Biography
In the closing months of 1955, the King Toppers came together as an R&B vocal ensemble in Dayton, Ohio. High school alumni Dave Colter on tenor and Don Turner on baritone launched the project during their time at Central State College, soon bringing in bass singer Louis Day, second tenor Jesse Hines, high tenor Grant Kitchings, and guitarist Welton Young. First billed as the Corvettes, the group became a regular presence on the Dayton club and talent-show circuit. In fall 1956 the members headed to New York City for an audition at the Apollo Theater’s amateur showcase. When Hines withdrew at the last moment, Young moved into the second-tenor slot; the Apollo appearance went well yet failed to secure first place. The quartet stayed in New York, working Harlem nightclubs, and there befriended Aaron “Tex” Cornelius of the Orioles, who arranged an RCA Victor audition. The label rejected their demos. After Colter departed to start a family, the remaining four members renamed themselves the King Toppers and, in late 1956, recorded a session for Jubilee. Before the year ended, Day was drafted and Kitchings soon followed, dissolving the King Toppers just before their only release, the 1957 single “You Were Waiting for Me,” appeared on Jubilee’s Josie subsidiary. Young eventually returned to Dayton and formed the duo Dean & Jean with singer Brenda Lee Jones, earning two Top 40 pop hits with “Tra La La La Suzy” and “Hey Dean, Hey Jean.”