As the Jay Hawks they hit the top twenty with "Stranded in the Jungle" in 1956. As the Marathons they got into the top twenty again with "Peanut Butter" in 1961. The Vibrations' (Dave Govan - Don Bradley - Carl Fisher, Ricky Owens and James Johnson) "Hang On Sloopy" (Farrell - Russell) was originally titled "My Girl Sloopy" when released in 1964 and hit the top thirty. The rights to the song were apparently sold to Bert Russell and Wes Farrell by an anonymous young composer.

The McCoys (Rick Derringer - Rick's brother Randy Zehringer - Randy Jo Hobbs - Sean Michaels - Ronnie Brandon) "Hang On Sloopy" cover topped the charts one year later.