The Fantastics

[jillfoster]

Besides their one big hit, "Something Old, Somthing New"... I just disocvered this song, and WOW is it beautiful. Can't find much info on the group,though.... where are they from? How long were they active, etc....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr5rbD2iAS8

[MIKEW-UK]

ASK THE LONELY THE FANTASTICS not a bad version of the Four Tops goody!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCyPEw_8R9M

I saw them in the UK, I remember the confusion regarding The Fabulous Temptations / The Fantastics name..... this was at a time when fake groups were being put together and then legal action put a stop to it, as far as possible... take four guys, red or lime green suits, some choreography and it was enough to satisfy many!

http://www.california-ballroom.info/bands/the-fantastics.htm

[honest man]

Hello there is also a version of this song recorded by the Drifters ,around the same time,love the drifters version for many years,cheers.

[MIKEW-UK]

The Four Tops original of "ASK THE LONELY" - rare video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiyFpvmk-qA&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

[MIKEW-UK]

Jill, did you see this video of an early Fantastics song? The Fantastics - There Goes My Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XcrqQ2acn4&playnext=1&list=PL88D991610CA59EB5

[platters81]

the Fantastics morphed out of the Velours........they were resident in the UK in the early 70ts.....theirMGM/ Mojo 45 is great ...two excellent covers....also that Bell 45 was written by two excellent Brit songwriters........

[robb_k]

3263
Yes. Those RCA Fantastics were a completely different group.

[mark speck]

Jill--here they are as the Velours, doing their version of a Four Seasons' song, "I'm Gonna Change"

http://youtu.be/x4FR9m5IsZU

Best,

Mark

[francis t]

I believe Ritchie Pitts lives in Yorkshire UK and has appeared from time to time under the Velours or Ritchie Pitts of the Velours name.He also has appeared with some of the visiting groups at the Prestatyn Weekenders.He is very much a friend of the northern soul scene, and a really nice guy.
In the days of the Fantastics the group used to perform a great version of Exodus.
I always believed they changed their name to after arriving in the UK and finding themselves billed as a fake group.I could be wrong, but they were certainly excellant live.Ritchie released a good version of Every Couples not a Pair on Contempo
regards
francis t

[robb_k]

3268
I've always thought the Velours on MGM were a continuation [[albeit with some member changes) of the DooWop Velours group who had recorded for Onyx, Orbit and Cub Records in the mid-late '50s and into the early and mid '60s. MGM bought Onyx Records to use their group/singers roster to start out their R&B subsidiary Orbit Records. Onyx's A & R man [[owner?) and office personnel were to run the new label. After 3 releases, Orbit Records in L.A. threatened to sue them for stealing their registered name. So Orbit was re-named Cub Records, as a child of The MGM lion.

[MIKEW-UK]

Richie Pitts has had a VERY interesting career in addition to The Fantastics and The Velours....he also performs as one of the Invitations.. and he is currently a music teacher at Huddersfield University in England.

Richard Pitts

Richard Pitts is one of Huddersfield’s vocal tutors, and specialises in the performance of popular music. He has studied with Graham Godfrey in London, Dr J Dillard in North Carolina, and at the University of Sheffield. His professional engagements have included work with The Velours and The Fantastics Soul Bands, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

I believe he even did a duet with Sarah Brightman on a musical - 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Lud's Wedding ... I Love My Wife - [[featuring Ritchie Pitts/Sarah Brightman)

[chalky]

The Velours according to Soul Harmony Singles on MGM were Jerome "Romey" Ramos [[lead), John Cheathom, Donald Haywoode, Richard Pitts, formerly of the R&B group The Newtones on Baton and the Soul group The Strangers on WB.
Ramos, Cheathom and Haywoode were formerly of the R&B Velours on Onyx, Cub etc.

[acooolcat]

Does anyone have any info' on The Fantastics that recorded for the Ann Arbor, MI label DMD around 1964?

The two sides are:
A. Goodbye to Love
B. I Don't Know

Most of the releases on the DMD label were by Duane Calvert.

[PhillyKen]

I will be playing Richie pitts and the Strangers 45 on WB tonight on lou rallo's big beat show on rutgers Univ radio 88.7 and nj.com/wrsu internet at 7 pm est.hope some can catch it.

[CliveR]

I have fond memories of being, with Tony Cummings, the first UK journalists [[for Shout magazine) to interview the 'Fantastic Temptations' - as they were being billed by the promoter for a UK tour late 1960s- and discovering that these were The Velours - all is revealed in my book 'Really Sayin' Something- Memoirs of a Soul Survivor', published by Bank House Books [[by the way, has anyone heard from Bankhouse Dave recently?). Beware- there is another group of 'Fantastics!'- new UK funk band.
Clive R

[MIKEW-UK]

Clive, I remember seeing them in Plymouth as The Fantastic Temptations. I remember my disappointment that there were only four singers on stage, not five.....and then their faces weren't the same as on the album covers I had studied. And they didn't sound the same as they did on my records.

However, such was the thrill of the choreography, the brilliant red suits etc, most of the audience had no reason to believe anything other than these were indeed the original Temptations!