The Diamonds were a Canadian quartet of the 1950s and early
1960s who rose to prominence performing cover versions of songs by black
musicians. The original members were: Dave Somerville - Lead, Ted
Kowalski - Tenor, Phil Levitt - Baritone, and Bill Reed - Bass. In 1953,
Dave Somerville was working as a sound engineer for the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto, Canada. One of the shows produced
at the CBC was "Pick The Stars", a local talent show. He
noticed three gentlemen practicing in the hallway for that show, and
stopped to listen. After exchanging amenities, Somerville convinced the
three that, in his opinion, they were not ready for the competition and
offered to be their manager. They agreed and for the next several
months, Somerville provided tutoring, and got practice time in
un-occupied studios at the CBC. That Christmas, the group was to sing
for a Christmas party at a local church. Since Somerville knew all the songs,
he joined the group as lead. The audience reaction to the Dave
Somerville led group was so tremendous, that the group that night
decided to turn professional. Somerville became the permanent lead,
and that was the night The Diamonds were born. Ted Kowalski died of
heart disease on August 8, 2010, Bill Reed passed away on October 22, 2004,
and Dave Somerville died of pancreatic cancer on July 14, 2015,
The Diamonds now feature Joe Finetti (Lead) Jerry Siggins (Bass) Bobby Poynton
(Tenor) and Gary Owens (Baritone).
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
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