The History of The Diamonds - Chapter 1

Where and how did it all begin?

The Diamonds first sang professionally - under the title of The Four Diamonds in 1954. The lineup was Dave Somerville (lead), Tedd Kowalski (tenor), Phil Levitt (baritone) and Bill Reed (Bass).

In this, the history of The Diamonds - chapter 1, we will look at how this lineup came to be.

The first meeting of two fellows, who later became The Diamonds occurred in the late 1940s when two families - both of Polish origin became known to each other through attending the same functions in Toronto, Ontario. The Kowalski and Dlugosz families knew each other quite well and their sons Pete and Tadeusz (Tedd) Kowalski and Larry and Mike Dlugosz (anglicised to Douglas) spent time together socially.

Toronto has always been a musical city and at the time, vocal groups were the current "thing" - Mike remembers that it seemed that everyone either wanted to join - or form a vocal quartet. On Easter Sunday of 1953, the two sets of brothers, sang together in an impromptu performance at Mike's Home. Mike remembers this

as being the spark that ignited the desire to create a vocal quartet. After a while it became obvious that it was Tedd and Mike who kept the singing happening and they eventually added other voices to their partnership. Fellow Canadian Bob Danko and his friend - Bill Reed, started to sing together and practice the popular songs of the day. Down by the Riverside was a particular favourite. Other popular tunes were Tell me Why and Garden in the Rain by The Four Aces.

This informal group, who never performed in any professional sense, actually contained three of the eight fellows who would sing with The Diamonds during their hit making years.Mike, Tedd, Bob and Bill used to spend a lot of time at Saint Elizabeth's church hall rehearsing. Mike recalls being most impressed with Tedd's singing.

 

 

Both Tedd and Mike began studyingmusic at Dave Snyder's studio in Toronto. Tedd studied clarinet (he was already an accomplished accordionist) while Mike studied Tenor saxophone.

Mike also remembers the group harmonising in the band shell on Lakeshore Boulevarde in Toronto. This location even led Bill to suggest a name for the group - "The Boulevardiars". This name lengthened an already growing list of possibilities incuding "The Cavaliers" and The" Four Diamonds".

In the fall of 1953, the young Tedd Kowalski set his ambitions on becoming an electrical engineer - for him - as with the rest of the guys - singing was put on the backburner - there was never the slightest hint of what would transpire in the next eighteen months.

 

 

Tedd enrolled at The University of Toronto in '53 - and it was essentially this separation from the original singers that resulted in the breakup of the practising group.

The breakup didn't mean giving up. Mike went on to fom a vocal trio - The Glenaires. Tedd was at University while Bob coninued with his violin studies. Actually, Bob already had a band of his own - The Hungarian gypsy band. Tedd met two other students at the University of Toronto - Phil Levitt and Stan Fisher - who asked Tedd to sing with them. Tedd brought in Bill Reed as bass vocalist to round out the quartet.

 

Tedd Kowalsi and Mike Dlugosz (Douglas)

Tedd with Mike's sister. Mary Ann

The Glenaires. Mike Douglas - left