The Three Suns - Biography
By J Poet
The Three Suns were an instrumental trio, and although they’re known today as a kitsch act, they were serious, and at times, experimental musicians. They struggled to make a living until 1944 when their recording of “Twilight Time” became a million seller. In the 50s, Morty Nevins took over the group and musicians came and went; they recoded as a trio, quartet and even an all guitar band. Al Nevins went on to start the publishing house, Aldon Music, with Don Kirshner; the company published “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and “Up On The Roof” by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield.
The Three Suns were secretive about their lives and little is known about their personal history. Brooklyn born brothers Al Nevins and Morty Nevins started the band in the late 30s with their cousin Artie Dunn. Their combination of lead accordion, rhythm guitar and jazzy organ was unusual, even in their heyday. Arrangements varied from the bland to the bizarre, and everything in between. Al Nevins was the group’s mastermind, and loved odd sounds and jarring changes in tempo, time, and chord structure. After a few years working clubs in New York City they moved to the Adelphia Hotel in Philadelphia, then back to the Hotel Picadilly in New York. They got a two-week gig in 1940, but proved so popular that they stayed at the hotel for seven years. Their first big hit was 1944’s “Twilight Time”, which was immediately covered by Doris Day with Les Brown's band and Teddy Walters with Jimmy Dorsey’s band. Buck Ram, who went on to create The Platters, wrote the lyric to the original Three Suns melody, and helped make the song a standard. They recorded 78 RPM singles, including “Peg O’ My Heart”, which went to #1 in 1947, for Majestic, Decca, Hit, and Varsity, before signing with RCA in 1949. The band’s pre-RCA recordings are compiled on Twilight Time ( 1958 Rondo-lette).
The first Three Suns albums for RCA were issued on 10” EPs and 45 RPM and 78 RPM boxes. They include The Three Suns in Three-Quarter Time, Hands Across the Table and The Three Suns Present Your Christmas Favorites. When LPs came in the band made Soft and Sweet (1955 RCA, 1999 Collectables), My Reverie (1956 RCA), High Fi and Wide (1956 RCA) and Midnight for Two (1957 RCA, 1999 Collectables), on which the band’s quirkier side began to emerge. The band and their RCA arrangers - Marty Gold and Sid Ramin – often brought in other musicians. Artie Dunn couldn’t read music, so studio musicians often played his parts and on tour other players often augmented the line up as well.
When Stereo came in, RCA and The Suns wanted to take advantage of what they thought was a novelty sound. They arranged ping-ponging percussion, broke up melodies into short four bar phrases that jumped from the left to right hand speaker, added echo and other space age effects.
Albums from this era include Things I Love in Hi Fi (1958 RCA), Let's Dance with The Three Suns (1958 RCA), Love in the Afternoon (1958 RCA), A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas!(1959 RCA), a campy classic that sounds like a drunken office party run amuck, Twilight Memories (1960 RCA, 1995 RCA), On a Magic Carpet (1960 RCA), Dancing on a Cloud (1961 RCA), which included snippets of more than 40 swing band standards, the percussion heavy Fever and Smoke (1961 RCA), Movin' 'n' Groovin' (1962 RCA) their stereo masterpiece full of zany percussion and peculiar arrangements, Warm and Tender (1962 RCA), One Enchanted Evening (1964 RCA), A Swingin' Thing (1964 RCA) and Country Music Shindig (1965 RCA) an extended medley of country tunes old and new.
By the mid-1950s, The Three Suns had spilt in two. Al Nevins was based in New York and made The Three Suns albums, while Artie Dunn was on the road doing with a rotating cast of players that included Tony Lovello, Joe Vento, and Pete Selvaggio on accordion and guitarists Joe Negri, Johnny Romano and Del Casher, who helped develop the Ecco-Fonic, an early reverb/tape delay unit for electric guitar.
In 1966 Morty Nevins put together yet another version of the band for The Three Suns 16 Greatest Hits (1966 Musicor) on which they re-recorded some of the band’s classic tracks before breaking up. Al Nevins also made four solo albums for RCA billed as Al Nevins and his Orchestra – Escapade in Sound (RCA 1956), Bon Voyage (RCA 1957) full of sound effects to give the impression of a trip to exotic locals, odd tempo changes and quirky arrangements, Lights and Shadows (RCA 1958), and Dancing with the Blues (RCA 1959). Most of the Three Suns catalogue is long out of print, but there are a few compilations available including: The Three Suns 1949-1956 (1994 Circle) and The Three Suns 1949-1953 (1994 Circle), pre-RCA sides from various labels, The Golden Hits of The Three Suns (1986 Golden).
