Marlena Davis Easley

Philadelphians know South Street as a cosmopolitan nightlife spot and tourist attraction. In the early 1960s, Marlena sang in a hit song about it as “the hippest place in town.” Her “rhythm and blues” vocal group, the Orlons, had a flash of nationwide fame as three of their songs became top-10 hits, all within one year.

Marlena lived her first few years a mile south of South Street, the youngest of two daughters of Manuel Davis and Elizabeth “Betty” Rubin. The 1950 census places them near 5th and Sigel Streets but a few years later they moved to Merion Avenue, east of Cathedral Cemetery in West Philly.

It was a fortunate move because she made some good friends at Shoemaker Junior High School. They enjoyed singing together, a talent they probably developed in church. Rosetta (“Rose”) Hightower, Marlena, and Shirley Brickley were the same age and were joined by Shirlely’s sisters, Jean and Audrey. 

The original name of their group was Audrey and the Teenettes. They sang at Christmas and birthday parties but when they got a chance to sing at a nightclub, Audrey’s mother wouldn’t let her go, so she and Jean quit the group.

Rose and Marlena continued to practice at Shirley’s house on North Vodges Street as they finished 10th grade at Overbrook High School. A few doors down the street lived Stephen Caldwell who heard them practicing on the porch. He was in a male group at school called the Romeos.The girls asked if he wanted to sing with them and he did, giving them a unique, mixed sound. 

The girls still didn’t have a name for their group until, after a practice session, Stephen took off his sweater because the tag was itching his neck. He saw that the label said it was made of a synthetic fabric called Orlon. They all liked that name because there was a rival group at the school calling themselves the Cashmeres.

They sang at some talent shows that were held at local night clubs that summer. Meanwhile, the Cashmeres changed their name to the Dovells and landed a contract with Cameo Records in Philly. Their lead singer told them the company was looking for a girl group, so they auditioned. The first attempt failed to impress, so they worked on their harmonies, since in those days they had to sing in front of just one microphone. 

Rejected a second time, the girls and guy worked on their moves and after a third tryout they made it. That happened during their junior year in 1961 when the co-owner of the studio, Kal Mann, and his composer, Dave Appell, began writing songs for them. They also produced each of their future hits.

The first single, “I’ll Be True,”  was released later that year. Marlena had the lead vocal, and it had a lot of airplay on the Philly radio stations but it didn’t do well nationally. Neither did the second record, but they were kept busy providing back-up vocals for the label. They sang on Dee Dee Sharp’s “Mashed Potato Time” which hit the top of the R&B chart and #2 on the Pop chart in early 1962. 

Somehow the team of Mann and Appell, a pair of older white men, knew how to create fun-filled R&B dance tunes and lyrics that teenagers were craving. Other big stars on their label included the “Wild One,” Bobby Rydell, and Chubby Checker who had “The Twist.”  From Overbrook High School, the Dovells completed the Philly sound with “Bristol Stomp” and “You Can’t Sit Down.” 

The Orlons would become stars in their own right with their next release, a monster hit called “Wah-Watusi” in May of 1962. It made it to #2 by July and triggered the brief Watusi dance craze. There was no going back now, and no going back to finish high school. They kept busy at the studio, which was at 1405 Locust Street in the heart of the city. They sang on Dee Dee Sharp’s followup, “Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)” and came out with their next Orlons hit, “Don’t Hang Up” a few weeks later. It rose to the #4 position on the Pop chart by the end of the year.

“South Street” was released in January, 1963, peaking at #3. All three of their top 10 hits sold over a million copies and were awarded gold disc status. The group’s last two hits were also released in 1963 but failed to reach the top 10.

At one point they went on tour and actually made more money on the road than from record sales. That was because Cameo’s profits had to first pay the expenses of studio time, production, and distribution, including all the money spent on those first records that didn’t sell.

Marlena decided to leave the group in August of 1963 to get married. When she tied the knot with Richard Easley in mid-November, she had just turned 19 and was living in a nice apartment on Parkside Avenue overlooking Fairmount Park.

Leaving when she did was another fortunate move because the Orlons faded as quickly as they had arrived, less than two years earlier. Stephen Caldwell left the next year and Cameo Records went into a sharp decline from which it never recovered.

Among the many reasons was that “American Bandstand” left Philadelphia for California in 1964. That TV program had been an easy source of national exposure and promotion for local recording artists. That same year also saw the “British Invasion” of musical groups. The trend not only changed the tastes of the American record-buying public, it hurt the bottom line of many American record labels.

Marlena had a daughter, Dawn Michele Easley around 1968 and returned to school for her GED. She also attended secretarial school, became an executive secretary, and in the mid-1980s taught secretarial skills and word processing.

In 1988 she and Stephen Caldwell got together again, found two female singers to join them, and re-created the Orlons. They performed live on the “oldies” touring circuit until Marlena started to suffer from the effects of lung cancer four years later.

Her daughter marked her grave with this stone after her death in early 1993. Marlena had been  living in Southwest Philly at the time, and was the only member of her family to be buried here.