The group originated in
Ozone Park, Queens in 1957 when they were teenagers. The original members were Rosario Morice (aka Sonny Boy, Lead), though he left the group before recording he has always been recognized by the group when attending a performance. Nick Santamaria (aka Nick Santo, lead), Mike Mincieli (first tenor), Frank Reina (second tenor), Vinnie Naccarato, (baritone), and John Cassese (bass). They were all around 15 years of age at the time and still in school. Rosario, Vinnie, Mike, Tony, and John all went to
John Adams High School, while Nick was a student at Woodrow Wilson and Frank attended
Franklin K. Lane. Mike Mincieli, started the group and recruited the members. In the spring/summer of 1958 the final member was recruited and really got things together. They originally called themselves "the Supremes" but soon changed to "The Capris." It is often thought their name came from the island of Capri, since the boys were all Italian, but Nick confirmed in a 1993 interview with Greg Milewski, that they named themselves after the 1957 Lincoln Capri. By 1958 the group had started gaining experience and popularity by performing at local venues, school dances and churches. They attracted the attention of independent record producers. Soon they would record their first single.All of the original members were
Italian Americans from the borough of
Queens in
New York, United States. When the record sold badly, they disbanded and went their separate ways. of the 1961 number three
national hit. Their break came when they responded to an ad placed in a local paper by two wanna-be producers. At the audition, they sang a ballad, "There's A Moon Out Tonight" (words and music by Joseph Luccisano, Alfonso Gentile & Alfred Striano) and soon they found themselves at
Bell Sound Studios New York cutting the song, along with an uptempo number, "Indian Girl." Released on Planet Records in the autumn of 1958, the record became an almost instant obscurity. (An original Planet pressing of the single can now fetch up to $1500 in collectors circles.) "There's A Moon Out Tonight" has a unique ending, chiming down from falsetto to bass instead of the other way around. Each Capri sings the tune's title in turn, but slightly lower (and slower) than the preceding member. Along with that song, they only recorded one other song, entitled "Indian Girl," on the flip side. An obsessive record collector Jerry Greene (later the owner of the reissue label Collectables) was working at Times Square Record Shop (a purveyor of records located in the heart of Times Square, Broadway and 42nd Street), not for money, but in exchange for hard-to-get records. Under the wise ownership of Irving "Slim" Rose, the subway arcade shop influenced radio play and record sales nationwide in the early 1960s. Since the doo-wop sound was still current in New York City in the early 1960, it was possible for some 45s specifically reissued at Slim's behest to receive much wider airplay, as new singles, since they were not national hits (or, in many cases, even known) on first release. "There's a Moon Out Tonight," The Shells' "Baby Oh Baby," the Chanters' "No, No, No," and, notably, the Edsels', "Rama Lama Ding Dong," all began their long ascent of the national charts from that lowly subway arcade. For a time, the Capris toured and performed in major venues all over the United States, but none of their follow up records sold well, and by 1963, members of the original group started to leave the ensemble. including nine compositions by Santo. "The Morse Code of Love," one of Santo's songs, quickly became a requested number on
Oldies radio, with many disc jockeys and audience members believing it to be an unreleased song by the original Capris. In 1984,
The Manhattan Transfer recorded "The Morse Code of Love" as "Baby Come Back to Me" for their
Bop Doo-Wopp album and released it as a single. It reached number 83 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and number 14 on the
Adult Contemporary Chart. Santo, Mincieli, and Reina, with other singers, continued to perform as the Capris until at least 2002. The Capris are still performing with Frank Reina (original member ) Mike Mincieli (born Michael Mincieli; their original first tenor) died on March 15, 2015. Wayne Smith, their most recent lead singer, died on March 12, 2016. ==Style==