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The Four Lads
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Canada has created a wide range of amazing musical acts, from Neil Young, The Band, RUSH and The Arcade Fire, but before all of them, there was The Four Lads.
This group, formed in 1950, would become one of the most successful acts of the early rock era, and would influence many bands to come.
Formed originally as the Otnorots, which is Toronto spelled backwards, the band worked together after school to practice their harmonies, focusing on pop and scared music. Changing their name to The Four Dukes, they found out another band had a similar name and chose instead to call themselves The Four Lads.
Scouted while singing at local clubs, they went to New York and started singing backups for Johnnie Ray, which helped to get them noticed.
Their first single, The Mocking Bird, was released in 1952. One year later, Istanbul (Not Constantinople) was released and helped launch them to stardom, becoming their first gold record.
In 1955, Moments to Remember, was released, which would become their most famous hit. In 1956, they recorded a gospel album that produced the hit Rain, Rain, Rain.
In 1962 and the early 1970s, Corrado Codarini and John Toorish would leave the band. Today, a new group, with original singer Frank Busseri, has formed and tours extensively throughout North America.
While they have not had any hit records since the 1950s, the band continues to be an important part of rock and roll. In total, they had five gold singles from 1953 to 1956. In 1984, the band was inducted to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and in 2003, they were inducted to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
While the band never had a number one hit single in the United States, the Guess Who would be the first Canadian band to do that, they did have two songs reach number two, one reach number three and one reach number seven. In all, they had 24 songs reach the top 30 in the United States between 1953 and 1958.
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