The Flares

The Flairs (or Flares) were an American doo-wop group based in Los Angeles. They went through several lineup changes during their existence. Their notable members included Richard Berry (writer of 'Louie Louie') and Cornell Gunter, who would go on to being a member of the Coasters.

In 1952, an African-American musical group calling themselves the Debonaires had formed in Los Angeles, with members Arthur Lee Maye, Pete Fox, Obediah Jessie, Joe Winslow, and A.V. Odom. Winslow dropped out, leaving the qroup a quartet. Bass man Odom was out soon after, and was replaced by Richard Berry. Maye began putting baseball ahead of singing (he would later be a professional baseball player for the Milwaukee Braves), and the group brought in Beverly Thompson to replace him. Cornell Gunter, who had recently left the earliest lineup of the Platters, came in to make the group a quintet. The Debonaires made a handful of recordings for Recorded In Hollywood with no real success.

The group then found Modern Records, and were transferred to Flair Records, owned by a brother of the owner of Modern. At this point, the Debonaires changed their name to the Flairs. Although named after the label, they had little success there. They recorded several singles through 1953, beginning with "I Had a Love". The next was "Rabbit On A Log", which was credited to the Hunters, to avoid competition with "I Had A Love". More singles followed into 1954. Thompson left in the summer of 1954. The group performed as a quartet, and brought in Charles Jackson as a fifth member on recordings.

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