The Students were an American

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

vocal group, which formed in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, United States, in 1957. Although they only released four sides, two of them – "

I'm So Young "I'm So Young" is a song written by William H. "Prez" Tyus, Jr., of Cincinnati, Ohio. First recorded by the Students, the song has received cover versions by Rosie and the Originals, the Del-Vikings, Benjy Ferree, the Beach Boys, Naomi Wilson, ...

" and "Every Day of the Week" – became doo-wop standards. "I'm So Young" in particular became popular and durable, and has been covered by

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

Rosie and the Originals Rosie and the Originals were an American 1960s musical group best known for their single "Angel Baby (Rosie and the Originals song), Angel Baby." Fronted by lead singer Rosie Hamlin, the group produced two singles (including "Angel Baby") for H ...

The Ronettes The Ronettes were an American girl group from Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. The ...

and Kid Kyle and "The Students". The Students won the second-place prize at the amateur talent show at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a not ...

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in 1956. Their winning song, "Jenny Lee" (composed by “Prez” Tyus, who also wrote “I’m So Young”), was later released as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of a song by the Heartbreakers (which was live at the Apollo, also in 1956) on Fordham Records in 1964. Both "I'm So Young" and "Every Day of the Week" were written by William H. "Prez" Tyus, Jr., a local Cincinnati high schooler. Tyus wrote the songs and gave them to a local African-American

vocal group A vocal group is a performing ensemble of vocalists who sing and harmonize together. The first well-known vocals groups emerged in the 19th century, and the style had reached widespread popularity by the 1940s. Types Vocal groups can come in se ...

called the D'Italians. After the group secured a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

Checker Records Checker Records is an inactive record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary of Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded ...

, they renamed themselves the Students, and it was under this name that Tyus's two songs were recorded. On May 29, 1961, the Students original of "I'm So Young" on Argo Records, reached No. 26 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

. On their recordings, all lead vocal parts were undertaken by Leroy King.

Members

*Leroy King, lead vocal *Dorsey Porter, first tenor *John Ford, second tenor *John Bolden, baritone *Richard Johnson, bass *Ralph Byrd, guitar

Discography

On Fordham Records *109 "Jenny Lee" (Prez Tyus) (split 45 with the Heartbreakers recording of "Come Back My Love") - 1964 (recorded in 1956) On Note Records *10012 "I'm So Young" / "Every Day Of The Week" - 1958 *10013 "Wazoo!!" / "Shuffle Stroll" - Jimmy Coe Orchestra - 1958 (The Students sang backup on Coe's recording of "Wazoo!!") *10019 "My Vow To You" / "That's How I Feel" - 1959 On

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

(subsidiary of Chess) **9024 "I'm So Young" / "Every Day Of The Week" - 1958 **1004 "My Vow To You" / "That's How I Feel" - 1962 **9024 "I'm So Young" / "My Vow To You" - 1973 *

Argo Records Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 as a division of Chess Records. Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie objected, and within a couple of months the imprint was renamed Ar ...

(another subsidiary of Chess) **5386 "I'm So Young" / "Every Day Of The Week" - 1961 *

Cadet Records Cadet Records was an American record label that began as Argo Records in 1955 as the jazz subsidiary of Chess Records. Argo changed its name in 1965 to Cadet to avoid confusion with the similarly named label in the UK. Cadet stopped releasing ...

(another subsidiary of Chess; note: same catalog numbers as Argo) **5386 I'm So Young" / "Every Day Of The Week" - 1964

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Students, The Doo-wop groups Musical groups established in 1957 Musical groups disestablished in 1962 Musical groups from Cincinnati 1957 establishments in Ohio