Ronnie and the Crowns formed as early as 1962 at Westdale Junior High in Baton Rouge. Members on the single may include:
Ronnie Sherlock – vocals
Jimmy Rogers – lead guitar
Cal Arnold – bass
A.J. Miceli – drums
Although not audible on the single, the band also included a full horn section at some point:
Charlie Spinoza – trumpet
Ivan Bergeron – trumpet
Tommy Berthelo – tenor saxophone
Richard Sherlock – baritone saxophone
In 1966 they recorded their one excellent single on Stephanie Records of Baton Rouge #MX-957. One side is “Love You So” written by James M. Rogers, lead guitarist in the group and featuring his super-trebley and reverbed guitar. The flip is a cover of Lenny Capello’s New Orleans classic “Cotton Candy” (“I know my Candy is always handy”).
Ronnie Sherlock produced the Ronnie & the Crowns single. My copy is pretty rough, but it’s inscribed “from Richard & Ronnie” on the “Cotton Candy” label.
I don’t know much about Stephanie Records, other than seeing a list of 10 or so singles released on the label. Sam Montel (S.J. Montalbano) must have owned the label as two early releases have his name as producer. Also, the MX- prefix is present on all releases on the label, and shows up on many releases on the Montel and Michelle labels, as does the Red Stick Music publishing, used for “Love You So”.
Thanks for the memory!!
I was the tenor sax for Ronnie and the Crowns when this record was cut.
I played with the crowns for little over 2 years. I was the replacement for Tommy Berthelot when I started with the Crowns. The Crowns were awesome and well managed by the Sherlock brothers, Ronnie and Richard.
Ronnie passed away in June of 2018.
I have pics of the band and pics of the record we cut. If anybody wants a copy just email me. I can’t seem to attach them on this format.
Hi Mr. Galtier,
I’m not sure if you’ll get this or not, but it’s worth a shot 🙂 Anyway, my name is Melissa Hayden, the owner of Classic Vinyls in Baton Rouge, La. I’m talking with Mr. Richard Sherlock right now, who’s about to come DJ an oldies bash for me. We were just talking about all of this – the Montalbanos and the Crowns. If you have pics of the band and the record, I’d love to get a copy. I’m also going to try to track down a copy of that Cotton Candy record to surprise Mr. Sherlock with. He’s a very nice man!
Thanks!
Melissa,
Just ran across this post. I am Wayne Galtier the tenor sax player in the Crowns at the time. I have a few pics of the band if you would like. Just email me at “theballyhole@cox.net and I will send them to you!
The Crowns were an awesome band. I loved playing with them.
Wayne Galtier
Email: theballyhole@cox.net