THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502090194
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: John Harper
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
I've heard his voice hundreds of times. So have you. It's a voice heard every day, somewhere in the world. Joe Verscharen's baritone is on a record called ``Since I Don't Have You'' by the Skyliners.
Verscharen, 55, lives in Kitty Hawk now. It's light years away from that time in 1959 when radio stations everywhere played ``Since I Don't Have You'' every three to four hours. The record hit the Top 10 and went on to sell a million copies.
Thousands of boys and girls, sitting in a gymnasium for an after-game dance, were drawn to each other, many for the first time, by the record's hypnotic blend of brass, strings, gut-wrenching lyrics and close-vocal Skyliners harmony.
These days, Verscharen owns and operates Beach Haven, a small, comfortable motel overlooking the ocean on the west side of the Beach Road.
Before he moved here in 1985, he was in Pittsburgh selling insurance for Prudential. It was also in Pittsburgh that Verscharen achieved his fame. But more than that, he lived out one of the great dreams of many - to be a rock 'n' roll star.
In 1958, Verscharen, Jimmy Beaumont, Janet Vogel, Wally Lester and Jack Taylor were all seniors at the same high school. And all were singers, first in two rival groups, and then together as the Skyliners.
There were a lot of groups like the Skyliners then. Doo-wop groups practiced their a cappella singing on the street corners in cities like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York. Record companies couldn't sign the groups fast enough. Producers literally cruised the streets looking for the next Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.
But as exciting as it was for the teenagers signing recording contracts, it was also a dangerous time. For every legitimate record producer, there was a scamming con artist ready to exploit the naive teenagers.
The Skyliners were lucky. They found Joe Rock.
``He really watched out for us,'' says Verscharen.
Rock was a Pittsburgh-based record producer and manager. After hearing the group at a sock hop, he arranged an audition with Calico Records. One of the songs used for the audition was ``Since I Don't Have You.'' It was a strong song.
``Joe Rock and Jimmy Beaumont wrote the words and music,'' says Verscharen, ``but we all had a hand in the arrangement.''
And what an arrangement it was: a soaring lead vocal by Beaumont, harmony by the Skyliners, and a full complement of brass and strings. It was the first time a rock record had featured brass and strings.
The record company loved it. The Skyliners were off and running. For the next three years, the band enjoyed the amenities of rock 'n' roll success: fame, meeting girls, hanging out with rock stars like Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Roy Orbison.
It was the good life for the five teenagers. But after two albums, two more Top 40 hits - ``This I Swear'' and ``Pennies from Heaven'' - and hundreds of appearances, the band broke up. Nothing traumatic, ``It was just time,'' Verscharen remembers.
Verscharen married and fathered three children. The other Skyliners found jobs in advertising and sales. Janet Vogel married and became a housewife.
The members went their separate ways, rarely talking or seeing each other. Then, in 1968, Richard Nader called. Nader was interested in getting the group back together for a one-time-only performance in a rock 'n' roll revival in Madison Square Garden.
The Skyliners dusted off their arrangements, found some groovy new outfits and joined the revival, headlined by Ricky Nelson. (Nelson later wrote the song ``Garden Party'' about his experience that night.)
The Skyliners' magic was still there. Capitol Records liked what they heard and signed the band to a singles deal. One of the songs the band recorded was ``Where Have They Gone?''
Verscharen says the record was a contender.
``Unfortunately for us, the company had its mind on other acts. They had Paul McCartney, Glen Campbell and Helen Reddy.''
The Skyliners got lost in the shuffle. They broke up again in 1975. But that song, ``Since I Don't Have You,'' lives on. Verscharen says there are hundreds of recordings of the song. The Skyliners' version turns up frequently in movies and TV shows. In the movie ``American Grafitti,'' it's the only song that is played in its entirety.
Thirty-six years after the record crashed the charts, Verscharen feels like a lucky man. He should. Many teenagers of that period were cheated out of money by hucksters. Frankie Lymon died penniless. His widow and members of his group, the Teenagers, spent 30 years in litigation trying to collect the thousands of dollars they earned for the record ``Why Do Fools Fall In Love.''
But Verscharen, by being credited as one of the writers of the Skyliners' song, receives a generous royalty check on a regular basis.
Verscharen keeps a box with news clippings, awards and pictures from his days with the Skyliners. He stays in contact with Wally Lester. He's not so close with the other Skyliners. Jack Taylor disappeared after the last reunion. Beaumont is still singing and sounding ``better than ever,'' according to Verscharen. Janet Vogel died in 1980.
Verscharen's still proud of that signature song.
``Every time we did the song and the violins kicked in, I got goosebumps,'' Verscharen says. ``It's still that way when I hear it on the radio.''
The next time you hear ``Since I Don't Have You'' on the radio, crank it up. Listen to that one line in the song: ``I don't have hopes and dreams.''
Think about the irony. That record with those words gave Verscharen those very things: hopes and dreams. by CNB