2 June 1943, New York City, New York, USA. Jimmy Castor was a contemporary of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers during the mid-50s. His group Jimmy Castor And The Juniors (bass singer Al Casey Jnr, tenor Johnny Williams and baritone Orton Graves), recorded a song for Wing Records that Castor had penned, "I Promise To Remember", which Lymon and his group then covered and turned into a hit in 1956. Due to the similarity of their singing styles, Castor often sang with the Teenagers in Lymon's place.
After that brief flirtation with music, Castor finished school, but he returned to the music business in the mid-60s, forming the Jimmy Castor Bunch. The group had a US soul hit in 1967 with "Hey, Leroy", on Smash Records, and then disappeared for six years. In 1972, now signed to RCA Records, Castor and his current Bunch - Gerry Thomas (keyboards, trumpet), Doug Gibson (bass), Harry Jensen (guitar), Lenny Fridle Jnr. (percussion) - came back with their biggest hit, "Troglodyte (Cave Man)", which reached number 6 in the US singles chart. Castor had two final charting dance singles, "The Bertha Butt Boogie (Part 1)" and "King Kong (Part 1), on Atlantic Records in 1975. The Jimmy Castor Bunch went on to record several albums for various labels, four of which charted in the USA during the 70s. Castor recorded as a solo artist from 19876 onwards, often for his own Long Distance label. He enjoyed a comeback hit in 1988, dueting with Joyce Sims on "Love Makes A Woman".
DISCOGRAPHY: Hey Leroy! (Smash 1967)***, It's Just Begun (RCA 1972)****, Phase II (RCA 1972)***, Dimension III (RCA 1973)**, The Everything Man (RCA 1973)**, Super Sound (Atlantic 1975)**, Butt Of Course (Atlantic 1975)***, E-Man Groovin' (Atlantic 1976)***, Maximum Stimulation (Atlantic 1977)**, Let It Out (Drive 1978)**, The Jimmy Castor Bunch (Cotillion 1979)**, "C" (Long Distance 1980)**.
Tags: Soul
