Biography
Twin brothers Cliff and Claude Trenier, both born on 14 July 1919 in Mobile, Alabama, USA, established their initial ensemble, the Alabama State Collegians, while attending college in the 1930s and took the group on tour following their graduation in 1941. In 1943 Claude departed to fill the role of ballad singer left vacant by Dan Grissom in Jimmie Lunceford’s Orchestra, with Cliff joining the same ensemble the next year. During 1946 Claude contributed vocals to recording sessions led by Barney Bigard and Charles Mingus. The brothers launched their independent career in 1947, assembling a small group that featured Don Hill on alto saxophone and Gene Gilbeaux on piano, and under the name Trenier Twins they cut sides for Mercury Records before moving on to Chord in 1949 and London Records in 1950. Milt and Buddy, their additional siblings, had joined by 1951, after which the foursome recorded for OKeh Records from 1951 to 1955, RCA Records’ Vik subsidiary in 1956, Brunswick Records in 1957, and Dot Records in 1958.
Having emerged as a signature visual attraction of the first wave of rock ’n’ roll and thereby spawning imitators such as the Comets and the Bellboys, the Treniers performed in several prominent rock ’n’ roll films, among them Don’t Knock The Rock and The Girl Can’t Help It, and traveled to Europe in 1958 as the opening act on Jerry Lee Lewis’s ill-fated tour. Throughout the 1960s they shifted increasingly toward supper-club engagements and released albums on Hermitage, TT, and their own Mobile Records imprint. Following Cliff’s death in 1983, Claude maintained leadership of the Treniers alongside older brother Buddy, who died in 1999, nephew Skip on vocals, and Don Hill on alto saxophone. Claude Trenier remained active until two months prior to his death from cancer in November 2003 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Having emerged as a signature visual attraction of the first wave of rock ’n’ roll and thereby spawning imitators such as the Comets and the Bellboys, the Treniers performed in several prominent rock ’n’ roll films, among them Don’t Knock The Rock and The Girl Can’t Help It, and traveled to Europe in 1958 as the opening act on Jerry Lee Lewis’s ill-fated tour. Throughout the 1960s they shifted increasingly toward supper-club engagements and released albums on Hermitage, TT, and their own Mobile Records imprint. Following Cliff’s death in 1983, Claude maintained leadership of the Treniers alongside older brother Buddy, who died in 1999, nephew Skip on vocals, and Don Hill on alto saxophone. Claude Trenier remained active until two months prior to his death from cancer in November 2003 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.