The Swans - My True Love 1953

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The Swans (Greenburgh, New York)

Personnel:
Charlie Drew (High Tenor)
Ray Roberts (Baritone)
Donald Sledge (First Tenor)
James Bradham (Second Tenor/Baritone)

Biography:
The group formed around 1951 and was from Greenburg, New York, which is, located about one mile from White Plains. The members at various times included James Brabham, Charlie Drew, Donald Sledge, Charlie Sharrock, Clifford James and Ray Roberts. Sledge was in the service when the record was made. They were just kids hanging around her neighborhood in Greenburg, NY listening to groups like the Orioles, Cardinals and Clovers. They tried to sound like them and after a while, they needed a name so we came up with a ‘bird name’, the Swans.

By 1953, they were playing some clubs in New York City and met Lover Patterson. Patterson was a “jack-of-all-trades” in the New York music scene. He was connected to Eddie Heller’s Rainbow Record Company where he helped the Swans obtain a contract. Brabham stated that he wrote “My True Love” along with Ray Roberts and also collaborated on the flip side “(Ain’t Like That) No More”. He also divulged that Ray Roberts was the lead singer on “My True Love” and that there was some unfinished material at Rainbow Records.

“My True Love” was released on Rainbow number 233 in Dec. 1953. The record went nowhere evidenced by no information about the group or the record in Billboard Magazine’s 1953 or 1954 clippings. Doc Robinson from the Master-Tones, Charlie Drew, and James Bradham joined a resurrected Swans group, along with Charlie Sherock and Ray Roberts. They spent their time rehearsing a couple of songs ("Believe In Me" and "In The Morning").