Biography
Prior to issuing their 1960 instrumental smash "Wheels," which climbed to the number-three slot, the String-A-Longs had already placed singles on the market under a pair of earlier monikers. The group’s first effort appeared in 1958 while they operated as the Rock 'n' Rollers, and the follow-up arrived the next year once they had adopted the name Leen Teens. Imperial issued the Leen Teens’ only 45, one side of which—“Dream Around You”—amounted to unremarkable late-’50s teen pop; the flip offered stronger, more driving Tex-Mex rock whose naïve Holly-esque character echoed much of the material Norman Petty oversaw after the death of his star client Buddy Holly. Both tracks later resurfaced on the String-A-Longs retrospective The Tex-Mex Teen Magic of the String-A-Longs, a CD anthology that also contained an unreleased Leen Teens recording titled “Mary Mary,” written by former Holly collaborator Bob Montgomery.