The Crests were a popular New York R&B musical group of the
late 1950s, often thought to be another all-black teenage-sound band,
they were in fact about as integrated as a group could get, with four
men (two of them black, one Puerto Rican and one Italian) and one black
female. The band was founded by JT Carter and included Talmoudge Gough,
Harold Torres, and Patricia Vandross (older sister of the late Luther
Vandross). JT found lead vocalist Johnny Mastrangelo (later just Johnny
Maestro). The group had several Top 40 hits in the 1950s, including "16
Candles", "Step By Step" and "The Angels Listened In".
The Crests were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004. Tommy
Marasciullo (Tommy Mara) purchased the Crest Trademark from TJ Carter and all
the rights to The Crests. Johnny Maestro turned the spector over to Tommy and
he continues to perform in Johnny Maestro's image.
This is a non-profit, informational web page, meant to be a
reminder of the music we listened to 50 years ago. Use of copyrighted
material is consistent with the "fair use" provisions contained in
section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976; the use of copyrighted material is
of a nonprofit, educational nature, intended for the sole purposes of
research and comment and does not significantly negatively affect "the
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