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.