The Duprees

Hello Chrissie & Phil,

It was during the summer of 1960 when "The Original Duprees" first got together. Joey Canzano, aka Chubby, aka Joey Vann and myself, Tom Bialoglow were formerly part of a quartet called The Utopians. Joe Santollo & Mike Arnone sang with a group called The Elgins. These are the true facts. John Salvato came from another group. At that time I did not know the name of the group he sang with. Over the years I have read that it was called The Panics. Since I have never spoke to John with regard to that named group that he supposedly came from, it is to me unsubstantiated.

The first name we selected to call ourselves was The Parisians. The name came from a hair dressing salon near Journal Square in Jersey City where Mike Arnone was employed as a hair dresser. Each of the groups we had previously sang with were dis-banded. We all came from different parts of the city and did not attend the same high schools. We got together with a goal in mind. John Salvato told us of a person who wanted to manage a group. At the time, John was impressed by his credentials. The rest of us did not know the man. After several weeks of rehearsals he came down to Joe Santollo's house, where we would practice in Joe's basement. His name was Dave Zaan. We were equally impressed by each other. So in Sept. of 1960 we signed on with Dave Zaan for a contract of management. Dave didn't place us with any record company but he did try. The one positive step that took place while we were associated with Dave was that he took us to Bell Sound where we recorded some demo's.

Two years later after going through two other managers with nothing to show for it. John Salvato brought those demo's up to Coed Records in The Brill Bldg. at 1619 Broadway,NY. The CEO of Coed Records a man named George Paxton was impressed by what he heard and asked us to come in for an audition. George was a former big band leader in the city. He was also a musician and an arranger. He had an idea to incorporate the musical arraignments of a big band, in the Glen Miller style to support our vocal efforts. So we signed a six month contract with two one year options. Within several months time we were in the studio recording "You Belong To Me", the rest is history.

Tom Bialoglow,

"Original Duprees"