1961 Cathy Jean and the Roommates – Please Love Me Forever
Steve Susskind and Bob Minsky met in Junior High School and began singing as a duo in the late fifties. When they competed in a singing competition at Forest Hills High School they came in second behind the duo of Tom and Jerry…who later performed as Simon and Garfunkel. They added two tenors to their group (Jack Carlso and Relix Alverez) and they named their group the Roommates.
The Promo Record Label released the group’s first record, Making Believe. The single was a cover of a Country hit by Kitty Wells. It failed to chart nationally. Gene and Jody Malis managed the group, and after their single failed to catch on, they formed the Valmor record label.
Singer Tommy Edwards reached #18 in 1951 with his single All In The Game. In 1958 he recorded a new version that climbed all the way to the top of the Hot 100 in September. The B-side of the record had his recording of Please Love Me Forever, which managed to reach #61 a few weeks later.
Valmor recorded a cover version of Tommy’s B-side with 14-year-old singer Cathy Jean Giordano. After the recording session ended, the managers decided that the record sounded too sparse, and they brought in the Roommates and added harmony background vocals. The result was the single Please Love Me Forever by Cathy Jean and the Roommates. Because of the way the recording was created, Cathy Jean and the Roommates didn’t even meet until after the record began getting airplay.
Disk jockey Murray The K had a show on 1010 WINS in New York City, and in late 1960 Please Love Me Forever won the title of Boss record of the Week on Murray’s show. The single entered the national charts early the next year and peaked at #12 on the Hot 100 in April 1961.
The Roommates got a free recording session as a thank you for helping out with the Cathy’s recording. Valmor released one of the songs, The Glory Of Love, as a single. The earlier hit versions of the song included a single by Benny Goodman in 1936 and an R&B hit by the Five Keys in 1951. About a month after Cathy’s record started to fade off the charts, the Roommates’ single reached #49.
Cathy never charted again, and she got married and left the music industry. The Roommates continued recording without any additional chart action and disbanded in 1965.
In the late sixties, Cathy recruited some new backup singers and began appearing in oldies shows. She was still performing live through at least 2012, including a performance on PBS.
Bobby Vinton covered Please Don’t Stop Loving Me and his single reached #6 on the Hot 100 in 1967.
http://www.history-of-rock.com/cathy_jean_and_the_roomates.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_Jean_and_the_Roommates
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