Fresh off a stint in the Army, friends Harvey Fuqua and Bobby Lester formed as a duo in 1949 in Louisville. In 1951, Fuqua moved to Cleveland and formed the Crazy Sounds with vocalists Danny Coggins and Prentiss Barnes. Lester joined them later.
In 1952, while performing at a Cleveland club, the Crazy Sounds auditioned for the club’s management. They soon got in contact with radio host Alan Freed, who upon hearing them, joined the group as their manager. In 1953, Freed renamed the group “The Moonglows“, after his own nickname, “Moondog“. They signed with Freed’s Champagne label but their recordings for the label failed to hit the charts and Coogins left the group, replaced by Alexander Walton, who has been sometimes been named Pete Graves or Pete Walton.
In 1954, they recorded for another small label, Chance, but like their Champagne recordings, the band didn’t have much success with the label. In September of the year, Freed won a contract with New York radio s