Richie Merritt

Richie Merritt photo from The Marcels
Richie Merritt is on the short list of local doo-woppers and soulmen that no one outside the industry has ever heard of.

He still sings occasionally with The Marcels, and has performed with The Clovers, The Memories, and The Drifters.

Since moving to Florida, he's put together his own show for the Sunshine State region audiences, hitting the stage as "Richie Merritt Solo" or as “Richie Merritt & The Gems,” featuring a revue that salutes Little Anthony, Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson, served along with classic R&B, soul, and some oldies' tunes.

Merritt got his start in his native river town of Donora, where he sang in his father's Pentecostal Church as a three-year old. Better know for churning out baseball players like Stan Musial and Ken Griffey, father and son, than singers, Donora still proved to be a fruitful launching pad for Merritt.

He formed his first group there while a grade-school kid, the El Qunitones. In 1960 and attending junior high, Merritt put together The Dragons, named after the DHS mascot. The group included Ted "Reno" Smith, still a Marcel's band-mate, and they stayed together until graduation day.

After earning his sheepskin in 1966, Merritt enrolled in the Army and sang on a USO tour in Germany, where he got the chance to perform with another GI on his way to bigger and better things, Aaron Neville.

After his discharge in 1968, Merritt joined The Electrons as lead singer (after "It Ain't No Big Thing"), remaining with the group for five years. Throughout the following decades, Merritt sang with a "Who's Who" of local groups.

After the Electrons, he moved to the Vibrators, a hot local act during the seventies. They broke up in 1979, and Merritt went on to sing for High Society, primarily a standards band, and The Laurels and The Memories, which were show bands with an emphasis on Motown and slick choreography. He also found time to open a short-lived night club.

He got a little solo love too, when in 1990 "Where Did I Go Wrong?", a song Merritt wrote and recorded, landed in the Top 10 of the Northern Soul-crazed United Kingdom. (It was later released on the 1998 CD "Richie Merritt - Then & Now").

In 1992, Merritt, then with the Memories, was approached by Johnny Mason about joining The Clovers. The wooing eventually worked when in the fall of 1993, he signed on with the band as lead tenor.

The Clovers were booked for Atlantic City six months a year, were regulars on the Carolina "shag circuit," appeared regularly in Vegas, and played in venues across the country.

The group performed on the PBS special, "Doo Wop 51," in 2000. The Clovers were inducted to the Doo Wop Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002. The VGHOF induction performance was Merritt's last as a Clover.

But Merritt didn't have to worry about filing for unemployment after he left. Walt Maddox had a spot saved for him with The Marcels, which Merritt had appeared with during prior performances as a fill-in tenor.

Now, nearly a decade later, he still does special performances with The Marcels (they just did an Erie gig in January at the Presque Isle Track & Casino), and does his own Gulf Coast thing out of his home base of Tampa.

And hey, it doesn't get much better for a sixty-ish Pittsburgh doo-wopper. A resume that runs from the Electrons to the Clovers, a regular schedule of bookings, enough to keep you busy without competing with your tee-times, and a home in the Golden State.

It's a long way from Donora.


"Where Did I Go Wrong?" - Richie Merritt

When "It Ain't No Big Thing" Was A Big Thing

The Electrons of the late 1960's, from Richie Merritt's collection
One of the hot Pittsburgh songs of 1967-68 was "It Ain't No Big Thing," a midtempo soul tune done by the Electrons.

The song was originally done as a beach music tune by the Radiants. It would eventually be covered by 22 different artists, with better known versions done by the Tempests and Jimmie James & the Vagabonds.

The Electrons were seniors from Penn Hills High when they recorded the song in 1967 at Gateway Studios (above the National Record Mart store on Forbes Avenue near Market Square) on their own Shock Label (#289), b/w Wilson Pickett's soul shaker "In The Midnight Hour."

The Electron lineup consisted of former Fi-Dels lead singer Steve Sopko, drummer Cliff Abromats, rhythm guitarist Jimmy Widman, bass guitarist Jim Blinkhorn, Reed Donelli on brass, and lead guitarist and keyboardist Mike Colaizzi.

Abromats founded the band, and kept the business a family affair - his mom and dad (a former WAMO jock) were the de facto managers.

The song was a big thing in the Pittsburgh region - it was a Top Ten tune on WAMO, and made KDKA's Top Twenty - and created vibes in some other eastern and midwest markets. "It Ain't No Big Thing" moved enough wax locally that the Date Label (#2-1575), Columbia Record's soul subsidiary that included Peaches and Herb on its roster, picked it and the band up later in the year.

It was strong enough in the local market to keep the Electrons in business for awhile. They did the Tri-State club and hop circuit, and were regulars on Terry Lee's TV dance show "Come Alive."

And they had to work the circuit hard. The group found their contract with Date was more of a burden than blessing; the label made no effort to promote them or cut any more wax. As soon as the deal was done, they went back to the recording studio.

They put out another 45, "Turn On Your Love Light" b/w "I Who Have Nothing" (Shock #290) in the fall of 1968 with Richie Merritt on lead. He had replaced Sopko, who had left the band in the spring. (A Donora native, Merritt sang for the Mon Valley acts El Qunitones and The Dragons). But "Love Light" never took off the way "Big Thing" did.

"It Ain't No Big Thing" to this day is a popular slab of vinyl in Europe, where the Northern Soul collectors still argue over who turned out the best version.

The Electrons played the region until 1970, when the gang broke up and drifted off to college and the real world. But a couple of the members carried on in the business.

Sopko, now performing as Steve Tori, joined the Exceptions after he left the Electrons, which evolved into an eight-piece show band. He spent three years with them, and then switched gears and formed a trio that played the clubs.

After another three year stint, he went solo. Tori performs in the Pittsburgh and the near Tri-State, taking his act to clubs, restaurants, private functions, and parties. He also does gospel music, singing in area churches.

Richie Merritt opened a night club following the Electrons break-up, but carved out a sweet career on the stage instead of behind it. He sang with High Society, The Vibrators, The Laurels and The Memories.

Then, in 1993, Merritt became the lead tenor for The Clovers and was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon with them in 2002.

They dissolved shortly after, and he joined the Marcels in 2003, with whom he still performs nationally on occasion. Now he's based near Tampa, and does southland R&B gigs both as a solo artist and with his backup group, the Gems.

He also wrote and performed "Where Did I Go Wrong" (RAM Records), a song that made the Top 10 in the United Kingdom in 1990. It's on the self-released 1998 CD "Then And Now". Merritt released a CD collection of crossover hits in 2005, titled "Now."

(Old Mon is grateful to Sonny Derdock of the Penn Hills People website for his help in uncovering the Electrons info, Audrey Monaco Danovich, who provided us with the Electrons players, Mike Colaizzi, and Richie Merritt for his help. Without their kind assistance, there'd be no post. Thanks, guys, we appreciate it.)


Electrons - "Ain't No Big Thing"
And here's the B-Side, "In The Midnight Hour"