The Cadillacs

Earl Carroll, LaVerne Drake, and Robert Phillips had already formed a vocal trio by the early 1950s under the name the Carnations, a lineup that also featured “Cub” Gaining. Carroll and Phillips shared an especially tight bond because Phillips’s relatives had taken Carroll in following his mother’s passing. Operating out of Harlem around 131st Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, the singers delivered lively performances despite somewhat uneven harmonies and drew steady crowds at dances staged by the public school they attended. The Orioles served as their chief inspiration, particularly the slow romantic ballads that resonated strongly with both the singers and listeners of the era. Carroll’s own background encompassed gospel acts such as the Five Blind Boys, the Swanee Quintet, and the Soul Stirrers, alongside R&B ensembles including the Clovers, the Ravens, the Swallows, and the Five Keys.

A performance at Public School 43 caught the ear of Lover Patterson, a former associate of the Orioles who had assembled the Five Crowns—the 1958 configuration of which later became the Drifters behind the hit “There Goes My Baby.” Impressed by what he heard, Patterson arranged an introduction to Esther Navarro, a Shaw Artist Agency secretary who also composed material.

The audition prompted immediate roster adjustments. Baritone Bobby Phillips expressed interest in moving to bass, hoping the novelty of a five-foot-four bass voice might stand out, yet Cub Gaining rejected the plan and departed beforehand. Patterson supplied replacements in the persons of James “Poppa” Clark from the Five Crowns and Johnny “Gus” Willingham. The resulting quintet—Earl Carroll on lead tenor, LaVerne Drake on tenor, James Clark on tenor, Johnny Willingham on baritone, and Bobby Phillips on bass—auditioned successfully for Navarro. They secured a contract yet had to relinquish the Carnations name, already claimed by an established professional act. The Cadillacs was selected to evoke automotive sophistication and to distance the singers from the bird- and flower-themed monikers then prevalent among vocal groups.

The ensemble took two numbers to Jubilee Records, an independent label run by former bandleader Jerry Blaine: Navarro’s “Gloria” and Patterson’s “I Wonder Why.” The debut single appeared in stores by late July 1954 and achieved regional success along the East Coast from Baltimore to Boston, particularly in New York. Patterson’s brisker “I Wonder Why” outperformed the more subdued “Gloria.” Before the follow-up “Wishing Well” arrived later that summer, the lineup had shifted again: James Clark and Johnny Willingham gave way to baritone Earl Wade and tenor Charles “Buddy” Brooks.

Modest regional traction continued through late 1954 and into early 1955 until the breakthrough arrived with “Speedo.” Multiple accounts surround the song’s genesis, each tied to Carroll’s personal traits. Carroll himself attributed the title to a childhood nickname, while also noting that the rhythm and backing drew from the group’s fondness for the Regals’ “Got the Water Boiling.” Esther Navarro, credited as writer, maintained at the time that the track stemmed from Carroll’s teasing nickname “Speedy,” earned for his deliberate pace; she recalled him telling her, “They often call me Speedy but my real name is Mr. Earl.”

Recorded in September 1955 and issued the following month, “Speedo” remained quiet for weeks before exploding. Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed’s decision to include the group on his Christmas show at the Academy of Music proved decisive. By then the Cadillacs had turned fully professional and incorporated dance routines staged by Cholly Atkins, who would later coach most Motown acts. Their appearances dominated the two-week run, part of a watershed moment for rock & roll. Although similar presentations had existed for years, they had largely served Black audiences; Freed’s engagement shattered box-office records and attracted substantial numbers of white teenagers.

“Speedo” finally surfaced on the national charts in early December, reaching Billboard’s pop listing before the R&B chart—an unprecedented occurrence for an R&B single. Industry attention focused both on this crossover and on the Cadillacs themselves. The track remained on the charts for four months into 1956, establishing the group among the leading R&B acts nationwide. Early that year LaVerne Drake departed and was replaced by Jimmy Bailey. Subsequent attempts at a follow-up single met with only modest trade-paper encouragement, yet stage demand stayed robust; the group continued to secure prominent spots on the package tours that defined the era, with bookings holding strong into late winter 1957.

Complications soon arose. After parting ways with Esther Navarro, the group fractured into two competing Cadillacs factions. Carroll headed the Original Cadillacs—comprising Carroll, Charles Brooks, Bobby Phillips, and Earl Wade—while Navarro placed Jimmy Bailey in front of Bobby Spencer, Bill Lindsay, and Waldo “Champ Rollow” Champen under the same name. Both units recorded for Jubilee, which found itself caught between the rivals, effectively neutralizing each other’s momentum.

Navarro’s Bailey-led version attempted to maintain a touring schedule but was dropped from a late-1957 package tour midway through. By November 1957 a truce had been reached: Champ Rollow and Bill Lindsay exited, and Carroll, Bailey, Brooks, Phillips, and Wade reunited in the studio as the Cadillacs. Brooks soon yielded to Bobby Spencer, yet further shifts occurred; Earl Carroll was moved to a supporting vocal role behind Jimmy Bailey and Bobby Spencer. In pursuit of commercial appeal the group had transformed into a comedic doo-wop ensemble modeled on the Coasters, emphasizing humorous novelty material far removed from the sound Earl Carroll had helped establish in the early 1950s.

The new approach nevertheless produced results. In October 1958 they returned to the national charts for the first time in more than two years with “Peek-A-Boo,” a “Yakety Yak”-style number that reached the Top 40 and revived their concert prospects. Capitalizing on the success, they issued two additional comic singles early in 1959—“Jay Walker” and “Please Mr. Johnson”—both featured prominently in the Alan Freed jukebox film Go Johnny Go alongside Jimmy Clanton, Sandy Stewart, Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson, Eddie Cochran, Ritchie Valens, and Jo-Ann Campbell.

Hit-making days had ended, however. Earl Carroll left the group he had founded in 1959. The remaining members continued recording without success for various labels before disbanding in the early 1960s. Carroll sustained a career in music, joining the Coasters in 1961 and remaining for more than two decades. Later he reconstituted the Cadillacs, with Bobby Phillips the sole other original member, and kept the revived lineup active through the 1980s and into the 1990s, including a well-received comeback recording early in the decade. Phillips died in March 2011; Carroll, who had worked as a New York City school custodian, passed away the following November.