Earl Carroll

Musician

1937 – 2012

20

Who was Earl Carroll?

Earl "Speedo" Carroll was the lead vocalist for the doo-wop group The Cadillacs. The group's biggest hit was "Speedoo", Carroll's subsequent nickname. It was released in 1955. He joined The Coasters in 1961, leaving the group in the early 1990s to permanently reform The Cadillacs.

In the 1990s, a newspaper reported that Carroll had worked as a custodian at PS 87, a New York elementary school, where he was a beloved figure whom the children called "Speedo". Earl was chosen to be the subject of a children's book, That's Our Custodian, by Ann Morris. The publicity helped him to revive his career. He became a mainstay of the PBS series honoring doo wop, hosted by Jerry Butler.

Carroll died in a nursing home in New York at the age of 75, following a stroke and a battle with diabetes.

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Born
Nov 2, 1937
Harlem
Also known as
  • Speedoo
Died
Nov 25, 2012
New York

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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