Cadets

Cadets are an American doo wop group from the United States, first forming as the gospel group the Santa Monica Soul Seekers in the late 1940s. The line-up includes Lloyd McCraw, Willie Davis, Austin “Ted” Taylor, Aaron Collins, Glendon Kingsby and Will “Dub” Jones. Kingsby leaves when the group moves away from gospel and into R&B after auditioning for Modern Records in 1955.

Early recording history

Modern Records gives the group the name the Cadets and issues their first single, “Don’t Be Angry” backed with “I Cry”. Collins sings the A-side and Taylor sings the flip side. The group follows with a series of singles, recording for Modern as the Cadets and for the subsidiary RPM label as the Jacks. One planned version of The Feathers’ “Why Don’t You Write Me?” is issued under the Jacks name to avoid competing with “Don’t Be Angry”; Davis leads the song and Dub Jones leads the reverse side, “Smack Dab In the Middle”.

Line-up changes and key recordings

McCraw leaves at the end of 1955 and is replaced by Pete Fox. In March 1956 the group joins Buck Ram’s management agency. Taylor later leaves for a solo career and is replaced for one session by Prentice Moreland. That session produces “Stranded in the Jungle”, a cover of a song by The Jayhawks, with spoken passages by Dub Jones and a duet refrain by Davis and Collins. Moreland delivers the line “Great moogly moggly, get me outta here!” on the recording. The flip side, “I Want You”, is led by Jones.

Later activity

After that session, Davis, Collins, Jones and Fox continue as a quartet. They keep recording under both the Cadets and Jacks names, but tour only as the Cadets, sometimes performing Jacks songs live. Collins is drafted in 1956 and briefly replaced by Ted Taylor before returning. In 1957 albums appear under both names on Modern and RPM, with some Cadets tracks used on Jacks releases and vice versa. The group stops touring later that year after not matching the success of “Stranded in the Jungle”.

Break-up, later reunions and related acts

In 1957 Aaron Collins and the Cadets issue a single with studio singers backing Collins. The group then splits at the end of the year. Collins and Davis join the Flairs, Fox becomes a guitar teacher, and Jones joins the Coasters. Additional Cadets recordings appear in 1960 with Davis and Collins working with the Flairs.

The group reforms in the late 1990s with Davis, Fox, Randy Jones and Tommy Turner, and appears on the PBS special Doo Wop 51. In 2001, while rehearsing for a show with the Doo Wop Society of Southern California, Jones is taken to hospital and the other three perform as a trio. Jones has a stroke and dies a few months later. The group later adds bass singer Ed Carter and continues to perform.