The band was formed under the name Patio Kids in 1956 by McCormack, Stephens and de Cordova, who were Plainview High School classmates. They were then joined by drummer Charles Jay Edmiston and, in early 1957, and they rechristened themselves the Rock ‘n’ Rollers with the arrival of another guitar player, Jimmy Torres. They began recording in Amarillo, Texas, as the Rock'n Rollers, under their first manager Johnny Voss, Keith McCormack's Uncle. Their first single was on the Ven label. In the later fifties they began recording at
Norman Petty Recording Studios in Clovis, New Mexico. McCormack’s mother, Glynn Thames, paid for their first recording session. Those recordings were subsequently sold to Imperial Records, but the songs did not get much play. Allen then replaced Edmiston who left to join the military. The group changed its name to The Leen Teens and recorded "So Shy" and "Dreams About You," which also met with little success on the Imperial label. In 1960, they signed with Petty, who became their manager and brought their songs to
Warwick Records. Petty suggested changing their name to The String-A-Longs. "
Wheels," was released in December 1960 and became a hit, peaking at number 3 on the
Billboard Hot 100. The record was the number 8
single of 1961 according to
Billboard. The track reached number 8 in the
UK Singles Chart. Warwick Records declared bankruptcy in 1962. The band had filed suit for royalties. McCormack claimed the band was owed $700,000 (the equivalent of nearly $7 million in 2004). There are more than one hundred cover versions of "Wheels," including by
Joe Loss ("Wheels Cha-Cha") and
Billy Vaughn. The String-A-Longs followed up "Wheels" with "Brass Buttons" (U.S. No. 35), "Should I," and "Replica." In 1962 they moved to
Dot Records and disbanded by 1964. Petty continued to own the String-A-Longs name, and to avoid confusion between the instrumental sound of
The Fireballs and that group's current vocal hit "
Bottle of Wine," it was decided to reuse the String-A-Longs name for the LP
Wide World Hits on
Atco in 1968. This is actually the Fireballs performing the music under the String-A-Longs moniker. The original String-A-Longs lineup reunited for the Clovis Music Festival in 2006. Keith McCormack, singer, guitarist and songwriter, died of a stroke on April 10, 2015, at the age of 74. Both drummer Don Allen and guitarist Richard Stephens died in 2019; lead guitarist Jimmy Torres died in 2023. ==Singles==