The Castelles were admired for years as the originators and the epitome of the “Philadelphia Sound”, which features a high tenor lead, a bass, a seemingly endless supply of tenors in strong harmony, and minimal instrumentation. Listen for it not only in the Castelles, but in those other two contemporary Philadelphia groups, the Dreamers and George Tindley and the Dreams. In spite of its popularity with collectors, however, groups with the “Philadelphia Sound” only managed to have regional hits, not national ones.

George Grant, lead singer of the Castelles, is often thought to be one of the first examples of the very young high tenor sound , that would culminate with Frankie Lymon

Frankie Lymon

Franklin Joseph "Frankie" Lymon was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of a New York City-based early rock and roll group, The Teenagers. The group was composed of five boys, all in their early to mid teens...

 and his hundreds of imitators. This is not exactly accurate. Although many fans think that George was extremely young at the time of the recordings (as did George himself), he was actually 16 when his first record was cut. This was probably the average age for R&B singers at that time. It wasn't the age of the voices that made the Castelles memorable, it was the quality.

The Castelles story goes back to around 1949, and the choir at Sulzberger Junior High School in West Philadelphia. Overseen by Miss Joy Goings, it was your average, everyday choir, containing, among others, George Grant (Castelles), Billy Taylor

Billy Taylor

Billy Taylor was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and since 1994, he was the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in...

 (Castelles), Octavius Anthony (Castelles), Sonny Gordon (Angels), George Tindley (Dreams), George Pounds (Cherokees), Karl English (Cherokees), Melvin Story (Cherokees), and Solomon Burke

Solomon Burke

Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...

.

The original members of the Castelles were: George “Pepi” Grant (lead tenor), Octavius Anthony (first tenor), Billy Taylor (first tenor, second tenor, baritone), and Clarence Dunlap (bass). They first called themselves the “Royal Castelles”, a name that George just thought up (“I liked the name”). George's nickname of “Pepi” was given to him years later by denizens of the poolhall he frequented; everyone got a nickname, and, because, with his straightened hair, he looked Spanish, he became “Crosstown Pepi”.

External links

• Biography of the Castelles Used with permission.