Paramonts Interview

[boba]

Hi. Today on my radio show I interviewed Walter Coleman, guitarist of the the south side group the Paramonts. Walter was from the west side of Chicago and sang in a group called the Majestics while attending Crane High School. While performing at a show, Walter met a Dusable high school girl group that contained sisters Earline and Cormie Vance. A year later, the group was talking to the owners of Ole records, King Bevill and Browley Guy, about recording for the label. The group contacted Walter to write material to record. A few months later Dusable classmate McKinley Norris joined the group, coming up with the name the Paramonts.

With the lineup of Earline Vance, Cormie Vance, Rosemarie Rice, and McKinley Norris, the group released their only single, "Come go with me" / "I don't wanna lose you" on Ole records, which was written by Coleman. Although "I don't want to lose you" was the intended A-side, DJs ended up flipping the record over and "Come go with me" became a regional hit.

Although the Ole record was the group's only single, the group did do some backing work for other singers. The group backed Bobby Jones on his single, "Check me out" / "Beware a stranger" on USA records. The group also worked with Chicago manager Bernice Williams (who managed the Starlets, Dukays, Accents, and Gene Chandler), backing one of her artists. The session resulted in two tracks, "Ronnie boy" / "Double timing lover", that got released on Detroit's Karen records under the group name "The Antoinettes".

Soon after the group's singles were released, singer Rose Rice died in a house fire. Although group members were devastated, they eventually replaced Rice with Gwendolyn Little, previously of Henry Ford and the Gifts. The new lineup of the group auditioned for Oscar Brown Jr., for his "Opportunity Please Knock" Review. The review was a show Brown organized to take Blackstone Rangers gang members off the street by giving them a creative outlet. The review consisted of several acts performing separately, followed by everyone performing together as the "Opportunity Please Knock Choir." Henry Ford also joined the review as a member of the band and choir.

The review performed in LA for a couple of weeks, returning to Chicago and then going back to LA to perform more dates and to appear on the Smothers Brothers TV show. The Paramonts performed on the show as part of the Choir. The review did a few more shows in California. All the members except Walter returned to Chicago. McKinley Norris went on to join the soul group the Devotions. Walter stayed in Northern California, leading a band known as the Windy City Soul Brothers (which also initially included Henry Ford). The band performed all over the Bay area, performing with such groups as the Whispers and Natural Four. The group eventually shortened their name to the Windy City, eventually breaking up around 1977. Walter stayed in Oakland, starting his own recording studio, and has been recording and producing material on local artists since the late 70s.

You can check out my interview at:

https://www.sittinginthepark.com/interviews.html

thanks,

Bob