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How it all began....
One night at a party
thrown by a car club called, The Innocents, Jim West sat
with Darron and Al and began to sing along with them. The
room grew very quiet and then exploded in applause. They
had a unique three part harmony blend that broke out into
Jim's lead with a two part harmony behind him. They called
themselves "The Innocents" after their car club.
They wrote, rehearsed,
and then drove to nearby Hollywood to approach record labels
to be signed. The then unknown Herb Alpert
thought they had a great sound and signed them to the Andex
label where he
produced their first two singles, "Time" and "Dee-Dee-Di-Oh". Their
next single, with Indigo Records, "Honest I Do",
shot up the charts to #1 in Los Angeles for 11 weeks and
to #28 nationally. Next they released their album "Innocently
Yours" in 1961. A second hit, "Gee Whiz",
also rose up the west coast charts and into national chart
territory. At one point they had 3 songs on the
charts simultaneously.
During the time with
Indigo Records, they appeared with and did background harmony
with label-mate Kathy Young. They had hits as Kathy Young
and The Innocents on "A Thousand Stars" and "Happy
Birthday Blues". "A Thousand Stars" went to
#3 nationally and earned a gold record. They appeared on
various music shows including Dick Clark, Merv Griffin, and
Shebang.
The
group
disbanded
in 1964.
The
Innocents reunited briefly in 1984 when Jim produced 4 songs.
In 1992 Ace Records
released, "The Innocents, The Complete Indigo Recordings" on
CD. They worked together in 1994 in Los Angeles at a fundraiser
after the Northridge earthquake at the Pantages theater hosted
by KEarth Radio. In 1996 they were part of The Legends of
Rock and Roll show at the Los Angeles Greek Theater. In 2001
they appeared with Kathy Young on the Rock, Rhythm, & DooWop
show taped live for Public Television and released by Rhino
Records on VHS, DVD, and CD. The Innocents performed
at the annual Southern California DooWop show in Long Beach
to a sold out audience. They were honored to appear at Universal
Amphitheatre with many of the legends of early Rock & Roll
as part of The Ultimate Doo Wop Show.
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