The “Golden Hits Of The 60s” 

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AD LIBS

“THE BOY FROM NEW YORK CITY”

(John Taylor)

Blue Cat 102

No. 8    February 27, 1965

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J. T. Taylor was born and raised in Morristown, New Jersey, and later attended the  Bordertown Military

College.  During the ’30s and ’40s, J. T. played clubs, bars, and music houses, sitting in with the band that

supplied the sounds for Martin Block’s  “Make Believe Ballroom”  radio  program.  In the ’50s, J. T. moved

to Jersey’s Hudson County and started teaching.  One night late in the decade, a street-corner group of doo-

woppers caught his ear–the Crdeators, consisting of Johnny “Angel” Allen,  Danny Austin, Chris Cole,

Hughie Harris, and Jimmy Wright.

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 J. T. offered the guys some advice,  gave them some songs, and took them down to  the dudes at Diamond

Disks.  Diamond cut a few tunes and leased the tracks to the tiny T-Kay label.  “I’ll Never Do It Again” sold

very little, but Philips  Records waxed two  more Creators singles. These collectible disks also made a poor

showing.

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One warm day, while sipping wine and thinking about a woman, J. T. got this notion for a number to be

called “The Boy From New York City.”  Taylor rounded up the Creators, now known as  the  Ad Libs, and

had them record a demo of the song.   Hughie and Danny were the only original Creators left; filling in the

vocal gaps were Norm Donegan,  Dave Watts, and Mary Ann Thomas.

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A  club owner brought the demo to the renowned production team of Leiber & Stoller who signed the group

to their new Blue Cat label.   Taylor’s tune hit the spot, but the Ad Libs’ 45s that followed–fine efforts like

 “He  Ain’t No Angel” and “I’m Just A Down Home Girl”–never matched the ample appeal of   “The Boy

From New York City.”   Before moved to the Karen,  Phillips and Share labels, the Ad Libs recorded the

highly collectible “New York In The Dark,” variously issues by the tiny A.G.P. and then the Eskee labels.

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As the ’70s drew to a close, J. T. Taylor and the Ad Libs were still working hard at locating another hit.  In

1981, Manhattan Transfer took a remake of  “The Boy From New York  City”  into Billboard’s top 10; two

years later, a new Ad Libs  single, “Spring  and  Summer,” appeared on the group-owned Passion label.