Jimmy Beaumont was listening to the car radio a while ago when a disc jockey played a couple of versions of “Since I Don’t Have You” by the Skyliners.
Over the years, the group’s 1959 standard has been recorded by a host of singers, including, Trini Lopez, Don McLean, Art Garfunkel and Guns N’ Roses. The DJ played a version by country singer Ronnie Milsap and then played Beaumont’s original lead vocal.
“You know what, that song holds up; it would still be a hit today,” the disc jockey said. Beaumont just smiled. “That was a special song from a special time,” he said this week in an interview. “It will always be special, no matter how many years go by.”
Jimmy Beaumont and the Skyliners make their first-ever appearance in The Villages on Thursday Feb. 26 at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. in Katie Belle’s. It’s part of the “Doo Wop and Rock” concert series with Rocky and the Rollers.
To see the original Skyliners on Dick Clark’s TV show go to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L9uGQ2dVak
Next to the late Johnny Maestro, Beaumont is considered one of the greatest doo-wop singers of all-time.
“It’s an honor to be compared with Johnny,” said Beaumont, 74, who grew up in Pittsburgh and now lives in McKeesport, Pa. “Johnny was a good friend of mine and I miss him. His music will always be with us.”
The same can be said of Beaumont and the Skyliners. The original group also featured the late Janet Vogel along with Wally Lester, Jack Taylor and Joe Verscharen. All were teenagers who grew up in the Pittsburgh area.
Joe Rock managed the group and wrote the lyrics to “Since I Don’t Have You” after breaking up with his girlfriend. It took Beaumont, then 17, about a day to write the music.
“Joe’s lyrics were so good; they jumped right off the page,” Beaumont said. “It didn’t take me long to write the music.”
The Skyliners went to New York City to record the song. Up until then, the group had been recording on a small, Dictaphone machine. Now the kids found themselves in the Big Apple, working with nearly 20 of the best studio musicians in the country.
“It was an amazing transition,” Beaumont said. “The speakers, the musicians and the sound were unbelievable. When they played it back the first time, we never sounded better. My voice sounded more powerful than ever before. This was what I had always hoped for; I knew it was going to be a hit.”
They recorded the song in two takes. After a few weeks “Since I Don’t Have You” was climbing up the charts. Then, after an appearance with Dick Clark on television, the song rose to the top ten. It also reached near the top of the R&B charts, a rarity for a white singing group on the primarily African-American charts.
“That was important to me,” Beaumont said. He grew up in the South Hills section of Pittsburgh, which was an integrated neighborhood, “about half white and half black,” Beaumont said.
“I sang in an integrated group, before the Skyliners,” Beaumont said. “I loved R&B music.” He was influenced by such rhythm and blues acts as the Moonglows, the Cadillac’s, the Flamingos and Jackie Wilson. But Beaumont was also influenced by Frank Sinatra, and the harmony of the Four Freshmen and the Hi-Los.
Many people thought “Since I Don’t Have You,” and the follow-up hit, “This I Swear” were recorded by a black singing group.
“We were booked to play the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and the people thought we were black,” Beaumont said. “As soon as we got on stage, you could almost hear a gasp in the audience and things got real quiet. I kept thinking to myself, ‘they’re going to get a guy with a big cane and drag us off stage.’ I found out later they only do that on amateur night at the Apollo.”
Once Beaumont and the Skyliners started singing “Since I Don’t Have You,” everything fell into place. “The kids in the audience knew the song and they loved it,” he said. “When it came to Janet (Vogel’s) soprano solo near the end of the song, the girls in the audience sang along. Then, when it came to my part near the end of the song, the guys sang along. Then we got a standing ovation. What a time!”
Much has changed since that magical time.
Original member Joe Verscharen died in 2007. Joe Rock, the manager of the group, also passed away. Janet Vogel died at 37 in 1980, after suffering through an unhappy marriage and long bouts of depression.
A movie was made of her life by her son, Gavin Rapp and it was called, “Since I Don’t Have You.” It was “a very dark movie,” Beaumont said. “It brought back a lot of memories, some good and some bad.”
Beaumont worked with a young actor who played him in the film. “They didn’t do any real singing, they just lip-synched the words,” he said. “It was a little strange seeing someone play you on the screen but the kids in the movie did a good job.”
These days Beaumont, with the reformed Skyliners – Donna Groom, Frank Czuri and Nick Pociask – are still in demand.
“ I still love to sing, and it’s always a thrill to perform” Beaumont said. “I still get nervous before we go on.”
stage. If you don’t get nervous that means you don’t care.”
No one could have told Beaumont more than a half-century ago that he would still be singing in his 70s and “Since I Don’t Have You” would become one of the most popular songs of all time. “I didn’t think we would last 10 years,” Beaumont said with a laugh. It has been featured in over a dozen movies, including “American Graffiti.”
It’s one of those songs that makes Baby Boomers overflow with nostalgia, but not Beaumont.
“I don’t think of ‘Since I Don’t Have You’ that way because we’re still performing and still singing it,” he said. “Maybe someday, if I retire, I’ll sit around and think of the song as nostalgia but right now I’m too busy.”
One more thing: Beaumont is ready for his first trip to The Villages. He and his wife, AnnCarol, have two grown daughters, Christina and Stacey, and four grandchildren. He is anxious to leave the frigid Northeast and head to The Villages.
“I’ve a got a friend down there and he tells me how much fun it is to drive around on your golf cart and do everything you ever wanted to do. I can’t wait to get to The Villages – it’s going to be a real kick!”
