The Mello-Kings

The Mello-Kings were one-hit wonders in the doo wop world, fondly remembered for the their lone national hit, "Tonite, Tonite." They were an all-white vocal group from Mt. Vernon, a working class suburb of New York City, located in Westchester County just to the north of the Bronx. Led by Robert Scholl, aka Bob Scholl (b. Jul 14, 1938 in Mt. Vernon, NY), the other members included Robert's brother Jerry Scholl, Ed Quinn, Neil Arena, and Larry Esposito, all students from George Washington High. By the fall of 1956, they were calling themselves the Mellotones, gaining attention in the local area and catching the ear of a black pianist named Dick Levister, who offered to become the group's manager and accompany them during live performances. It was Levister who brought them to the attention of Al Silver, who owned both the Herald and Ember labels, which had been up and running since 1952. Both New York-based labels specialized in vocal group records. Silver, one of the pioneering R&B label owners, had by this point already recorded and released numerous hit singles by acts on both Herald and Ember, including the Nutmegs (whose 1955 R&B smash hit "Story Untold" made it to number two in the nation), the Five Satins (whose "In the Still of the Night," a smash in 1956, had been leased to Ember; they later scored a hit for the label with "To the Aisle," a Top Ten R&B hit -- number 25 pop -- in the summer of 1957), and the Turbans (whose "When You Dance" was the group's best charter for Herald"). Silver liked what he heard and the group -- with their trademark white jackets (at Levister's insistence, supposedly) -- helped them forge an identity with the teenage public. For the Mellotones' first release, Silver chose a tune called "Tonite, Tonite" (Herald number 502), written by...