The Fabulous Shantels

The Fabulous Shantels came out of the Cincinnati and northern Kentucky music scene. Teen Beat Mayhem gives the band’s location as Covington, Kentucky, but Kip Brown tells me the members may have come from both sides of the Ohio River.

I can find notices of the Shantels playing live as early as September 5, 1964 at the Mabley & Carew fashion show with Bob Keith and Jim Martin of WCPO. In late November 1964 they appeared at screenings of Roustabout and other films at the Oakley drive-in on Madison Rd.

By November, 1965, they were playing at WSAI-sponsored dances, usually at the Withamsville-Tobasco Community Park Hall, with groups like with Gary & the Hornets, the Topics and the 2 of Clubs. On February 26, 1966, WSAI broadcast live a ‘Swing Thing’ from Shillito’s featuring DJ Dusty Rhodes and the Shantels.

A September 1966 letter to the Enquirer mentions a fan club for the Shantels headed by Darleen Nieporte of Cincinnati and Camille Canfield of South Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky. It also gives the band’s names and instruments:

Mike Dektas – organ
Mike Mays – lead guitar
Jay Ecton – bass
Terry Williams – drums

On November 12, 1966, the Enquirer profiled the band in its “Teen-Ager” section (see photo at top). The article renders Jay Ecton’s name as “Jay Cee Ectcon” which seems like a typo (not uncommon in the Enquirer at the time!)

In late December 1966 the Enquirer published a letter from Sandye Utley and Peg Rouse that they were running their own fan club for the band and that the group had recorded “Remain Unknown”.

In January, 1967, Dusty Rhodes wrote a letter from Detroit, Michigan where he was working at CKLW:

I have had several letters about the Fabulous Shantels band, a group who I worked very closely with while I was in Cincinnati. The fellows were here in Detroit just after Thanksgiving to visit, play a dance and have a recording session.

The band recorded four numbers at the Sound, Incorporated Studios in New Haven, Michigan. We were all satisfied with the session and the “rough” tapes. However, the rush of the holidays and the opening of additional studios by the company has delayed the “mastering” of the Shantels recordings.

This is the story for all the Shantel fans and I hope we have a hit.

Keep up the good work with “Teen-Age,” Ruth. I wish the teens of Detroit had something like it.

Despite the difficulties in mastering, the record did come out, probably in early 1967, on Sound Inc. SI-160.

“Remain Unknown Girl” was a group original (Dekias, Mays, Ecron, Williams on the credits), published by Sidrian Music BMI. The song features a long biting lead guitar solo and a sneering lead vocal as well as a melody that sounds very familiar though I can’t place it offhand.

The lyrics are a bit obscure:

You want little girl that we go on a date,
Because complications are so very frustrating
You need to be here right by my side,
You gotta stay close to be in my pride (?)

Remain unknown girl …

If you want to be content both day and night,
When decisions are made be right by my side
Well you’re going to have to play a special game,
To be satisfied to be known only by your name,

Remain unknown girl …

It’s a rare disc, one that has eluded many collectors, so I don’t think it got any distribution to speak of, whether in Detroit or the Cincinnati area. I haven’t heard or found any mention of the other two songs recorded at the sessions; they may be lost.

The band’s name was wrongly rendered as the Chantels when the song appeared on the compilation Michigan Mayhem vol. 2.

The band continued to play Withamsville dances in early ’67, then drop out of sight for a time. On November 26, 1967, the Shantells and the Topics seem to have combined to become a new group called the Turkey Combo! The name stuck for more shows in December ’67 with the Outcasts and in January 1968 with the Jerms. They changed the name to the Blackberry Time Tables for a Montgomery Hall show in February ’68. That’s the last trace I can find of them.

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