In March 1953, they returned to Toronto and appeared as an opening act for Gisele MacKenzie at the Casino Theatre. While they did get a record with Thrillwood Records and recorded a song titled "Chip, Chip Sing A Song Little Sparrow", this led to no improvement in their fortune, however, and they continued playing minor night clubs. They worked clubs in the Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, New York area, but saved up their money and drove to New York City, so they could appear on Arthur Godfrey's television and radio program, Talent Scouts, where they came in second to a comedian. All four of the members were at the time working at jobs with the Ontario government, but quit their jobs to sing full-time. The group was originally called The Four Tones (not to be confused with The Four Tunes, a group on the borderline between pop music and rhythm and blues).Ī Toronto disk jockey, Barry Nesbitt, put them on his weekly teen show, whose audience gave the group a new name, The Canadaires. They joined with Barrett and Ray Perkins in March 1952. When the Four Lads returned to Toronto for a homecoming concert, John Perkins and Maugeri ran into each other and decided that they could themselves have a musical future. Maugeri, John Perkins, and two others (Bernard Toorish and Connie Codarini) who later were among the Four Lads first formed a group called The Jordonaires (not to be confused with a similarly named group, The Jordanaires, that was known for singing backup vocals on Elvis Presley's hits) and also The Otnorots ("Toronto" spelled backwards being "Otnorot"), but they split from the group to finish high school. Michael's Choir School in Toronto, which also spawned another famous quartet, The Four Lads. Pat Barrett (Septem– July 27, 2016) (lead and tenor).
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