Book description
In 1953, the same year that Elvis Presley cut his first demo, Cash
Box magazine named the Hilltoppers the top vocal group of the year.
Hits such as "Trying" and "P. S. I Love You" raced
up the charts and kept the group in Billboard's Top 40. The four
fresh-faced singers appeared on The Toast of the Town with Ed
Sullivan, who introduced them to the nation. On weekends the
Hilltoppers performed in cities across the country, but on Monday
mornings they were better known as Western Kentucky State College
students Jimmy Sacca, Seymour Spiegelman, Don McGuire, and Billy
Vaughn. The Korean War, military drafts, and changing public tastes in
music, however, cut short singing careers that should have lasted much
longer. Sacca was drafted in 1953, mere months before the end of the
war. Vaughn left the group shortly after that for a career at Dot
Records and found fame elsewhere with his orchestra. McGuire and
Spiegelman were drafted as well, and despite a set of temporary
replacement members, the group eventually called it quits. Fifty years
later, historian Carlton Jackson revisits the Kentucky college kids
who made it big between classes. He follows the group from their first
hit, recorded in Western's Van Meter Auditorium, to their brief 1970s
reunion. Their story recalls the nature of celebrity and youth in the
early days of rock 'n' roll.
""A pleasant return to nostalgia."" -- Journal
of American Cultures
Carlton Jackson is University Distinguished Professor at Western
Kentucky University and the author of numerous books and articles. His
book Hattie: The Life of Hattie McDaniel was listed by the New York
Times as one of the fifty most notable books of 1989.
