the Snapshots

Cleveland/Erie PA, 1950-1970s

1969 pic

The Snapshots were a long running Cleveland based lounge band. The core of the band was together for 30 or more years, starting out as a high school aged band that got a break playing on the Gene Carroll show.

1958 story...by Jane Scott with an early use of her classic phrase "ready with the rhythm"!

The core members were Phil Caruso, Jesse Lozano, and Joe Neira. A 1958 article mentions that Phil played banjo, Jesse played guitar and drums, and Joe played accordion. As the band matured  Jesse was the drummer, Joe played keyboards, and Phil played bass. Fronting the three men over the years were several different woman singers. The band played Las Vegas in the late 1950s and made a few other out-of-state stops.

The most interesting part about their story to Buckeye Beat is their lone 45 on Tammy records.  It doesn't really sound like a club act, having some country influences. It's been described as 'doowop" which is rather off base. it sounds more like a Brenda Lee record. The song writers are Blair Robertson on the A side with the B side written by pop songwriters Aaron Schroeder and Abner Silver. The band lived in Erie from 1961 until September 1966, when they moved back to Cleveland, starting with an engagment at Nino's in Akron. The singer on the record is Nellie Gay Quinn, who was an Erie area native. She was replaced by Kitty McCoy. 

1966 ad...posted here primarily for the awesome graphic!

The group played at Cleveland's Kag and Quarter for 12 years starting in the late 1960s during the Cleveland lounge explosion. They continued to play even as rust belt disease and changing tastes contracted the same scene in the late 1970s. There's nothing about the group in the Cleveland Plain Dealer after the summer of 1979, so that's probably the end of the line for the band.

A better experience of their sound can be heard on Soundcloud and Youtube (as of 2024). The soundcloud page lists some of their singers, Carmelean "Kitty" Semple Martin, Nellie (Gay) Quinn, Mary Alice Brown, Debbie Walter, and Marsha Dianna. Anne Gruich is the singer as listed in the 1967 article. Kay Madison is in the 1969 photo.

Discography:
Condemmed Without Trial / Should I Believe You - Tammy 1024, April 1965