45 RPM ORIOLES I CROSS MY FINGERS CAN'T SEEM TO LAUGH ANYMORE JUBILEE 5040 1950

$

610

Up for auction is a 1950 R&B / Doo Wop / vocal 45 rpm recorded by The Orioles on Jubilee 5040.

The sides are: I Cross My Fingers / Can't Seem To Laugh Anymore. (One of the last recordings of The Orioles original lineup as guitarist Tommy Gaither died in a car crash a few months later)

From wikipedia…

Around 1947, Sonny Til sang regularly in amateur shows at the Avenue Cafe in Baltimore, where he met Nelson, Sharp and Gaither. They decided to form a group, calling themselves The Vibra-Naires, and aspiring songwriter Deborah Chessler became their manager. In April 1948 the group appeared on the Arthur Godfrey radio talent show in New York, with Richard Williams as bass singer, but he was then replaced by Johnny Reed.

The group won a recording deal with the "It's A Natural" record label, a subsidiary of Jubilee Records, and changed their name to The Orioles in honor of the state bird of Maryland and in emulation of another popular group, The Ravens. In July 1948, they recorded Chessler's song "It's Too Soon To Know", with Sonny Til taking lead vocals. The record reportedly sold 30,000 copies in its first week, rising to #1 on the national R&B charts in November 1948, and leading to cover versions by artists such as the Ravens, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington. It was also one of the first "race" songs to cross over into mainstream markets, reaching # 13 on the pop charts.

The Orioles then began touring widely, and started recording for the Jubilee label. Their next smash hit was "Tell Me So" in 1949, which again reached # 1 in the R&B chart but this time failed to cross to the pop charts. Other hits included "Forgive And Forget" and "Lonely Christmas".

In performance, The Orioles were a phenomenon, with girls in the audiences screaming, fainting, and attempting to reach their idol Sonny Til in particular. They differed from groups like the Mills Brothers and the Delta Rhythm Boys in that they made vocal music with limited orchestration and accompanied only with the guitar of Tommy Gaither and the bass Johnny Reed. From 1948 to 1954, they cut over 120 sides for the Natural and Jubilee labels. By late 1950 they were major stars, although their supply of hit records had dried up.

Tragedy struck in November 1950. The group was traveling in two cars near Baltimore. Gaither drove one, with Reed and Nelson as passengers. He took a corner too fast and lost control of the car, which rolled down an embankment and crashed into a drive-in restaurant. Gaither was killed and Nelson and Reed were severely injured. Til and Sharp, in the other car, were not near enough to witness the accident and only heard about it when they arrived home. 

Below are the tracks recorded with NO filtering or noise reduction. You can also hear the same sides transferred with noise reduction here.

Grading System:

• NM = near new condition
• E = barely played, extremely close to near new condition
• VG = played, but not abused condition, should play very well, may have light scratches, scuffs
• G = well played, but should play pretty well, will have deeper scratches, scuff; may have some background noise, scratches, scuffs, wear
• P = well used, pretty bad condition, lots of background noise

(I use the above grading scale for 78 rpms...I do not collect 45s and rarely attempt to sell them...I'm just not familiar with or confident enough to grade them. I will describe in detail what I see...and remember...returns are accepted if you are not satisfied) 

Record plays all the way through with surface noise (as heard above). There is a slight storage warp that minimal tracking pressure navigates without any incident whatsoever. There are light marks and scuffs...no digs or deep scratches. As seen, there is a metal spindle adapter in the spindle hole...it will be shipped intact and can be removed, if desired, by the winning bidder. Please magnify pics and listen to both tracks to decide for yourself.

This record will be very securely packaged for shipment. Please let me know if you would like your records insured.

I try my best to describe and grade these as accurately as possible...I will gladly accept returns if you are not satisfied.

Good luck!