The Four Lads

The Four Lads were a singing group. They grew up together in Toronto, Ontario, and were members of St. Michael's Cathedral Choir School, where they learned to sing. The founding members were Corrado "Connie" Codarini, bass; John Bernard "Bernie" Toorish (born March 2, 1931), lead; James F. "Jimmy" Arnold, (January 4, 1932-June 15, 2004) first tenor; and Frank Busseri, baritone and group manager. Codarini and Toorish had formed a group with two other St. Michael's students, Rudi Maugeri and John Perkins, who were later to become founding members of another group, The Crew-Cuts. The group was known variously as The Otnorots (a name taken from the name "Toronto" spelled backwards) and The Jordonaires (not to be confused with a similarly named group, The Jordanaires, that was known for singing background vocals on Elvis Presley's hits). When Maugeri and Perkins left the group to concentrate on their schoolwork, Codarini and Toorish joined with Arnold and Busseri in a new quartet. At home, they practiced until they achieved their clean-cut harmonies, whether for spirituals, sacred music, or pop. They originally called themselves The Four Dukes but found out that a Detroit group already used that name, so changed to The Four Lads. In 1950 they began to sing in local clubs and soon were noticed by scouts. Recruited to go to New York, they were noticed by Mitch Miller, who asked them to do backup for some of the artists he recorded. One unknown artist Johnnie Ray, became a major hit with "Cry" and "The Little White Cloud that Cried" with the Four Lads behind him. This made them well known.

Gold records

• "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" (recorded August 12, 1953)
• "Moments to Remember" (recorded June 21, 1955)
• "No, Not Much" (recorded November 16, 1955)
• "Standin' on the Corner" (recorded March 1, 1956)
• "Who Needs You?" (recorded October 18, 1956)