Biography
The Los Angeles-based Medallions formed in early 1954 and gained lasting recognition for their enduring two-sided release "The Letter" b/w "Buick '59," among the earliest doo wop singles Dootsie Williams issued on his Dootone label.
Sixteen-year-old Vernon Green, a Denver, CO native and polio survivor who walked with a pronounced limp, first drew Williams's attention while singing loudly on an East Los Angeles sidewalk; the Dootone owner promptly urged the teenager to visit his office. Lacking any existing ensemble, Green quickly assembled a street-corner quartet consisting of tenor Andrew Blue, baritone Randolph Bryant, and bass Ira Foley. Because of his habit of wearing medallions around his neck, Green named the new act the Medallions.
Williams arranged studio time, and the group's debut single "The Letter," modeled after the Diablos' popular hit "The Wind," received heavy local rotation in Los Angeles while generating regional success for Dootone in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, even though slow independent distribution kept the record from appearing on national charts. This release established a pattern the Medallions followed on subsequent singles: one side featured romantic ballads delivered with near-agonizing purity, while the flip side offered faster, partly tongue-in-cheek numbers centered on out-of-control automobiles.
Willy Graham soon replaced Blue, and Donald Woods joined to expand the lineup to a quintet; roughly a dozen Dootone singles appeared with this configuration. Bryant took the lead vocal on the final Medallions single Dootone released in mid-1955, after which the original group dissolved. Green immediately recruited tenors Kenneth Williams and Frank Marshall to form the Cameos, who issued a single on Dootone the same month "Edna" appeared; Williams then teamed Green with the Dootones, billed them as the "new" Medallions, and sent the act on a Canadian tour, using a Dootones publicity photo with a cutout of Green's head pasted in the lower left-hand corner.
Woods and the remaining members left to record as the Vel-Aires for Flip. In fall 1955 the reconstituted Medallions—now comprising Vernon Green, his brother Jimmy Green on tenor, former Dootone Charles Gardner on tenor, Albert Johnson on tenor, and Otis Scott on bass—provided backing for Johnny Morrisette on "My Pretty Baby." Additional singles with Morrisette followed, after which the act was officially renamed Vernon Green and the Medallions and cut three sides for Williams's newly rechristened Dooto label.
In 1957 the ensemble moved to Art Rupe's Specialty Records and adopted the name the Phantoms, performing in hoods; the disguise proved transparent because Green remained the only lead singer in Los Angeles known to rely on a cane due to polio. Later that year Green returned to Dooto with another Medallions lineup that included Billy Foster, Kenneth Williams, and Jimmy Green. By 1962 Vernon and Jimmy Green, along with Gardner, Johnson, and Scott, recorded for Pan World; in 1964 Jerome Evans, Ed Carter, and the two Green brothers cut the next Medallions single for Minit. A mid-1960s car accident sidelined Green for nine years, after which he reappeared on Dooto in 1973 as a solo artist attempting soul material, supported by Evans, his sister-in-law Maxine Green, and Doris Green. Although he never recovered his earlier momentum, Vernon Green continued performing despite recurring health problems and eventual confinement to a wheelchair.
Sixteen-year-old Vernon Green, a Denver, CO native and polio survivor who walked with a pronounced limp, first drew Williams's attention while singing loudly on an East Los Angeles sidewalk; the Dootone owner promptly urged the teenager to visit his office. Lacking any existing ensemble, Green quickly assembled a street-corner quartet consisting of tenor Andrew Blue, baritone Randolph Bryant, and bass Ira Foley. Because of his habit of wearing medallions around his neck, Green named the new act the Medallions.
Williams arranged studio time, and the group's debut single "The Letter," modeled after the Diablos' popular hit "The Wind," received heavy local rotation in Los Angeles while generating regional success for Dootone in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, even though slow independent distribution kept the record from appearing on national charts. This release established a pattern the Medallions followed on subsequent singles: one side featured romantic ballads delivered with near-agonizing purity, while the flip side offered faster, partly tongue-in-cheek numbers centered on out-of-control automobiles.
Willy Graham soon replaced Blue, and Donald Woods joined to expand the lineup to a quintet; roughly a dozen Dootone singles appeared with this configuration. Bryant took the lead vocal on the final Medallions single Dootone released in mid-1955, after which the original group dissolved. Green immediately recruited tenors Kenneth Williams and Frank Marshall to form the Cameos, who issued a single on Dootone the same month "Edna" appeared; Williams then teamed Green with the Dootones, billed them as the "new" Medallions, and sent the act on a Canadian tour, using a Dootones publicity photo with a cutout of Green's head pasted in the lower left-hand corner.
Woods and the remaining members left to record as the Vel-Aires for Flip. In fall 1955 the reconstituted Medallions—now comprising Vernon Green, his brother Jimmy Green on tenor, former Dootone Charles Gardner on tenor, Albert Johnson on tenor, and Otis Scott on bass—provided backing for Johnny Morrisette on "My Pretty Baby." Additional singles with Morrisette followed, after which the act was officially renamed Vernon Green and the Medallions and cut three sides for Williams's newly rechristened Dooto label.
In 1957 the ensemble moved to Art Rupe's Specialty Records and adopted the name the Phantoms, performing in hoods; the disguise proved transparent because Green remained the only lead singer in Los Angeles known to rely on a cane due to polio. Later that year Green returned to Dooto with another Medallions lineup that included Billy Foster, Kenneth Williams, and Jimmy Green. By 1962 Vernon and Jimmy Green, along with Gardner, Johnson, and Scott, recorded for Pan World; in 1964 Jerome Evans, Ed Carter, and the two Green brothers cut the next Medallions single for Minit. A mid-1960s car accident sidelined Green for nine years, after which he reappeared on Dooto in 1973 as a solo artist attempting soul material, supported by Evans, his sister-in-law Maxine Green, and Doris Green. Although he never recovered his earlier momentum, Vernon Green continued performing despite recurring health problems and eventual confinement to a wheelchair.
Albums
Singles
