The Corsairs

Hailing from La Grange, North Carolina, the Corsairs issued eight singles in all—seven under their own name and one as Landy McNeil & the Corsairs—with the first appearing on Smash and the others on Tuff. Brothers Jay Uzell, James Uzell, and Moses Uzell formed the core alongside cousin George Wooten. Performing earlier as the Gleems, they entertained at local gatherings before heading north to the New Jersey and New York area, where Abner Spector discovered them harmonizing in a Newark, New Jersey, night spot; Spector would later score with the Jaynettes’ “Sally Go Round the Roses.” Their Smash debut, “Time Waits” b/w “It Won’t Be A Sin,” arrived in 1961 but drew no notice. Spector then shifted the group to Tuff, where “Smokey Places” climbed to number 12 on the pop chart after nearly reaching the top ten that same year, with Chess Records distributing this and all subsequent Tuff sides. The 1962 follow-up, “I’ll Take You Home” b/w “Sittin’ on Your Doorstep,” stalled at number 62. Singles continued through 1964—“Dancing Shadows,” “At the Stroke of Midnight,” “Stormy (It’s Almost),” and “Save a Little Monkey”—yet none registered. Because each of the three brothers handled lead vocals, their recordings linked 1950s doo wop to 1960s R&B. Their final effort, “The Change in You” b/w “On the Spanish Side,” credited to Landy McNeil & the Corsairs and released in 1964, arrived after the sound had already been eclipsed by mid-decade hits such as “My Girl” and “Baby I Need Your Loving.”