b"they probably thought it was a Freedom Ride bus. I think we went to Virginia and I didn't like the treatment, so I quit.Couldn't eat here. We can serve you, but you have to eat in the basement and all that kind of stuff. We went to one place,and there was a wrestling match going on. Blacks and whites went together. But when the show started, blacks had to getout and the whites stayed.The people said, Y'all can sing loud so we can hear you. And I started to refuse to go on. Butthe group would have been blackballed. It was in the contract, Whites Only, but we didnt know.I guess coming from the north, you weren't expecting that?No. Well, I knew. I was born in NYC but I was raised in Virginia with my grandfather, Hampton Fox, when I wasyoung. He had about 200 acres. My mom had seven kids in her family. My first schooling was in Bowling Green, Virginia.It was like a two room or one room school house with a sliding door.Then when I got to junior high school, we moved back to New York.How did you end up becoming a singer?Well we sang. In Harlem, we had a lot of groups. My group got second place at the Apollo Theater. It was on theradio then. I went back as a professional too when I was working withAnnie Laurie. We were The Wrens and then TheWheels. It was good. But it was hard going on the road, one nighters. I did it for maybe a year or two. I did two tours,Lloyd Price, James Brown.Yeah, that's when I quit, because they were heading out further. I was a valet then. I wasn'tsinging with the James Brown. Do you remember when you started singing in a group?Well, singing-we sang on the streets in Harlem, we had a lot of groups. It was the doowop era. Earl Lewis and Channels, we all went to school together. Benny King, he was a bass in our group, the Four Bs, at one time and then he went on his own. That was in '53, '54. Mr. Fox, you are a man of many parts.Yeah, my son told me yesterday: Why didn't you write a book or take pictures. I said: At the time, you know I didn'tthink about all that.I met a lot of people, King, Lloyd Price, Sam Cooke, all those guys. King Curtis, helped record them.Did you ever play an instrument or learn music?No. I just played by ear, goofed around. Sometime I stumbled upon a note or two. And that's it. Wilbert Harrison,Kansas City, he used to play the drums. He went to record another thing, so I said: Record Kansas City, I said: That's awild sound. Put down the guitar, put down this here, put down that and they sing: Going to the and Jimmy Spruill[drums beat] and then I said record that now. They had about 15 or 20 minutes left on the studio and they recordedKansas City, that's how and that's how Kansas City came to be recorded, because they weren't going to record it.Did you keep in contact with some of these people?No, that was it, that's over with. I had a job since '54, '55, I started working. I didnt realize I worked that long. I had alot of jobs I had a lot off the books.I really enjoyed talking. I still do things with the union now.133 "