The Dream Weavers
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The Dream Weavers were a popular singing group, primarily famous in the 1950s, consisting of Gene Adkinson and Wade Buff. The two met as sophomores in their respective high schools (Adkinson at Miami Edison Senior High School, Buff at Coral Gables High School) when both were members of The Greater Miami Boys' Drum and Bugle Corps, a 100-piece band and drill team. They became friends and composed a number of songs while still in high school. They both went on to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where they performed in a freshman talent show before 5,000 students and won. As a result, they were given a twice-weekly half-hour program slot entitled "Starlight Serenade with Gene and Wade" with pianist Lee Turner and bassist Eddie Newsom on the university's radio station WRUF in 1955. With the program ending at 10:30pm, they felt it appropriate to sign off with a song they had composed in high school (in 1953), "It's Almost Tomorrow" (words by Buff, music by Adkinson). The announcer of the show, Chuck Murdock, thought of running a contest on the show to name the group, and the contest winner stated that because the song they wrote was dreamy, they were weavers of dreams, thus "The Dream Weavers." After making a recording of "It's Almost Tomorrow" in Jacksonville, the song got played on the radio in Miami, and this led to Decca Records cutting a new recording of the song in Miami by the group, which charted in 1956, reaching the top ten in the United States of America and #1 on the United Kingdom charts. Buff served as the lead singer, and the third part was sung by various female singers (Sally Sanborn, Mary Carr, Mary Rude, and others).
In March 1956, Buff married Mary Rude, who was a fellow 1952 graduate of Edison High and had sung with the group. After their honeymoon, he rejoined the group to travel, but after a short while decided that traveling on the road was not compatible with a good marriage. He let Adkinson have full control of the group, and as a result of auditions in New York, Lee Raymond replaced Buff. When Adkinson got drafted into the United States Army, however, the group ended its existence.
External link
- The Dream Weavers homepage (http://www.dreamweaversmusic.com/History.html)
- Bio of pianist Lee Turner (http://bellsouthpwp.net/g/t/gturner567/about2.htm)