THE FOUR CHICKADEES, "DING DONG" C/W "TEENAGE BLUES," CHECKER 849 (REL. 11/1956)

Lost to time are the identities of The Four Chickadees, a gutsy r&b girl group that appears to be from Chicago. The two songs that comprise their long single, released by Checker Records in the fall of 1956, are co-written by John Moore, manager of Vee-Jay vocal group The El Dorados and author of their classic hit “At My Front Door” a year earlier. Nathanial Montague, whose work we’ve played here in the past, was an eccentric DJ and songwriter who wrote material for another Vee-Jay group, The Magnificents (named after his on-air persona as Magnificent Montague.

It’s possible this may have been recorded with Vee-Jay in mind. The label would’ve been nuts to pass on it, and anyone could approach a record label with a couple of masters—more so if they were a known quantity. However this happened, this 1956 single is significant in the history of the girl-group style. Here is a young quartet who sings without affectation in a fast jump-blues style with appealing, earthy voices.

As with yesterday’s record, no info, so let’s play the two sides…

“Ding Dong” is an appealing fast-paced bopper with an attention-getting intro that showcases the Chick’dees' excellent, in-tune harmony singing. A great guitarist and dense, thuddy drumming drive this bouncer along. The lead Chickadee’s voice has a great presence and exudes confidence and a sense of fun. She was an obvious student of Lavern Baker—an excellent role model for any Black female singer of the 1950s—but holds her own.

Here’s another heart-breaking example of an obvious talent, name unknown, who made this one single and vanished. These girls sound like they’d been singing together for a while and have their act together. What a pity this record didn’t succeed! It’s nothing like the girl-group sounds of 1957, epitomized by The Chantels’ “He’s Gone” and “Maybe,” but it shows that female performances in the r&b vein could rival any male efforts, given the right approach.

“Teenage Blues” is a low-down slice of topical sociology. Our lead Chickadee proves an excellent blues singer on this after-hours-sounding side that sounds like a Chess/Checker recording through and through. Piano and sax, plus more crisp percussion, drive this multi-tempo opus by some female rebels without a cause.

Sung with guts, this side is no novelty—it’s a fascinating piece of teenage history from the cultural moment when young people began to influence mass media and thrive in their own culture.

The record got a thumbs-up from Cash Box and at least one trade ad in that magazine, but otherwise didn’t exist. It may have sold well in the Chicago area and I’m sure it was on jukeboxes, given its style and theme. The Chickadees did not nest with any record label; one and done and they went on with their lives. Our loss that we have nothing more from them.

Tomorrow: mid-week instro-mental mania with two wild sides by Gabriel and The Angels, via a 1960 Amy Records platter.