Fans "stay" with Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs

When Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs are thought of, two songs come to mind: “Stay,” and “Little Darlin’.’” With the former, it was a massive hit for the group and launched them to new heights, With the latter, it was another band that turned it into a monster but that is okay with Williams.

It started for Williams with him just wanting to be part of anything musical.

“I wanted to be in the high school band so bad that back then the bass drum player was short and he needed someone to hold up his drum in the parade and I did that, marching in front of him just to be in the band,” he laughed. “I moved on to trombone and first string. I was a big time man in the band!”

When he formed the vocal group, The Gladiolas, they had a R&B hit with “Little Darlin’.” However, as was common, another group, The Diamonds, had a smash hit with a cover version.

“The Diamonds were wonderful, and I was into sound and music and theirs was so great,” he said. “I thought just the idea of a harp player on a song that I wrote was incredible. They had that on their record and the quality was so good because of the company. I just loved it.”

A few years later, they finally had the big smash with “Stay.”

“That song is a real thing, just like I was in love with two girls in ‘Little Darlin’,’” he said. “With ‘Stay,’ it was one of those same girls, and I wanted her to stay at my house a little longer. Her brother was supposed to pick her up later. We were all families who knew each other and I was telling her that your mama don’t mind because we are all family. The next morning, I wrote the song.”

By the way, no she did not stay and that worked out pretty well.

“My wife says she is glad that girl didn’t stay,” he laughed. “There would not have been that song if she had.”

The key to him was that people could sing it.

“Al Silver of Herald Records liked the song but he told me to go back and make it shorter and to sing it flat,” he said. “He said if it is flat, the man on the street can hum it.”

And that song has been a hit for years.

“People keep passing these songs down and that keeps them alive,” he said.