On Thursday, November 15th, as one of our staff members was flipping through the TV channels, the photo of Art Laboe and Cleve Duncan flashed on the screen.... 

On Rock Center, Brian Williams mentioned the passing of The Penguins leader singer and Art's good friend Cleve Duncan.  Check the video at about 2 minutes in for the piece....

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The report also included the passing of another music great, Major Harris.  A member of The Delfonics from 1971 - 1974 and a solo career that included his #1 R&B hit "Love Won't Let Me Wait"....

More Angels in Heaven that we will always remember.  Rest in Peace Cleve and Major Harris.  Your Legends will live forever......

We received this email today.... 

November 7, 2012

To Whom It May Concern:

I regret to inform you that Cleveland Duncan, original lead singer of The Penguins, “Earth Angel,” passed away this morning at 1:20 a.m., November 7th, 2012, here in Los Angeles, California due to health complications.

Funeral services are pending.

His Wife,
Emilie Duncan

It is sad to hear about the passing of Cleve Duncan.  We have a long history together.  We met in 1955 right after “Earth Angel” came out.  Cleve and The Penguins went on to do close to 100 shows with us in the El Monte Legion Stadium days.  We would play there every other week for nearly 2 ½ years.  And in 1963, I produced the song “Memories of El Monte” written by Ray Collins and Frank Zappa and sung by Cleve and The Penguins.    

Cleve Duncan is one of the biggest names of the early days of West Coast music and a pioneer with “Earth Angel” being one of the first rock and roll ballads.

Cleve was more than just a peformer on our shows, he was a very good friend and also so supportive in a lot of ways.  From the early concerts to joining me at An Evening @ the Barn @ the Hollywood Heritage Museum in 2003. Cleve is pictured below second from the left sitting next to Trini Lopez.

Cleve was nice enough to record a message for our 20th Anniversary concert at San Manuel Amphitheater in 2011, but wasn't able to make it due a scheduling conflict.  The last time we worked together was in 2005, when Cleve and his Penguins performed at our Kodak Theatre concerts.

We will never forget you Cleve.  Your legend will live on forever.  Thank you for the memories and may you rest in peace Earth Angel.