In 1966, the group was featured in the Universal comedy film, Wild Wild Winter, singing "Two of a Kind" at the film's finale, with surf band The Astronauts depicted as providing backup instrumentals. Two tracks from this era later found favor with the Northern Soul crowd: "Got Hung Up Along The Way" and "Living Above Your Head". Slacks and a public service announcement for the Ad Council, featuring a backing track by Brian Wilson and Phil Spector. They also recorded a commercial for H.I.S. Other notable hits for Jay and the Americans were " Come a Little Bit Closer" in 1964, which hit #3, and " Cara Mia" in 1965, which hit #4. They recorded "Only in America", a song originally meant for The Drifters. He brought David Black (né Blatt) of "The Empires" in to take Traynor's place (after David first agreed to adopt the name Jay Black), and Black sang lead for the rest of the group's major hits. Empires' guitarist Marty Sanders (né Kupersmith) joined the group. The next two singles did not fare as well, and Traynor left the group. With Jay Traynor singing lead, they first hit the Billboard charts in 1962 with the tune " She Cried", which reached #5 (later covered by The Shangri-Las, Aerosmith, and others). Soon they signed with United Artists Records. They auditioned for Leiber and Stoller, who gave the group its name. Originally called The Harborlites, they were discovered while performing in student venues at New York University in the late 1950s. Their initial line-up consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howie Kane (born Howard Kirschenbaum), Kenny Vance (born Kenneth Rosenberg) and Sandy Deanne (born Louis Sandy Yaguda), though their greatest success on the charts came after Traynor had been replaced as lead singer by Jay Black and Marty Sanders (born Martin Joe Kupersmith) were added to the line-up. Jay and the Americans are an American rock group who formed in the late 1950s.
L-R: Kenny Vance, Sandy Deanne, Marty Sanders, Howard Kane and Jay Blackīelle Harbor, Queens, New York, United States
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