The Ultimate History Of Rock 'n' Roll - Chapter1 Rock Pioneers

Carl Perkins - Blue Suede Shoes

Chubby Checker - Let's Twist Again

Son of the Mask (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

The Twist

Chubby Checker - The Twist

Rock & Roll High School

(We're gonna) Rock around the clock

Elvis Presley - Jail House Rock

Bill Haley & His Comets - Shake, Rattle And Roll (1954)

Elvis Presley -All Shook Up

The Chordettes- Lollipop

Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs were an American doo-wop/R&B 
vocal group, active during the late 1950s and early 1960s. 
Originally "The (Royal) Charms", the band changed its name 
to "The Gladiolas" in 1957 and then "The Excellos" in 1958, 
before finally settling on "The Zodiacs" in 1959. 

Williams was born April 26th, 1938 in Lancaster, South Carolina. 
He had his first experience with music in the church, where his 
mother and sister both performed. By the time he was six, 
Williams was performing regularly there. With his childhood 
friend Earl Gainey, Williams formed the gospel group...
 'The Junior Harmonizers', but as rock 'n' roll and doo-wop 
became their primary interest, the Junior Harmonizers 
changed their name to 'The Royal Charms'. 

The Royal Charms and The Gladiolas... In addition to Williams 
and Gainey, The Royal Charms were made up of Willie Jones 
(baritone), William Massey (tenor, baritone, trumpet), and 
Norman Wade (bass). In the winter of 1956, while still in high 
school, Williams and his band traveled to Nashville, Tennessee 
to record for the Excello record label. At the time they were 
still going by the name 'The Royal Charms,' but the founder 
of Excello Records, Ernie Young, convinced them to change 
their name to 'The Gladiolas.' At the time, there were at least 
two other bands using the same name. 
The song "Little Darlin'" was a #11 hit on the R&B chart in 
1957, but did not break the Billboard Hot 100's Top 40. 
However, when the song was covered by the Canadian 
group 'The Diamonds', it moved up to #2. 

Maurice Williams finished high school and while on the road 
with the band (after their station wagon broke down in 
Bluefield, West Virginia), the band came across a small car 
known as "The Zodiac" and the band changed their name 
-one last time, to, "Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs". 
Shortly thereafter, Henry Gatson replaced Earl Gainey. In the 
spring of 1959, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs performed 
at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. 
Around that time, the group split and reformed. The members 
were then Williams, Gatson, Wiley Bennett, and Charles Thomas. 
Later, Little Willie Morrow along with Albert Hill were added. 
One month later, in the early summer of 1959, the band 
recorded in a Quonset Hut on Shakespeare Road in Columbia... 
The recording engineer, Homer Fesperman, recorded several 
tracks that the band had hoped would fetch them a hit... 

One of the last tracks that they recorded that day was "Stay," 
a song that Williams had written a couple of weeks before. 
After taking the demo of "Stay" to Al Silver at Herald Records 
in New York City, the song was pressed and released in early 1960. 

"Stay" is the shortest recording ever to reach Number One on 
the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States - at 1:39, although 
the label read 1:50. 

Later versions of "Stay" recorded by The Four Seasons (1964), 
and Jackson Browne (1978) also reached the Top 20, each selling 
over one million copies in the United States alone.
At the end of 1963, British band "The Hollies" covered "Stay", which 
gave the group their debut Top Ten hit single in the UK, peaking at #8. 

The inclusion of "Stay" on the soundtrack to the film "Dirty Dancing" 
in 1987 led to the song selling even more records than it had during 
its original release in 1960.

Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs - Stay (Remember "Dirty Dancing") (MASTER/1962)

Little Bitty Pretty One - Thurston Harris

1962-Big Girls Don't Cry-The Four Seasons

Chubby Checker - Let's Twist Again

Interscope Records