Biography
Ray Tabano and Steven Tyler, who later formed Aerosmith, drew early inspiration from the Bell Notes without the Long Island group realizing it. At age fourteen the pair regularly visited Tabano’s father’s bar in the Bronx, seizing the opportunity to perform whenever the house band paused. A mainstay of those spontaneous sets was the Bell Notes’ “I’ve Had It.” The quintet—Carl Bonura on lead vocals and saxophone, John Casey on drums, Ray Ceroni on lead vocals and guitar, Lenny Giambalvo on bass, and Peter Kane on piano—secured a contract with Time Records. Their debut single “I’ve Had It” climbed to number six on the charts in March 1959. Four follow-up 1959 releases on the same label—“Old Spanish Town,” which peaked at number 76, plus “That’s Right,” “You’re a Big Girl Now,” and “White Buckskin Sneakers & Checkerboard Socks”—failed to build momentum. Time also issued an EP that fared no better than the string of singles. Entering 1960, the group moved to Autograph Records for “Little Girl in Blue,” yet the record attracted no interest. Two further Madison Records sides, “Shortin’ Bread” at number 96 and “Friendly Star,” completed their chart activity. Across two years they reached the charts three times but cracked the Top 40 only once. Following that brief promise the Bell Notes dissolved within three years. In 1964 they appeared among sixty-four acts featured on Nu-Trading Rock n’ Roll Trading Cards, though the series never matched the lasting popularity of baseball cards.
Albums
