Tom King With The Ardells & The Starfires - I Know

The Starfires were formed by Tom King at Shaw High School in Cleveland in 1958, and remained a popular local band through the mid-1960s. Their forte was rhythm and blues instrumentals, with occasional vocals by King. Also, his uncle, Patrick Connelly owned a record company, Pama Records; and the band (along with at least one single by Tom King individually) produced several sides over this period, notably “Stronger than Dirt“ (which charted locally) that was based on a well-known jingle for Ajax Laundry Detergent. After a tonsillectomy, King’s vocal abilities became limited, so he added a new lead singer, Sonny Geraci and changed the band’s sound somewhat to match the musical tastes of the period. This led to the eventual creation of the Outsiders. Tom King, Sonny Geraci, Mert Madsen, Al Austin, Richard Kriss and Ronnie Harkai were the members of the Starfires when the name was changed to the Outsiders in 1965. All performed on the original recording “Time Won’t Let Me“ by “The Outsiders“ Walter Nims, Jimmy Fox and Richard D’Amato all performed with the Outsiders at a later time. Geraci and Nims were among the founding members of Climax. Jimmy (Jim) Fox and Richard Kriss’s brother, Tommy Kriss, were the founders of the James Gang. Harkai was a member of The Pilgrims a popular Cleveland rock band in the early to mid-1960s, prior to joining The Starfires. Tom King, guitarist, vocals Walter Nims, lead guitar Howard Blank, drums Dennis Slifko, saxophone Mert Madsen, bass guitar, hamonica Richard Kriss, “lead guitar“ Tony Sawyer, saxophone (joined in the early 1960s) Ray Miller, lead guitar (early 1964) Jimmy Fox, drums (joined in the early 1960s) Sonny Geraci, lead vocals (joined in 1964) Ronnie Harkai, drums (joined in 1964)