Legendary Bass Vocalist JT Carter founder of The Crests to Perform at Regional Awards Ceremony

JT Carter, bass vocalist and founder of the 1950's musical group The Crests to perform at the 16th Annual Lehigh Valley Music Awards in Bethlehem Pennsylvania with 20 year music veteran award recipient, June Thomas.
By: EA Kroll Productions/LVMA
 
 
Vini Lopez of the E Street Band presenting Carter at last year's awards
Vini Lopez of the E Street Band presenting Carter at last year's awards
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Feb. 11, 2015 - PRLog -- ~

Carter, who is the founder of  the 1950's musical group The Crests, who has over 16 million albums sold, with such famous hits as "16 Candles", "The Angels Listen In", "Step By Step" and many more will be performing at this year’s 16 Annual Lehigh Valley Music Awards with 20 year music veteran award recipient, June Thomas.

Carter, a Vocal Hall of Fame Inductee was honored at last year’s Lehigh Valley Music Awards (15) with a lifetime achievement award presented to him by Vini Lopez of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

This year’s awards ceremony will be held at the Artsquest Center, Steel stacks complex, Musikfest Cafe' in Bethlehem Pennsylvania on Sunday, March 8th, 2015 at 4pm. Tickets available at www.steelstacks.org

About the Lehigh Valley Music Awards (LVMA) ®

The Lehigh Valley Music Awards (LVMA) ® is a prestigious annual extravaganza that honors, rewards and celebrates the music industry of the greater Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. The LVMA ® is produced by The Greater Lehigh Valley Music Association (GLVMA) ®, an official non-profit 501c3 volunteer organization designed to produce music related events throughout the Greater Lehigh Valley along with providing grants for music education.

Additional info at:
www.lehighvalleymusicawards.org
www.glvma.org

About JT Carter and The Crests:

JT Carter’s The Crests were a New York R&B doo-wop group of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their most popular song was "16 Candles," which rose to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1959. It sold over one million copies, earning a gold disc. The interracial group had three black members (one female), one Puerto Rican, and one Italian-American. JT Carter was the 1st African American to create an interracial vocal group in The United States.

The band was founded by J. T. Carter and included Talmoudge Gough, Harold Torres, and Patricia Van Dross (older sister of R&B great Luther Van dross). Carter selected vocalist Johnny Mastrangelo (shortened to Johnny Mastro and later to Johnny Maestro) to perform as lead vocalist for the group. Maestro's vocal style on the group's recordings became instantly recognizable and a juke box favorite of the national teen audiences. Maestro's quality vocals, great song selections, and recordings with dance-easy beats made the winning combination for charted hits. The group had several Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s on Coed Records, including "16 Candles," "Six Nights a Week," "The Angels Listened In," "A Year Ago Tonight," "Step By Step" and "Trouble in Paradise." They also charted with "Sweetest One" (Joyce label) in 1957. The Crests appeared and performed several times on national teen dance television shows in the late 1950s to include The Dick Clark show and The Joe Franklin Show.

In 1978, the group split. Carter went on to sing with Charlie Thomas' The Drifters. Carter then reformed the group in 1980. He auditioned over 200 singers, finally settling on lead Bill Damon, Greg Sereck, and Dennis Ray and New York drummer Jon Ihle. Carter continued the group well into the 1990s.

In 1984 John Hughes teen film, Sixteen Candles, took its title from The Crests' song, which was re-recorded by The Stray Cats for the Sixteen Candles soundtrack.

The Crests were inducted into the "United in Group Harmony Association (UGHA) Hall of Fame" in 2000. The Crests were then inducted into "The Vocal Group Hall of Fame" in 2004.

On May 9, 2012, Johnny Maestro was honored by the House of Representatives of the United States of America by Congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York.

In 2013 JT performed for Cousin Brucie at his "1st Annual Palisades Park Reunion" with Ronnie Specter, Neil Sedaka, Lesley Gore and Bobby Lewis. 13,000 attended and it was broadcast "live" on SiriusXM Radio and 2.5 million Tuned in.

On November 12th, 2013 Carter was recognized on The Pennsylvania State House Floor by Speaker of the House Sam Smith and Rep Rosemary Brown for his lifetime in the music industry and the 1st African American to create an interracial vocal group in America.

End
Source:EA Kroll Productions/LVMA
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Tags:JT Carter, Lehigh Valley Music Awards, LVMA, Vini Lopez, Artsquest
Industry:Arts, Television
Location:Bethlehem - Pennsylvania - United States
Subject:Awards
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