The Flamingos also appeared in the 1956 Alan Freed movie Rock, Rock, Rock.

The group also had moderate success for the label with other chestnuts like 'A Kiss from Your Lips', 'The Vow' and 'Would I Be Crying'. Pat Boone's cover version of the song, complete with incorrect lyrics ('My mind's made up' replacing 'My time's about up'), was a hit on the pop charts. At Chess/Checker, the Flamingos achieved their first national chart hit with ' I'll Be Home', which went to number 5 on Billboard 's R&B chart. In early 1955, the Flamingos signed with Chess Records, to record for their Checker Records subsidiary. Sollie McElroy was on their first Parrot session, but left the group in December 1954, to be replaced by tenor Nate Nelson (who was on their second Parrot session he's lead on 'I'm Yours', released in January 1955).

The Flamingos left Chance Records sometime after their December 1953 session, and signed with DJ Al Benson's Parrot Records. The Flamingos' first single (for Chance Records), 'If I Can't Have You', was a moderate local success, as was the follow-up ' That's My Desire', but it was Johnny Carter's composition of 'Golden Teardrops', with its complex vocal harmonies and Carter's soaring falsetto, that cemented their reputation as a top regional act of the day. Sollie McElroy soon replaced Lewis (who joined the Five Echoes). Earl Lewis (not the Channels lead) soon joined, and after a series of name changes ('The Swallows', 'El Flamingos', 'The Five Flamingos'), wound up being known as the Flamingos. Jacob 'Jake' Carey (bass) and Ezekiel 'Zeke' Carey (second tenor) formed the group in Chicago, Illinois, United States, after meeting cousins baritone Paul Wilson and first tenor Johnny Carter at a Hebrew Israelite congregation.

The band's cover version of 'I Only Have Eyes for You' was ranked number 158 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the ' 500 Greatest Songs of All Time'. In 2001, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They have since been hailed as one of the finest and most influential vocal groups in pop and doo wop music history. The band became popular in mid-to-late 1950s and are known for their 1959 cover version of ' I Only Have Eyes for You'. The Flamingos are an American doo-wop group formed in Chicago in 1953.

GRINGOS AND FLAMINGOS by Scott Nelson