The Innocents

The Innocents -- James West (lead), Al Candelaria (bass), and Darron Stankey (tenor/guitarist) -- were a smooth harmonizing West Coast pop group from San Fernando Valley CA, whose most successful record was accompanying Kathy Young as Kathy Young & the Innocents on "A Thousand Smiles" (1960 Indigo Records, number three pop/number six R&B). Kathy Young was the ripe old age of 15 at the time. The trio were friends and members of a local car club name "The Innocents." The artists met at Wink Martindale's local television dance show, where the Innocents were lip-syncing their current single; Indigo producer Jim Lee suggested they record together after talking to Young and her mom at the taping. The Revileers, a black New York doo wop group, recorded the original "A Thousand Eyes" six years earlier. That connection caused many to mislabel the Innocents as a doo wop group; nothing could be further from the truth. Solo, the Innocents cut their first single in 1959 as the Echos (West and Stankey) on Andrex Records; West was brought along to sing he high harmony parts. With the addition of West, the Echos became the Innocents (after the car club) after first rejecting "the Hubcaps". They then inked a deal with Indigo for their first hit "Honest I Do" (number 28 pop) in 1960. That same year, Trans World Records dumped a previously cut track by them, "Tick Tock," on the streets. Indigo answered with their smash hit with Kathy Young. They rose up the charts again in 1961 with "Gee Whiz" (number 28 pop/ number 11 R&B), and had an LP release Innocently Yours in 1961; its cover, depicting them peering through prison bars, was voted one the 1000 best album covers of all time. Indigo followed with "Kathy" after Kathy Young but it floundered, and seven singles later they hit an...