The Crests were a popular New York R&B musical group of the late 1950s. Their most popular song was "Sixteen Candles", which rose to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1958. The record sold over one million copies, earning a gold disc.
Though often thought to be another all-black teenage-sound band, of the four men, two were black, one was Puerto Rican, and the other was Italian. They also had one black female.

Career

The band was founded by J. T. Carter and included Talmoudge Gough, Harold Torres, and Patricia Van Dross (older sister of R&B great Luther Vandross). Carter selected vocalist Johnny Mastrangelo (later just Johnny Maestro) to perform as lead vocalist for the group. Maestro's vocal style on the group's recordings became instantly recogizable and a juke box favorite of the national teen audiences. Maestro's quality vocals, great song selections, and recordings with dance-easy beats made the winning combination for charted hits. The group had several Top 40 hits in the 1950s on Coed Records, including "Sixteen Candles," "A Year Ago Tonight," "Trouble in Paradise," "Six Nights a Week," "Step By Step," and "The Angels Listened In". They also charted with "Sweetest One" (Joyce label) and "Guilty" (Selma label). The Crests appeared and performed several times on national teen dance television shows in the late 1950s.