![]() Johnson ended up leaving the group over it, going on to become the 'Juan' of Don and Juan fame. Their next stop was Atlantic, where Jerry Wexler decided he liked Roy's voice better than Claude Johnson's (who had handled the lead on their Shad hit). It would hit the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958 anyway, but Shad never paid them another dime. When Who's That Knockin' was released, it wasn't on Mercury, as the group had every reason to believe it would be, but on Shad. The Genies jumped at the chance to enter the studio with him, and Shad paid them $25 each for the session. Shad had come up with Savoy in the 40s, and was working A&R at Mercury Records with folks like Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington at the time. They got to be pretty tight and, after adding second lead singer Claude Johnson, they were offered a recording deal by Bob Shad. He began singing tenor with The Genies, a group of guys that sang together every weekend on the boardwalk out in Long Beach. He learned early on, however (after sparring with the likes of Hurricane 'The Animal' Jackson), that prize fighting just wasn't for him. He had dreams of becoming a professional boxer, and that's where the lights shone the brightest. ![]() Hammond 'left his home in Georgia', and headed for New York City.
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