Wade Flemons

Best remembered for the series of singles he recorded for the legendary R&B imprint Vee-Jay, singer Wade Flemons was born September 25, 1940, in Coffeyville, KS, and raised in nearby Wichita. After the Flemons family moved to Battle Creek, MI, in 1940, he formed a vocal group dubbed The Newcomers. Although he signed to Vee-Jay in 1958 as a solo act, his self-penned debut single, "Here I Stand," was nevertheless attributed to Wade Flemons & The Newcomers, cracking the Top 20 on the national R&B charts. The Newcomers were no more by the time of the follow-up, 1959's "Hold Me Close"; two more singles appeared that year -- "Slow Motion" and "Goodnight, It's Time to Go" -- neither of them hits. However, in 1960 Flemons returned to the charts with his biggest hit, "Easy Lovin'," which reached the R&B Top Ten; its B-side, "Woops Now," was also a significant hit in scattered regions of the country. A self-titled LP preceded his next single, "Ain't That Lovin' You, Baby," and in 1961 Flemons returned to the charts one final time with a reading of the Percy Mayfield hit "Please Send Me Someone to Love," which squeaked into the R&B Top 20.

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