John McElrath,
Grainger Hines,
Jimbo Doares,
Brent Fortson,
Bob Taylor,
Jim Perkins,
Hack Bartley,
Charlie Webber,
Joe Morris,
Gerald Polk,
Steve Caldwell,
Larry Roark,
Carroll Bledsoe,
Michael Huey,
Johnny Cox
Representative Songs: "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)", "Hang on Sloopy", "Shaggin' in the Moonlight
Biography
The Swinging Medallions' one claim to fame, "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)," charted at number 17 on July 2, 1966, and made them an institution in the South. It was the band's second release for Smash Records; the first, "I Wanna Be Your Guy," went unnoticed. "Doubleshot"'s successors didn't pack the same wallop; the follow-up, "She Drives Me Out of My Mind," stopped climbing at number 71 in 1966, and "Hey Baby" failed too. They began as Pieces of Eight in the late '50s, and changed to Swinging Medallions in 1965 when they signed with Smash. The members: John McElrath (keyboards), Jim Doares (guitar), Carroll Bledsoe (trumpet), Charles Webber (trumpet), Brent Forston (sax, flute), Steven Caldwell (sax), James Perkins (bass), and Joe Morris (drums). All hail from the Greenwood, SC, area. Beach music is their forte and they're the main purveyors of the shag, a popular dance on Southern beaches. Over 30 years, the personnel changed much, with McElrath is the only original. For many years, the original members reunited for a one-night concert in Atlanta. ~ Andrew Hamilton, All Music Guide
The Swingin' Medallions are an Americanbeach musicgroup from Greenwood, South Carolina. The band was formed as The Medallions in 1962 adding the "Swingin'" in 1965 possibly as a tribute to the Swingin' Travelers an R&B group popular in South Carolina in the late 50s and early 60s. In 1967, Brent Fortson and Steve Caldwell left the band and with six members of The Tassles out of North Carolina formed the Pieces of Eight. Johnny Cox and Hack Bartley replaced the two at saxophones. Their first single, "I Wanna Be Your Guy", was inadvertently released under the name, "Swinging Medallions" instead of "Swingin' Medallions. It did not chart, but the second, "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)", written by Don Smith & Cyril Vetter and originally recorded by Dick Holler & the Holidays, reached #17 in the U.S.Billboard Hot 100 in 1966,[1] and propelled their full-length album to #88 on the Billboard 200.[2] The follow-up single "She Drives Me Out of My Mind", hit #71,[1] but the fourth single, "Hey Baby", did not chart. The band continued to be popular in the American South. In the mid 60's they frequently played at the Oporto Armory in Birmingham, Alabama. In Birmingham most all of their songs got much radio play on WSGN (AM 610) and WVOK (AM 690), including, "I Found A Rainbow", "M.T.Y.L.T.T", "You Gotta Have Faith" as well as the songs mentioned above. The Pieces of Eight also played in the same time frame in Birmingham with songs "Come Back Girl" and "Lonely Drifter". Both groups had outstanding horn sections.
The band (with a shifting cast) continues to do reunion shows into the 2000s. On 9/16/09, the band joined Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band during their concert at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, SC for a performance of Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love),
