Johnny Maestro 1939-2010

[mrjukebox]

One of the greatest voices in the history of rock & roll has been silenced-This past Wednesday (3/24),singer Johnny Maestro passed away at his home in Florida-He was 70-Maestro was the lead singer of two successful groups.
The first was The Crests-In late 1958-early 1959,the group released their first & biggest hit "Sixteen Candles"-It shot up the charts peaking at #2-Their follow up hits were quite successful such as "Six Nights A Week","The Angels Listened In","Step By Step",& "Trouble In Paradise".
Maestro eventually left The Crests & had a fairly successful solo career-He managed to place two songs in the top 40 during 1961:"Model Girl" & "What A Surprise"-In late 1968,Maestro resurfaced with a brand new group called The Brooklyn Bridge.
The group landed a record contract with the Buddah label.
In early 1969,their first & biggest hit "The Worse That Could Happen" got up to #3 on the Billboard "Hot 100".
This Jimmy Webb composition was originally recorded by The Fifth Dimension & included on one of their albums-However,their label never released it as a single.The follow ups to "Worse That Could Happen" failed to crack the top 40 nationally,but were bigger hits on the local stations in the NYC area.
Those songs included "Welcome Me Love","Blessed Is The Rain","Your Husband,My Wife",& "You'll Never Walk Alone" from the musical "Carousel"-Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge toured extensively throughout the years & always played before capacity crowds.
At this time,funeral arrangements are still pending-Johnny Maestro truly had a heaven sent voice & he will be missed by his many fans.

[RNH]

I have told very few people this, but in my opinion Johnny Maestro IS the greatest male voice in Rock and Roll! (I don't have one for the females--- way too many good choices!) Not Elvis, or Rick, or Buddy, or Roy, or Ray, or Elton, or Stevie, or even Michael---although they are all great! But the fact remains, Maestro could flat out sing! It is simply impossible not to like "16 Candles" or "Worse That Could Happen", or my favorite "Welcome Me Love" (in my catagory of "deserved to be a Top 40 hit").

On this sad day, the Heaven they call Rock and Roll just received a Hell of a singer!

We miss you, Johnny!

[mrjukebox]

In 1991,Rhino Home Video released "Sweet Talkin' Guys",which was a look back at NYC radio personalities of the 50's & 60's-Jack Spector who was one of the WMCA "Good Guys",told the story of how "Worse That Could Happen" became a hit-After their debut album was recorded,The Brooklyn Bridge sought Spector's advice as to what the first single should be.
After listening to the entire album,Spector thought that "Worse That Could Happen" had hit potential-Evidently,the executives at Buddah Records agreed with Spector and released it as a single-The rest as they say is history.