The group evolved from another
doo wop group known as the Rainbows, who had an influential presence on the
Washington D.C. music scene and released three
singles for
Bobby Robinson's
Red Robin Records. Although the Rainbows were not very commercially successful on a national level, songs such as "Mary Lee", "Shirley," and "Minnie" have since become collectors' favorites. Founder of the Rainbows, Chester Simmons (
bass), formed the Marquees with singers who had occasionally performed in his former group, including Reese Palmer (first
tenor),
Marvin Gaye (second tenor,
baritone; he would change the spelling to "Gaye" when he became a soloist), and James Nolan (baritone). Simmons had partnered with Gaye to join the Marquees, a name proposed by Gaye himself, after he had recently returned from the
United States Air Force in early 1957. The group performed in the D.C. area and soon were introduced to
Bo Diddley, who began working with the Marquees in his home recording studio. Diddley assigned the Marquees to
Columbia subsidiary label
Okeh Records after unsuccessfully attempting to get the group signed to his own label,
Chess. On September 25, 1957, the group entered the CBS Building in
New York City to record five songs. Among them were "Wyatt Earp" and "Hey Little School Girl", backed by Diddley's band, as well as "Billy's Heartaches" and "Baby, You're My Only Love", which had the Marquees record with singer
Billy Stewart. Re-recorded versions of "Wyatt Earp" and "Hey Little School Girl" and Stewart's sides were released in November 1957; however, Okeh completely ignored the records and they quickly fell out of public notice. In 1960, the New Moonglows released their follow-up single, "Mama Loochie", which was Gaye's first lead vocal recording. As a result of a lack of commercial success and Fuqua's interest to establish his own record label, the group disbanded soon after. Gaye relocated to Detroit with Fuqua where he signed with Tri-Phi Records as a
session musician, before achieving tremendous success as a solo artist. Simmons became an independent
record producer in the mid-1960s. Chuck Barksdale died May 15 2019. ==References==