#19: Respectable by the Outsiders
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: September 1966
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #15
YouTube: “Respectable” – The Outsiders
YouTube: “Respectable” – The Isley Brothers (1959)
Lyrics: “Respectable”
Tom King was born in Cleveland in 1942. In 1957, at the age of 15, he formed Tom King & the Starfires. They released a single titled “Ring Of Love” which charted in the Top 30 in Cleveland in the summer of 1960. The Starfires released three more singles that got airplay but not much chart action. Tom King formed The Outsiders, a continuation of the Starfires, in 1965. Joining him were Sonny Geraci on lead vocals. Born Emmett Peter “Sonny” Geraci in 1946 in Cleveland, he was described in a WTAM 1100 radio obituary as “a street kid.” In 1964, Geraci became the lead singer of The Starfires prior to Tom King changing the name of the group to The Outsiders. Along with King and Geraci, Mert Madsen (born 1940 on the island of Samos in Denmark) had been an original with The Starfires, and provided continuity for The Outsiders on bass guitar and backing vocals. Madsen learned to play harmonica at the age of four and piano accordion at the age of ten. He moved with his parents from Denmark to America in 1957. He learned English from watching TV shows and movies. In 1958 he became a member of the Cleveland Heights Barbershop Chorus and Quartet.