About this artist
The Charts’ 1957 hit “Deserie” endures as a doo wop classic, despite the fact that it failed to chart. Formed in 1956, the Harlem-born group — led by lead vocalist Joseph Grier and featuring Leroy Binns, Ross Buford, and Glenmore Jackson — were managed by musician Les Cooper, a native of Norfolk, VA, who had previously been a member of the Empires and the Whirlers, and by the mid-’50s was already a longtime scenemaker on New York’s doo wop scene. Cooper scored the Harlem quintet a contract with Danny Robinson’s Everlast imprint and they recorded their only hit, “Deserie,” the following year. It was covered by the Blue Angels for Del-Fi’s Selma imprint on the West Coast. After a few more 45s for Everlast, the Charts disbanded in 1958. Cooper eventually cut a hit single with his own group, the Soul Rockers, in 1962. The vocal A-side was “Dig Yourself,” but the major hit was the instrumental B-side, “Wiggle Wobble,” which featured a prominent King Curtis-styled tenor sax performance by former-Charts lead singer Grier. ~ Bryan Thomas