They had a lot of hits over a long period, first as an instrumental band, then as vocalists and moved with the times, straddling many styles while largely staying true to the same Tex-Mex roots as Buddy Holly, with whom they shared the same manager-producer in Norman Petty. Starting out as a rockabilly band West Texas in the late 50s, they switched to instrumentals when their original vocalist quit, and notched up hits such as ‘Torquay’, ‘Quite A Party’ and ‘Bulldog’ prior to teaming up with vocalist Jimmy Gilmer and scoring a US #1 with ‘Sugar Shack’ in 1963. From there they became a US beat band and were called upon to overdub backings onto posthumous Buddy Holly hits such as ‘Wishing’ and ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man’. In 1968, they came back strongly with another Top 10 hit, ‘Bottle of Wine’, and developed a more progressive outlook while remaining essentially a vehicle for lead guitarist and founder member George Tomsco.
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