Their most popular song, "16 Candles", rose to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1959 selling over one million copies and earning a gold disc status.
Carter, the group included Talmadge "Tommy" Gough (1939-2014), Harold "Chico" Torres (deceased) and Patricia Van Dross (1943-1993) (older sister of R&B singer Luther Vandross).
[citation needed] Their next single after "16 Candles" on COED Records was "Six Nights A Week" which hit #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts and #17 on the R&B.
Internal problems prevented Decca from securing the worldwide release of these recordings and the company folded, leaving all their artists in limbo.
[citation needed] By 1968, Johnny Maestro had joined with The Del Satins as their lead singer and merged with The Rhythm Method in March 1968 to become The Brooklyn Bridge.
By then Torres was gone, he had moved to upstate New York and became a jeweler,[3] but the group continued as a trio of Carter, Ancrum, and Lewis and had become a lounge act, disbanding in 1978.
Carter went to sing with Charlie Thomas' Drifters for a year, then moved to Plainfield, New Jersey to teach voice and set up his own recording studio.
Carter reformed The Crests in 1980, auditioning over 200 singers at his studio, finally settling on lead Bill Damon (a Maestro sound-alike), Greg Sereck, Dennis Ray and New York drummer, Jon Ihle.
[citation needed] In 1982 JT Carter created yet another re-incarnation of "The Crests" recruiting singing/keyboardist, Bill Pascali, taking the place of Johnnie Maestro on vocals and Guy Boise on Drums.
[citation needed] From 1990 to 2010, Johnny Maestro invited Carter to join him and The Brooklyn Bridge to record with them and to re-record some of their greatest hits.
[citation needed] In April 2010, the Los Angeles-based rights-management firm Beach Road Music, LLC, acquired the Coed Records catalog, subsequently re-releasing The Crests' song "The Great Physician" on the 2011 compilation album From The Vault: The Coed Records Lost Master Tapes, Volume 1.
"The Great Physician" was originally released in 1960 as Coed 527, under the pseudonym "Johnny Masters" in an attempt to boost Maestro as a solo performer.
[5] In 2013, Carter also appeared on the 1st Annual Palisades Park Reunion concert with Cousin Brucie aka Bruce Morrow,[6] broadcast live on SiriusXM satellite radio.
Carter's Crests held their first concert in Upland, California, on July 16, 2016, to a sold-out crowd and received standing ovations.
Carter's Crests appeared at The State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey on the first ever "Alan Freed Brooklyn Paramount Reunion Jubilee of Stars."
Also appearing on the bill were Charlie Thomas & The Drifters, Leon Hughes & The Coasters, The Flamingos, The Chantels, The Belmonts, The Knockouts & Kid Kyle.
On October 23, 2018, JT Carter announced in an interview on WKHS that he was no longer working with Peter Lemongello, Jr. at the present time, claiming that they had "different interests".
Congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York, whose district includes the neighborhood where Maestro was born and where he began his music career, introduced an Extension of Remarks in the House of Representatives.
Carter, Charlie Thomas of The Drifters and Ernest Wright of Little Anthony & The Imperials were honored in both House and Senate chambers at the State Capital in Dover, Delaware for their contributions to American Music, declaring them “Rock-n-Roll Royalty.” The three also met with Governor Jack A. Markell, who presented them a special Gubernatorial tribute.