Ed Wiley Jr. for a tour of the South,” writes Fuqua biographer Steve Walker. “Wiley featured a variety of jump and blues tunes, and the young singers developed a wider repertoire from this experience.” When popular disc jockey Alan Freed – importantly, the man credited with coining the term “rock and roll” – heard the remodeled songsters, he began managing and promoting the duo, and prompted them to change their name to “The Moonglows.” Writes Washington Post reporter Terence McArdle, “They also performed on Freed's touring rock-and-roll revues and in the movies "Rock, Rock, Rock" (1956) and "Mister Rock and Roll" (1957).” Some
The Rock and Roll Trio won three straight appearances in April and May 1956, which gained them a slot on the finalists' tour in September 1956. A newspaper clip on the day after their third win on the Ted Mack Show referred to them as "the Rock and Roll Boys from Memphis". Between their second and third appearances, they were spotted by Bill Randle, who was a disc-jockey on WERE, Cleveland. Randle telephoned his friend Henry Jerome, who was a band leader at the Hotel Edison at the time, and he told Jerome to watch the trio's next appearance on television. Jerome was impressed by