THE STRINGALONGS
This group first formed as The Rock N’ Rollers in 1956 while attending Plainview High School. The original members consisted of Keith McCormack (vocals/guitar), Charles Edminston (drums), Aubry DeCordova (bass) & Joe Torres (lead guitar). With the addition of Richard Stephens (lead guitar) and Don Allen replacing Edminston the group began recording at Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, New Mexico. With a new name “The String-A-Longs” the group finally hit the mother lode when they moved from recording vocals to instrumentals. In 1961 they recorded an instrumental entitled “Wheels”, released on Warwick #603, that went all the way to #3 in the pop charts. Although the song had relativly short chart longevity staying 13 weeks Billy Vaughn and his Orchestra covered the song taking it to #28. The String-A-Longs follow-up release “Brass Buttons” reached #35. Sometime later Keith McCormack would co-write a song recorded by Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs entitled “Sugar Shack” that reached #1 in 1963.
