess1on, but beyond that, things get quite fuzzy. Hinckley has
suggested that Belvin, Wright, “Pookie” Wooten, and James Monroe Warren might also have
performed on “Nature Boy.” The voices on the Shields’ third and last Dot release, “Fare Thee
Well, My Love,” could have been supplied by Belvin, Wright, Warren, Johnny White, and maybe
even Chuck Jackson. As for “You’ll Be Coming Home Soon”–released on Transcontinental and
later Falcon Records–Tony Allan,a member of the various touring editions of the Shields, claims
that he was on this recording with Tommy Youngblood, Charles Patterson, and David Cobb.
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