THE "LEE MAYE" PAGE:

Above: (Left) Lee Maye at age 17 in 1951. (Right) Lee Maye played major league baseball from 1959 to 1971, after five years in the minors.
(Click on the Lee Maye 1970 baseball card to see information about his major league career.)

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"Truly" - Arthur Lee Maye/Crowns - RPM 424 - 1955
"Love Me Always" - Arthur Lee Maye/Crowns - RPM 429 - 1955
"Please Don't Leave Me" - Arthur Lee Maye/Crowns - RPM 438 - 1955
"Gloria" - Arthur Lee Maye/Crowns - Specialty 573 - 1956
"A Fools Prayer" - Arthur Lee Maye - Dig 133 - 1956
"Cause You're Mine Alone" - Arthur Lee Maye - Flip 330 - 1957
"Will You Be Mine" - Lee Maye - Cash 1063 - 1961
"All I Want Is Someone To Love" - Lee Maye - Cash 1065 - 1961

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The story of Arthur Lee Maye is one that's a bit different from those of other R&B singers. Lee also had a second, concurrent career as a professional baseball player. Since baseball was Lee's major concern (singing would always be possible, but playing ball only lasts for a short time), most of the sessions that he was on were recorded in the off-season (October through February). This is why there are gaps in recording sessions, followed by clumps of activity.

Arthur Lee Maye was born in 1934 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but his family moved to Los Angeles when he was very young. He attended Jefferson High where he sang in a group called the Carmels - Eugene Taylor (lead), Arthur Lee Maye (tenor), Delmar Wilburn (tenor - he was later in the Turks), Norman Manley (baritone) and Charles Holmes (bass).

Lee's recording career started in early 1954 (the same year he began playing ball for the Milwaukee Braves' Boise, Idaho minor league team). He joined up with bass Johnny Coleman and, because he knew the Flairs from Jefferson High (where they would "all go doo-wopping up and down the halls"), Flairs' bass/baritone Richard Berry. This unnamed trio was brought into the studio twice by FLAIR Records; the first time the label named the group the "5" Hearts ("The Fine One"/"Please Please Baby"). Since there were only three singers, this may explain why the company put the number 5 in quotes. The next time, the label called them the Rams ("Sweet Thing"/"Rock Bottom").

Meanwhile, Lee was getting a group together which would come to be known as the Crowns (named after the CROWN recording company, part of the MODERN/FLAIR/RPM complex). Their first appearance on record was backing Richard Berry (with no label credit). This song, "Please Tell Me," has the following personnel: Richard Berry (lead), Arthur Lee Maye (tenor), Charles Colbert (tenor), Joe Moore (baritone) and Johnny Coleman (bass). They're not on the flip (the Berry solo, "Oh Oh Get Out Of The Car"). Berry who loved to sing, was singing with the Flairs, the Crowns and the Dreamers at the same time, as well as doing solo work. Also note that the male group backing him on "Jelly Roll" is not the Crowns (the label identifies them as the "Dreamers"; the flip is by the regular female Dreamers).

Finally, in late 1954 or early 1955, the Crowns got to record as the Crowns. Their first release was MODERN 944, "Set My Heart Free." The personnel was the same as "Please Tell Me," with the addition of sixth member Johnny Morris (tenor). The flip, "I Wanna Love," done at the same session, uses Randy Jones as bass instead of Johnny Coleman. Jones, who sang with several California groups, including the Penguins, was in the studio at the time and was grabbed for the song. One reason that there is always such a bewildering variety of singers in a group over the span of its career is explained by Lee: "We used different guys 'cause some couldn't follow certain parts; we were all learning how to sing. If someone was there and sounded good, we used him."

The Crowns did several more sides for MODERN (all released on its RPM subsidiary). These don't have Johnny Morris and so the group was back down to a quintet. From here on, Lee did lead on all Crowns sides.

Although singing was done for many reasons - enjoyment and pride being the most common - the lack of money hurt. After the 1955 baseball season (playing for Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Yakima, Washington, both part of the Braves' organization), Lee took the Crowns to another label. It was possible to get small advances from MODERN, but when it came time to receive royalties, the advances always seemed to have canceled them out. Their next stop was Art Rupe's SPEClALTY label, where, with the same five guys, they cut "Gloria" and "Oh Ruby Lee" (which was misspelled on the label as "Oh-Rooba-Lee").

The Crowns didn't do any better money-wise with Specialty, so when the 1956 baseball season (with the Evansville, Indiana team) ended, Lee teamed up with bandleader Johnny Otis, who was putting a group together to do a tour of northern California and needed someone who had the time to go. The other members of the group were: Mel Williams (baritone lead), Harold Lewis (tenor) and Sonny Moore (bass). The group was called the Jayos (that's J.O. as in Johnny Otis), and after the tour they did some recordings of former R&B hits for Otis' DIG label. Since the sides weren't all recorded at the same time, they contain various combinations of six singers - the four touring Jayos plus Jesse Belvin and Richard Berry. Lee does lead on all these sides: "Honey Love," "Earth Angel," "Gee," Only You," "At My Front Door," and "One Mint Julep." "Sh-Boom" and "Sincerely" featured other leads. Lee was not on any other sides credited to "The Jayos." Some combination of the Jayos (with Jesse Belvin) cut "So Fine" as the Sheiks for FEDERAL.

In addition, Lee got to record the Crowns on DIG (although only his name appears on the label). Richard Berry had given up on all his groups by that time and the personnel on "This Is The Night For Love," "Honey Honey," "Whispering Wind," and "A Fool's Prayer" were: Lee, Charles Colbert, Joe Moore, Johnny Coleman (moving up to baritone) and Charles Holmes (bass).

1957 saw Lee with the Jacksonville, Florida club and, at the end of that year, another Crowns' record, this time on FLIP. Once again, only Lee's name is on the label, but the personnel on "Hey Pretty Girl"/"Cause You're Mine Alone" is the same as on the DIG sides.

In 1958, Lee was with the Braves' Austin, Texas and Wichita, Kansas teams and the group did some sides for CASH, owned by the widow of John Dolphin, who had been murdered the previous year. The Crowns were brought to CASH by an employee of the company, Henry Strogin. The label of "Will You Be Mine" and "Honey Honey" credits "Lee Maye of the Milwaukee Braves." Again, only Lee's name appears on the records, but the Crowns are there, with Lee's brother Eugene (tenor) replacing Charles Colbert.

In 1959, Lee played for Louisville, Kentucky and then finally made it to the Milwaukee Braves as an outfielder; he remained with them until 1965. However, baseball was taking its toll on the Crowns. While Lee was on the road, they did back-up work whenever possible (possibly backing Richard Berry on some sides), but had no direction. Then Lee moved to Milwaukee and later Houston, so he was able to spend even less time with the group. However, he figured that that kind of singing was fading anyway, so he let Henry Strogin borrow the group for some early 1960s recordings. Billed as "Henry Strogin and the Crowns," the rest of the group was: Eugene Maye (tenor), Charles Colbert (tenor), Joe Moore (baritone) and Johnny Coleman (bass). These were the last recordings by the Crowns.

The rest of the recordings by Arthur Lee Maye were solo efforts. Around 1963, he did "Halfway Out Of Love With You" for LENOX. In 1964, he did some recordings for JAMIE. The JAMIE sides were recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and some of the tunes done there for producer Huey Meaux ("Have Love Will Travel" and "Loving Fool") were also released on Meaux's own JETSTREAM label. "Have Love Will Travel" was re-released on Guyden as by the Off-Beats (Lee was backed by a Nashville studio group), with an instrumental on the flip.

In 1965-6, Lee played for the Houston Astros and recorded for TOWER. 1967-9 saw him play with the Cleveland Indians (and record some more solos on PACEMAKER, ABC PARAMOUNT and BUDDAH - for which he did the old Jim Reeves song, "He'll Have To Go"). 1969-70 found Lee with the Washington Senators and finally in 1970-71, the Chicago White Sox.

Lee did one more recording, in 1985: "Moonlight" (not the Orioles' tune) for Dave Antrell's ANTRELL label. Dave did most of the back-up harmony; the other voice is Charles Williams.

Although "Truly" and "Love Me Always" were local hits thirty years ago, unfortunately the Crowns never had a nationwide hit. On July 17, 2002, Arthur Lee Maye died from complications of liver cancer.

DISCOGRAPHY - THE CROWNS

FLAIR (as The "5" Hearts; a trio; see text)
1026 The Fine One (All)/Please Please Baby (ALM/RB) — ca. 2/54

MODERN (The Crowns)
944 Set My Heart Free (ALM)/I Wanna Love (ALM) — 11/54

FLAIR (as The Rams; same trio as the "5" Hearts; see text)
1066 Sweet Thing (All)/Rock Bottom (All) — 3/55

FLAIR (The Crowns, but label only credits Richard Berry)
1064 Please Tell Me (RB)/[Oh Oh Get Out Of The Car - Berry] — 55

RPM (The Crowns)
424 Truly (ALM)/Oochie Pachie (ALM) — 2/55
429 Love Me Always (ALM)/Loop De Loop De Loop (ALM) — 5/55
438 Please Don't Leave Me (ALM)/Do The Bop (ALM) — 10/55

NOTE: The following sides were cut for Specialty, but first appeared on a bootleg RPM 45 (probably the same way the Specialty Dukes sides were released on bootleg Imperial 45s): Cool Lovin' and Please Say You Love Me. The actual title of "Please Say You Love Me" is "Don't You Know I Love You So." These are NOT unreleased RPM tracks.

SPECIALTY (The Crowns)
573 Gloria (ALM)/Oh-Rooba-Lee (ALM) — 3/56        (NOTE: Title should be "Oh Ruby Lee")

UNREL: Cool Lovin' (ALM), Don't You Know I Love You So (ALM) (aka Please Say You Love Me - see note under RPM)

DIG (Arthur Lee Maye [& Crowns] - group not given credit)
124 This Is The Night For Love (ALM)/Honey Honey (ALM) — late 56
133 Whispering Wind (ALM)/A Fool's Prayer (ALM) — late 56

FLIP (Arthur Lee Maye [& Crowns] - group not given credit)
330 Hey Pretty Girl (ALM)/Cause You're Mine Alone (ALM) — 12/57

UNREL: I'll Have Memories Of You; Tell Me, Tell Me Darling — late 57

CASH (Arthur Lee Maye [& Crowns] - group not given credit)
1063 Will You Be Mine (ALM)/Honey Honey (ALM) — 59        (Label credits "Lee Maye of the Milwaukee Braves")
          Reissued as Imperial 5790 in 1961
1065 All I Want Is Someone To Love (ALM)/Pounding (ALM) — 59


LEADS: ALM = Arthur Lee Maye; RB = Richard Berry

DISCOGRAPHY - THE JAYOS
(those songs have Arthur Lee Maye)

DIG LP 104 ("Johnny Otis Rock n' Roll Hit Parade")
      Honey Love (ALM),         Sincerely (??),
      Sh-Boom (??),                  Only You (ALM),
      Earth Angel (ALM),          At My Front Door (ALM),
      Gee (ALM),                     One Mint Julep (ALM)


LEADS: ALM = Arthur Lee Maye

DISCOGRAPHY - ARTHUR LEE MAYE SOLOS

LENOX
5566 Halfway Out Of Love With You/I Can't Please You — 63

JAMIE
1272 Who Made You What You Are/Loving Fool — 64
1276 How's The World Treating You/Loving Fool — 64
1284 Only A Dream/The Breaks Of Life — 8/64
1287 Who Made You What You Are/Even A Nobody — 64

JETSTREAM (JAMIE cuts)
735 Have Love Will Travel/Loving Fool — 64

GUYDEN (JAMIE cut; as by "The Off-Beats")
2101 Have Love Will Travel/[Doodlum - Instrumental] — 64

TOWER
243 When My Heart Hurts No More/At The Party — 66

PACEMAKER (also CHESS 2000)
252 Fools Rush In/Jes' Lookin' — ca. 67

ABC PARAMOUNT
11028 If You Leave Me/The Greatest Love I've Ever Known — 68

      UNREL: Smack Dab In The Middle, I Can't Get You Out Of My Head

BUDDAH
141 He'll Have To Go/Jes' Lookin' — 69

PIC-ONE
115 Today Today/Touch Me On My Shoulder — late 60s/early 70s
120 Total Disaster/What's Happening — late 60s/early 70s
126 Stop The World/At The Party — late 60s/early 70s

NOTE: #115 & 120 are by "Lee Maye", #126 is by "Arthur Lee Maye".
(Info for PIC 1 provided by John Ridley and Doug Hanners)

HAPPY FOX ["Country Boys & City Girls (featuring Lee Maye)"]
511 Forgetting Someone/Forgetting Someone — ca. 8/76

ANTRELL
102 Moonlight/I'm Happy And In Love — late 85

DISCOGRAPHY - THE CROWNS WITHOUT ARTHUR LEE MAYE

CASH (backing Cry Baby Curtis)
1062 I Wanna/Did You Think I Care — 59

DYNAMIC (backing Henry Strogin)
1002 Why Did You Go Away/My Aching Feet — 60
1002 Why Did You Go Away/Tutti Frutti [alternate flip] — 60

AMAZON (backing Henry Strogin)
1001 I'll Tag Along/I Love L.A. — 61

BALL (backing Henry Strogin)
1015 I'll Tag Along/Why Did You Go Away — 61

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Last Updated: February 22, 2004

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