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They were discovered while performing in student venues at New York University in the late 1950s. They auditioned for Lieber and Stoller and first hit the Billboard charts in 1962 with the tune "She Cried"; its highest charting was #5.
The group initially consisted of Howard Kane (neé Kirschenbaum), John Traynor, Kenny Vance (neé Rosenberg), and Sandy Yagoda.
John Traynor left the group after the first single, and Jay Black (née David Blatt) sang lead for the rest of the group's existence. Other notable hits for the group were "Come a Little Bit Closer" in 1964, which hit #3, and "Cara Mia" in 1965, which hit #4.
In 1968, they performed a remake of a song that The Drifters first popularized: "This Magic Moment". This was the group's last Top Ten hit and they broke up soon after. Jay Black continued performing on into the 1980s as Jay and the Americans with a variety of musicians, including Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who would later found Steely Dan.
The group reunited in the 1990sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s Years: Events and trends Computers, technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other techn for special performances, most notably the 45 Years of Motown special on PBS.