The Three Chuckles were an early American rock & roll group from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. Although designated rock & roll by contemporary observers, the sound of The Three Chuckles is closer to vocal pop, in hindsight. They formed around 1950, naming themselves after a popular candy of the day, and played East Coast establishments. Original accordionist/keyboardist Phil Benti left the group in the mid-1950s and was replaced with

Teddy Randazzo Alessandro Carmelo "Teddy" Randazzo (May 13, 1935 – November 21, 2003) was an American pop songwriter, singer, arranger and producer, who composed hit songs such as "Goin' Out of My Head", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle", "Pretty Blue Eyes", ...

, then a teenager. In 1954, they recorded a song called "Runaround", written by a

truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster, or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; a HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

named Cirino Colacrai, and released it on Boulevard Records 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 ...

to "At Last You Understand". The single was picked up for national distribution by

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

, and "Runaround" became a hit, peaking at No. 20 on the US national chart. With their newfound fame, Randazzo became the lead singer and songwriter. They scored two further hits on the new ''

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 ...

'' charts: "Times Two, I Love You" (No. 67, 1955) and "And the Angels Sing" (No. 70, 1956). In 1956 the Three Chuckles performed the song "Cinnamon Sinner" in the movie, ''

The Girl Can't Help It ''The Girl Can't Help It'' is a 1956 American musical comedy film starring Jayne Mansfield in the titular role, Tom Ewell, Edmond O'Brien, Henry Jones, and Julie London. The picture was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin, with a screenplay ...

''. Also in 1956,

Alan Freed Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965) was an American disc jockey. He also produced and promoted large traveling concerts with various acts, helping to spread the importance of rock and roll music throughout Nor ...

offered them a spot in his movie '' Rock, Rock, Rock''; following this Randazzo left the group for a solo career. Jackie Farrell joined after Randazzo left, but the group did not return to record, and broke up by 1958. Randazzo recorded solo. Tommy Romano continued in the music industry, performing into the 1970s. In 1997,

Collectables Records Collectables is a reissue record label founded in 1980 by Jerry Greene. Jerry Greene formed Lost Nite and Crimson record labels. Soul Survivors gained the hit "Expressway to Your Heart" (1967) while on Crimson Records. History It maintains a ca ...

issued a collection of Three Chuckles songs on CD.

Members

*Tommy Romano - vocals, guitar *Tommy "Russ" Gilberto - vocals, bass *Phil Benti - accordion *

- accordion, vocals *Jackie Farrell - accordion

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Three Chuckles, The Musical groups established in 1950 Musical groups from Brooklyn X Records artists