America’s Little Darlins The Diamonds were played a demo record of a ballad with a Hawaiian flavor called  "Faithful and True". They really liked it and persuaded Mercury to let them record it.   Mercury agreed, and told them that the flip side would be a cover of a song called "Little  Darlin’" by The Gladiolas, led by Maurice Williams who had written it. Feburary 2, 1957,  they went in to the studio for a recording session and spent a lot of time and effort working  up "Faithful and True", then whipped up a version of "Little Darlin’", complete with an Ink  Spots-like spoken bass solo. That evening they recorded both songs in a long, late  session. The Diamonds tried to concentrate on "Faithful", while David Carroll kept them  working on "Darlin’" until they had a pretty creditable version, which included what must  have been a first, a Latin rhythm cowbell (David Carroll’s brainchild). The Diamonds were  excited as they were sure they had a real winner with "Faithful". They went back on the  road and kept an anxious eye on the charts, but were surprised when "Little Darlin’" started to chart very quickly, while  "Faithful and True" was well behind. "Just wait!", they said.  "Little Darlin’", of course, wound up as the big winner, reaching #2 nationally, - Phil Levitt In September 16, 1957, Mercury released “Silhouettes”. By this time The Diamonds had  their first personell change, when Phil Levitt left in mid year. Mike Douglas was now singing  baritone. “Silhouettes” reached #10 on Billboard but took a lot longer to go gold. The Rays  recorded the original and I recall both versions were popular. Later that year, December 2, 1957, “The Stroll” was released. The kids on American  Bandstand were dancing to a dance called the stroll. Although there wasn’t a song by that  title, Dick Clark is credited with coming up with the idea to have a song named after the  dance. His instinct knew it would be a hit. Good instinct, Dick.  Listen Listen Listen 1984 Inductees in the Canadian Music H.O.F 2004 Inductee into The Vocal Group Hall OF Fame. Pictures 2006 Inductee into The Doo- Wop Hall of Fame of America 1984 recipients of the JUNO AWARD “Little Darlin” “Silhouettes” “The Stroll”