Maurice Williams was born April 26,1938, in Lancaster, South
Carolina he had his first experience with music in the church, where his
mother and sister both performed. By the time he was six, he was
performing regularly there. With his childhood friend Earl Gainey,
Williams formed the gospel group 'The Junior Harmonizers', but as rock
and roll and doo-wop became their primary interest, the Junior
Harmonizers changed their name to 'The Royal Charms'. In the winter of
1956 while still in high school they went to Nashville to record , the
founder of Excello Records, Ernie Young, convinced them to change their
name to 'The Gladiolas. Maruice wrote Little Darilin and it was a #11
hit on the R&B chart in 1957, but did not break the Billboard Hot
100's Top 40.However, when the song was covered by the Canadian group
The Diamonds, it moved up to #2. Williams finished high school and while
on the road with the band (after their station wagon broke down in
Bluefield, West Virginia), the band came across a small car known as "The
Zodiac" and the band changed their name.
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
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