The Goldenrods

The Goldenrods, a doo wop ensemble, came together in Gary, Indiana during 1955. An account posted on Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks site lists the initial members as tenors Crosby Harris, Hiawatha Burnett, Robert Garth and Cleve Denham, along with sibling baritones Sylvester and Jerome Armont, baritone Jesse Rodgers and bass Clarence McClam. Local favorites the Spaniels provided the chief inspiration, while Burnett supplied the group’s name by repurposing a writing tablet he had bought for a school assignment. Their first public appearance occurred at a high-school talent show, yet the oversized roster hindered the development of tight harmonies; consequently the roster had shrunk by 1957 to Harris, Burnett, Denham, Rodgers and newly recruited bass Charles Colquitt. After both Vee-Jay and United rejected them until they produced original songs, Burnett supplied four numbers that the quintet cut for Vee-Jay in late 1958. The resulting single “Color Cartoons” reached stores in early 1959, though the label’s decision to withhold promotional copies severely limited its radio exposure. Harris and Rodgers both married in 1959, prompting their departures and the group’s dissolution. Colquitt subsequently joined the Spaniels on tour in place of bass Gerald Gregory. In May 2004 he and Burnett fronted a revived Goldenrods configuration assembled for a United in Group Harmony Association revue.