My Favorite Bands Logo
The Chips

Group from Brooklyn, NY,

Consisted of teenage friends Kinrod "Charles" Johnson (lead vocal), Sammy Strain (1st tenor), Shedwick "Bubbie" Lincoln (2nd tenor), Nathaniel 'Lil John' Epps (baritone), Paul Fulton (bass).

The group's first recording was "Rubber Biscuit" which started life as Johnson's answer to the marching rhythms of the Warwick School For Delinquent Teenagers while he was an intern there.

When Josie Records heard the tune they signed the band and the record was issued in 1956. Although it did not chart, "Rubber Biscuit" became an instant east coast radio favorite, and saw its performers touring alongside The Dells, The Cadillacs and Bo Diddley, but the momentum gained by their debut single was waning and the group broke up at the end of 1957.

According to Strain, the group's only record was recorded at Belltone Studios in Manhattan on August 3rd, 1956 and featured:
[a=Ernie Hayes] on piano,
Panama Francis on drums,
Mickey Baker on guitar,
King Curtis on saxophone,
along with one or two other unknown musicians.

Data provided by Discogs