The Jay Hawks

During the late '50s and early '60s, it wasn't uncommon to find doo wop and R&B singers recording and performing under numerous monikers, often trading out group members or substituting them at the last moment; everyone was expendable and no one person's identity created the group itself. The L.A.-based Jay Hawks were one of these acts and are best remembered for recording the original version of "Stranded in the Jungle" (1956), a novelty recorded by another group sharing its membership between two names/record labels, the Cadets/the Jacks.



Carver Bunkum (bass), Carl Fisher (second tenor), Dave Govan (baritone), and Jimmy Johnson (lead) were high schoolers whose audition of an original, "Counting My Teardrops," impressed Flash Records' owner, who offered to put up the money to record it. It wasn't until their second Flash release, "Stranded in the Jungle," that the group became a success, drawing a lot of local L.A. airplay. "Stranded" was, incidentally, one of the first instances where a producer did what is called sampling; that is, the song included sound bites from other popular songs of the day, using the lyrics of these songs as news bulletins interrupting the verses.

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