Maurice Williams passed away August 6th at the age of 86.
In the late 1950’s, his band was called The Royal Charms. Later, The Gladiolas, then eventually - it was Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs. A REALLY nice behind the scenes kind of story by the way about WHY he ended up making his name part of the name of the band, and even who advised him on it).
Their first time on the charts came from "Lil' Darling," (as The Gladiolas) though The Diamonds saw MUCH higher success with it, and if you know this tune, it's probably the version from The Diamonds. The biggest hit from Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, undoubtedly, was STAY. This one also has a nice behind the scenes story, though it's pretty much straight forward with a simple listen. It's the end of a date you don't want to end.
Fun fact - At the time of its release, Stay - a minute thirty-six in length - was the shortest song to have ever hit the top of the American Music Charts. The cover by The Four Seasons (Willams' favorite cover of it, btw) was even shorter (at a minute thirty), but didn't chart as high.
This is a re-edit of a conversation from almost eight years ago exactly when he was getting ready to perform in the region with a stellar line up of doo wop acts, thanks to AMP Live Concerts and Nathan Goethals.
