Here is the origin of "Yesteryear" to the best of my recollection. In early 1960, two teenagers began harmonizing to the tunes of the Everly Brothers, Don & Juan and Robert & Johnny singing mostly for their own enjoyment in the Trumbull High School bathrooms and hallways. They were George Kovachi and Wesley Twelves, two teens who met in their first year of high school. Chris Costeines also occasionally joined in. Soon after, Paul Timpanelli joined the group as baritone and later Stanley Goldman as 2nd tenor and sometimes lead. Later in 1960 we chose a name for the group and officially became "The Sophisticats" performing locally at record hops, dances and more bathrooms. For a short while, The Sophisticats worked with guitarist Fred Stern and a drummer whose name can no longer be remembered. We practiced and performed through much of 1960 with the same members. Late in 1961, Wes's girlfriend, Shirley Clark, decided that Wes should spend less time rehearsing and more time with her. Roland Bousquet, a Bridgeport native stepped up to replace Wes and Jim Petrino also from Bridgeport joined to replace Stan. Carl Demore also joined to handle the 1st tenor duties ... suddenly we had a whole new sound! In early 1962 we renamed the group "The Salutations." This lasted a few months until Vito and the Salutations released their hit "Unchained Melody." We then decided to just shorten the name to "The Utations." No need to go into the iterations of the name "Utations" our peers managed to come up with and call us! To summarize, the members of "The Utations" were Paul Timpanelli (bass), George Kovachi (Baritone), Roland Bousquet (2nd tenor and sometimes lead), Jim Petrino (2nd tenor and sometimes lead) and Carl Demore (1st tenor). The photos you see on the "photo gallery" page of the web site are of this era. The next changes came late in 1962 as Carl graduated and went to college and Roland moved to Maine. In 1963, we recruited Tony Sciarappa who had recently moved from our Bridgeport, CT Parrott Avenue neighborhood to Trumbull. Jerry Bourdeau from Trumbull also joined in 1963. This allowed "the Utations" to continue to rehearse and play out occasionally for the next year or two. Meanwhile, Jim Petrino married Shirley Clark and began raising a family. By the end of 1964, George Kovachi had joined the Marine Corps, Tony enlisted in the Air Force, Carl was still at UCONN, Paul was off to college and Jerry enlisted in the Army. In 1968, George returned from the Marine Corps, Jim had become a Fairfield policeman, Paul became a teacher, Carl was raising his family in central CT and working at Pratt and Whitney, Tony was just getting out of the Air Force and Jerry had been killed in Viet Nam. This was not the best time for reconvening the group. Over the next several years, all had married, some with children and each settling in to job and family. Occasionally, some of us would gather at the Merritt Canteen, our local hot dog stand and meeting place and sing doo wop as we had in the 60's. Though we never sang consistently with the same members, at least not enough to name ourselves, we still enjoyed making those sweet harmony sounds as we once were able to do. Some of the vocalist's names I remember are Don Annicelle, Pete Petrocco, Rich Esposito, Clinton Creodore and Harold Bush. Nearing the end of 1980, George Kovachi thought it would be fun to organize a "Utations" reunion. He began tracing the whereabouts of all the original members and much to his surprise, everyone agreed to get together. One meeting led to another and so on. Having spent all those years without practice and what with all the voices that changed during that time, we had to go back to the drawing board and restructure the backgrounds to accommodate these changes. We soon realized the potential of this group and with steady practice quickly grew beyond the sounds of "The Utations." Time for a new name, "Yesteryear." In 1981 this name was chosen as it reflected the sounds of the material we were accustomed to doing. These songs were new in 1961 when we learned them but now, oldies! "Yesteryear" members included Paul Timpanelli (bass), Jim Petrino (2nd tenor and lead), Tony Sciarappa (1st tenor and lead), Carl Demore (1st tenor) and George Kovachi (top tenor). Over the next 16 years "Yesteryear" evolved from a "bathroom echo" group to a polished group of performers, incorporating orchestration and choreography in all their performances. The year 1997 brought on a new set of challenges as Carl Demore informed us of his pending resignation from "Yesteryear." As he put it, "We've had a great 30 year run. But between responsibilities changing at work and a 1 hour and 45 minute drive to and from practice, I think I need to pack it in." We spent the next few months trying to think of another vocalist who would first and foremost match well with our personalities and in addition be a seasoned veteran who would vocally blend with us and be a quick study. Other requirements would be for this person to be able to work long, hard hours at practice, keep up with an agressive performance schedule, be able to lift heavy objects time and time again and work cheap! Here comes Don Annicelle who only misfortune in life was to sing a few times with us back in the early 60's and remain traceable 35 years later. Coincidentally, Don was just finishing up a 20 year relationship with "Horizon" a top notch band actively performing in southern CT. A few months later Don was up to full speed and away we went! Another significant event occured in 1999 when Tony decided to take a leave of absence from "Yesteryear" due to health reasons. Obviously Carl was the choice of all as Tony's replacement. So after contacting him, he told us he was ready to come back to "Yesteryear" as he had since retired and was now able to afford the time required for the group. Needless to say, he "hit the streets running" and was back on stage in no time. "Yesteryear" still performs today with its original members, over 42 years of doo wop! Members include Paul Timpanelli (bass), Jim Petrino (2nd tenor and lead), Don Annicelle ((1st tenor and lead), Carl Demore (1st tenor and lead) and George Kovachi (top tenor). George Kovachi 12/7/01 |
| Yesteryear |
| "through the years" |
| CT Magazine's top vocal award |
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