When the Pentagons recorded for Jamie in 1961 and 1962, their lineup consisted of Joe Jones on lead, tenors Otis Munson and Ted Goodloe, baritone Ken Goodloe (brother of Ted) and bass Carl McGinnis. The original group, which formed in 1958 and failed to chart on Specialty Records, had Johnny Torrence on lead and Bill James instead of Otis Munson. The group got to Jamie through George Matola and Lee Silver, who put out "You'll Be Coming Home Soon" by the group under the name The Shields on the Fleet International label. They had to change their name to the Pentagons because another California group that had already called themselves The Shields.
From San Bernadino, California, the Pentagons had their first chart record, at No. 48, with “To Be Loved (Forever)” on Bob Keane’s West Coast Donna label. After their next Donna release failed to chart, they hit the Top 100 at No. 84 on Jamie with “I Wonder (If Your Love Will Ever Belong To Me),” which Ken Goodloe wrote and was later covered by Ricky Nelson in 1964. The originial Jamie release was issued on August 9, 1961 as Jamie 1201 and was backed with “She’s Mine.”
Their followup as Jamie 1210 was “Until Then” b/w “I’m In Love.” It came out on January 5, 1962. Jamie also found two songs in its archive that never came out: "I Wish On a Star" and "Help Me With My Broken Heart."
The Pentagons bravely stuck with their orchestrated doo-wop sound as the world around them was changing. It was already late for doo-wop to thrive in the 1960s, and it took a Philadelphia label, where streetcorner music had a long history, to give it a go. And the label did have as in-house producer Bob Finiz, who not only produced the Four Js but was also one of them, another late-blooming doo-wop group. The Pentagons broke up later in 1962 after “Until Then” failed to chart. Ken and Ted Goodloes tried over again with another arrangement in 1964, but disbanded in 1966. Ken Goodloe died on August 4, 1991.
