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The Delicates were formed in Belleville, New Jersey in 1958,
when three classmates of Belleville Elementary School #8, Denise Ferri,
Arleen Lanzotti and Peggy Santiglia joined their respective talents together
to form the trio. The name Delicates was chosen because
the parents of Denise Ferri happened to own a DELICATESsen !
The Delicates were a Brill Building girl group that
recorded for four different record companies during the course of their
career: Tender, Unart, United Artists under the direction of Don Costa
and Roulette under the direction of Henry Glover..
The girls were in time introduced to the legendary DJ Murray the K and became his dancing girls. They were regulars on his radio show on 1010 WINS, New York, and wrote and recorded the Submarine Race Watcher's Theme which opened and closed his show. They also appeared on many of the television shows devoted to pop music of the day: Alan Freed's Big Beat, the Clay Cole Show, Rate the Record, American Bandstand, Connecticut Bandstand and Joe Franklin's Memory Lane and the Buddy Deane Show in Baltimore. On stage they were featured performers in Murray the K's holiday shows at the Brooklyn Fox Theater and the Clay Cole show at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater which broke all existing records. Additionally they appeared at the State Theater in Connecticut, the Commack Long Island Arena and on the free act stage at Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey in shows with Clay Cole and Murray the K. The girls also toured with Clay's Twist-a-Rama, replacing the Ronettes.. The Delicates performed with many of the biggest stars in the music business including Connie Francis, Bobby Darin, Johnny Mathis, Neil Sedaka, Brook Benton, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Bobby Rydell, Jackie Wilson, Brenda Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Coasters, Ray Charles, Sam and Dave, the Shirelles, the Four Seasons, the Ronettes and many others. . The girls were unique in that they penned most of the songs they recorded. One special song written and recorded by the girls was Black and White Thunderbird for the Unart label. It was released in June 1959, and because of much airplay it became a significant hit in the New York metropolitan area. The song is much loved by girl group aficionados even today. After some 48 years, Black and White Thunderbird was chosen by Disney/Pixar for inclusion on a CD entitled Lightning McQueen's Fast Tracks, which was inspired by the movie Cars. That CD made the Top 10 on Billboard's Kids' Audio Charts. The song was also chosen by the same Disney producer, Fred Mollin, to become part of a second CD, Buddy Songs. The Delicates were hired by Don Costa, Teddy Randazzo, Henry Glover, Herb Bernstein, Charlie Calello and Hugo Montenergo to sing backup for artists including Al Martino, Connie Francis, Neil Sedaka, Frankie Sardo, Johnny Cameron, Kitty Kallen, Frankie Lymon, Lou Christie, Frankie Valli and Jack Wild. . The Delicates - Denise Ferri, Arleen Lanzotti Gonnella and Peggy Santiglia - are still performing today. |
